Saving Port St. Joe

We love the Florida Panhandle. The tourism industry has lots of labels for it: “The Forgotten Coast”, “Old Florida,” “Florida as it Was,” and so on. The panhandle is populated by generations of oystermen and shrimpers, ship builders, fishing charters and shopkeepers who live in small costal towns, among them Mexico Beach and Port St. …

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College in the Park

Group travel in Yellowstone usually conjures up visions of busloads of elderly tourists decked out with floppy hats, fanny packs and cameras or disaffected teenagers who stand in front of the mountain vistas and text as their chaperones try to motivate them. There are other groups trekking through the park, though you have to be …

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Air Supply

Many years ago (like, 35) I camped in Rocky Mountain National Park with a group of friends. One day we all went for a hike up Twin Sisters mountain. It’s not a terribly technical hike, but it's a lot of up and the summit is well above the tree line. It might have been the …

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Good Paddling: Wakulla River, Florida

As with all my hobbies involving any athleticism I started paddling seriously later in life. When I was in college I spent time on the Youghiogheny and New rivers rafting and kayaking in these inflatable kayaks they called “duckies.” Once I started working I only hit the water a few times on canoe trips or rafting …

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Good Paddling: Saint Joseph Bay, Florida.

In February we stayed at a campground called Presnell’s in the town of Port Saint Joe, located on St. Joseph Bay. The bay is beautiful and protected by a spit of island called Cape San Blas. If you come to Port Saint Joe looking for what Ben calls “trinkets and trash,” there are one or …

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