An Ideal Camping Spot

Back when we lived in Port St Joe I was working on setting up an Herbarium at the St Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve. I did this as a project with the Master Gardeners of Gulf County. When I told Dylan, the manager, that we were leaving he told me if we ever came back by we should let him know, as they had an extra site for volunteers and we were welcome to use it.

Well, we’re back at Port St Joe. And Dylan still had the extra space.

So we are here in the third volunteer space.

The Buffer Preserve Center is a nice building. It used to be a hunting lodge for the private hunting preserve owned by the St Joe Company. It was given to the state as part of a deal where the state moved highway 98 inland so the St Joe Company could build Windmark Beach Development between the highway and the beach. The company also built public beach accesses at either end of that property and turned the old road into a walking/bike path. The land in the Buffer Preserve is being managed by the state to restore the native habitat and help protect the water in St Joseph Bay.

It is certainly a nice place for us to be. This is our back yard.

And this is the view from the window over our sink. The window blind is blocking the edge of the bay,

but the bay is right there.