Mammoth Goes to Grand Isle State Park

Monday February 5
Tickfaw State Park to Grand Isle State Park

We left at 10:00 for the dump station, then left the park at 10:46. (We had to load the car on the tow dolly after dumping; that's why it took so long) Dang, it had gotten cold overnight. Note from the night before: during the 8:30 p.m. dog walk, the frogs were loud! How is that possible, since they're cold-blooded creatures:. Or do amphibians have an internal heat source?

The drive for the day was a "shortish" three hours to Grand Isle State Park. It seemed a lot longer because the last hour of the three was on narrow roads--and bridges, of course, since this is southern Louisiana--going thirty miles per hour. I found myself not looking forward to making this drive in the reverse direction in four days.

After a short gas stop at a nice little truck stop on Highway 1, we arrived at 1:50 pm. The trip odometer said 145.2 miles. Hookups were complete by 2:18. Nice.

 
On the way, after crossing the toll bridge ($4.50 or so) to the island, we drove past miles and miles of beach houses. There were only a few restaurants and only two grocery stores, however, there might have been some more off the main drag. On our right (ocean side) the houses were only a single row deep, but on the bay side there were four or more rows of houses and some industry off in the distance, but not all that far in the distance--if you'd been standing on the Mammoth roof top, you could have easily seen the water on either side of the barrier island.  There were a few cars here and there but the whole place seemed oddly deserted. Off season, I guess.

 

The campground was immaculate--a perfectly groomed, mathematically calculated line of RV sites on a perfectly cleared and mowed field. The sites were pull-through and very long, long enough that we could leave the tow dolly hitched, park the car in front, and still have room in front for another car if we had one. There were two rows of sites with the road looping around the outside and down the middle; on the other side of the road the grass was mowed for six yards or so and then little trees were grown up all around.

Although the park itself was very clean, there was trash in the low trees and brush all around. Not nearly as much as I've come to expect around parks in Texas. Just a little litter here and there.

 

We could see the ocean from our Mammoth RV--but only if we climbed up to the roof. I did it, just to prove the point--and I hate going up that ladder! The dogs and  I took a short walk through the brush and over the dunes, and there we could see the ocean easily. If only dogs were allowed on the beach!

It was colder than snot and very windy. Well, technically it was in the low fifties, but with a 15 to 20 mile-per-hour wind it seemed frigid. The birds in the trees weren't upset by the wind, but I notice they were mostly keeping close to the trees. Phoebes and yellow-rumped warblers were all I saw that day.