GULF COAST CAR CAMPING & A SOLAR ECLIPSE

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In an unusual turn of events for us, we essentially took consecutive trips that were all but identical: road trips to the Florida panhandle the first week of April, with five nights spent in our Tesla both times. Thus it seems we’ve established an annual “spring break” tradition — and already, we’re looking forward to returning next year to this strip of coastline that remains one of the most beautiful we’ve seen.

But in the meantime, here’s an account of this year’s adventure!

– motion pictures –

select snapshots set to song

day 1 • 03.30.24

Missouri >>> Mississippi

We broke out the Tesla shirts my parents gave us for Christmas and took our obligatory pre-trip pic, complete with the cargo carrier we added for this round of car camping. We then spent the next eight hours not leaving Missouri — our route taking us all the way across the state to St. Louis, then south for several more hours — before before finally crossing into Arkansas and then Tennessee as the sun was setting.

It was dark by the time we parked at our Mississippi campsite, but this didn’t keep us from setting up camp — which in our case meant plugging in the car (see the blurry pic below I decided actually looks like art), putting a campfire on the dash screen and eating a late dinner while looking out at where we knew the lake had to be. We also looked over the wedding preview I’d blogged on our drive, making good use of all those hours on the road!

day 2 • 03.31.24

car camping >>> cabin

This was the view we awoke to on Easter, and it was a familiar one, as we’d stayed at Wallace Creek Campground for two nights our previous trip. And just like last year, it surrounded us with leaves on the trees after we’d left bare limbs behind the morning before.

We spent several hours here before driving several more hours south, arriving at a little cabin in Mississippi woods. Because although the beach was our ultimate destination, we couldn’t pass up a chance to visit the forest too.

day 3 • 04.01.24

a long walk in the woods

We’d been longing for a long hike for a long time time and finally made it happen, trekking almost 10 miles through this forest. It was beautiful, but strangely, we did not see a single bird or mammal the entire time — other than one other lone hiker Seth almost karate-chopped in self-defense when he suddenly showed up on the trail behind us.

day 4 • 04.02.24

beach-bound & bamahenge

This was a work day for me, but the view from my office that morning was pretty wonderful! A lot of our day was spent in the car, where we discovered a stowaway shortly into our trip. We stopped to let him out and again later on at Alabama’s version of Stonehenge (as well as at some nearby art installations) — because I’m pretty sure you aren’t roadtripping right if a sight called Bamahenge is more or less along your route and you don’t make an effort to see it!

By the time we made it to our hotel on Pensacola Beach, the weather was cool and windy — but fortunately, the on-site pool was heated and entirely ours.

day 5 • 04.03.24

Pensacola >>> Panama City

Another workday and another unbeatable “office” view, as well as another leg of our trip — this one to a campsite in St. Andrew’s State Park, just a few miles from Panama City Beach. I wrapped up my work in time to finally set foot on sand and to see the sun set over the ocean.

day 6 • 04.04.24

a blustery day at the beach

The windy weather we’d had the previous day or so continued — warranting double red flags to signal hazardous conditions at sea. But this didn’t keep us from boarding a ferry to Shell Island, a completely undeveloped stretch of white-sand beach. We enjoyed a few hours there before returning to our campsite for showers and then dinner at a pizza place a short drive away. After that, we were back at the beach for sunset — because although we may not have had the best beach weather, the ocean is awesome under any conditions.

day 7 • 04.05.24

Panama City >>> Pensacola

Before starting back toward Pensacola, we took a walk to explore the wildlife at the state park where we were staying — and discovered its Gator Lake was appropriately named! We also saw a heron, an anhinga, some dolphins and even a great horned owl nesting in a tall tree beside the docks.

Back in Pensacola, we returned to the campground at Gulf Islands National Seashore where we stayed last year. We’re fond of this spot and found it every bit as beautiful as we’d remembered.

day 8 • 04.06.24

a dolphin cruise & one last beach day

We started the day with a dolphin cruise on Pensacola Bay and were lucky enough to see a newborn swimming alongside its mom. Then it was back to the beach to soak in our last little bit of sand, surf and collecting seashells.

day 9 • 04.07.24

Hotel Iris >>> Holiday Inn

A little backstory: When we took this trip last year, we’d just gotten our Model Y and hadn’t yet settled on a name. But this year, after purchasing a red Model 3 last fall and naming it Flash, our Y does have a name: Iris West, after The Flash’s love interest in the comic book series of the same name. (Never mind that neither of us knew much at all about this series before drawing naming inspiration from it.)

Anyway, all that is to explain that while the Y’s everyday identity is Iris, her car camping identity is Hotel Iris. We grew pretty accustomed to her accommodations, complete with skylight, after four straight nights — so checking into a Holiday Inn on this evening was a stark contrast!

In between was a nine-hour drive with some adventures of its own, including our first stop at a Buc-ees, an unexpected alligator sighting along a Louisiana backroad and a town called Transylvania that came complete with an appropriately creepy, abandoned elementary school. Much of this went unphotographed, as you can capture only so much from a moving car. But suffice to say, it was a long and sometimes strange trip.

day 10 • 04.08.24

a total solar eclipse

Finally we arrived at the capstone occasion of this trip: Our day in the path of totality of a total solar eclipse! We knew there was a good chance we wouldn’t have as ideal of conditions as we did for the total eclipse we saw at home in 2017, but we were fortunate to get another bright, sunny day. And this time, we experienced totality for more than four minutes.

The photos here span from about 20 minutes before totality started until about 30 minutes after it ended. But lighting-wise, it looks like they could have spanned a full day rather than less than an hour!

Seth booked our hotel room in Conway, Arkansas, for $76.50 per night a year ago — which seemed quite a steal compared to the $450 per night we heard was the going rate for last-minute bookings. And the hotel also turned out to be in a great location, with a nature preserve just a short walk away that offered a perfect backdrop for this (almost) once-in-a-lifetime experience.

day 11 • 04.09.24

homeward bound

We were especially thankful for the sunny conditions we’d had the day before when we woke up to clouds and rain this day. And we were thankful, too, for a safe trip home — where Iris was greeted with irises in bloom and almost immediately got a much-deserved wash.

I'm a print-journalist-turned-wedding-photographer who fully believes in the value of telling true stories beautifully. By means of a camera, I am a curator so my clients can be keepers of their most important moments.

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all rights reserved