Fort DeSoto State Park has an awesome campground on the beach that stays booked pretty much all year long. I had a Saturday off for once and decided that a camping trip (if even for just one night) was the perfect idea. So, on Thursday, I called the campground, expecting for them to tell me they were booked, and asked if by any crazy chance they had any cancelations for Friday night. And can you believe it? They DID! I booked immediately and shared the undiscussed plans with my family. Everyone agreed and that was it.

We got there after work on Friday evening and set up our tent, had burgers and hot dogs on the grill, then went off to explore. My husband drove to where the forts are. We walked across the top of the forts which overlooked the beautiful beach, boardwalk and some pretty cool ruins in the water. The waves were quite fierce for Florida west coast waters, which made for some beautiful entertainment. We watched the sunset in the cloudy skies. The wind was strong and the temperature was nice. I waited patiently trying to capture some awesome shots of the waves crashing on the rocky ruins. It was truly a beautiful sight. Right when we were about to leave and the sun was falling behind the oceans for the night, I spotted something that tickled me to death… a DUCK, not just any ol duck but a DUCK on the BEACH!!! WHAT?!?!? I’ve lived in Florida almost my whole life and have never seen a sight like that. I think ducks are the cutest stinking little things out there! Of course this was a photo worthy sight!

We then headed back to our campsite and hung out by the fire for a little while until the winds picked up and forced us into our tent. We had planned on going fishing but those winds weren’t having that idea. I expected some sea breezes at night but these were winds up to 15 mph! Our poor tent was getting a beating and we were all convinced that if we were to get out of it, it would most certainly fly away! It was a long, chilly and very windy night but we and our faithful tent survived.

The next morning the winds had settled and we began to pack up our things and my husband cooked breakfast. One of the best things about camping to me is breakfast cooked over the fire! We had eggs, bacon, sausage and toast and it was DELICIOUS! My mother-in-law, father-in-law, niece and her boyfriend and nephew met us at the campsite on Saturday morning. After we got everything loaded we all headed over to the beach because my niece, Sydney (who’s in college) brought her goggles and she was determined she was going to go swim, needless to say those plans were short-lived once she found out how cold the water was.  So we decided it would be best to go check out the forts, do some fishing from the pier and explore a little more before heading back to the beach. We figured out that seagulls are masters at catching flying cheese its! Once our fun was done on the pier we headed back over to the other part of the beach with grills and pic-nick tables. We enjoyed the rest of the day just relaxing and soaking up some sun.

It was a beautiful trip. Spontaneity is really a great thing to embrace. Life is short, memories are precious, make the most of every day you have.