Eastbank Campground at Lake Seminole

We made it to Florida! And then we left…

We wanted to stay at the Florida State Park that is on the west bank of Lake Seminole but it was full. Actually, nearly every Florida State Park was booked solid for the winter. On the other side of Lake Seminole we found a campground run by the US Army Corps of Engineers called Eastbank, which is in Georgia.

“The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is an engineer formation of the United States Army that has three primary mission areas: engineer regiment, military construction, and civil works…The civil works staff oversee construction, operation, and maintenance of dams, canals and flood protection in the U.S., as well as a wide range of public works throughout the world.” – Wikipedia

“The Corps of Engineers is the nation’s largest provider of outdoor recreation, operating more than 2,500 recreation areas at 463 projects (mostly lakes) and leasing an additional 1,800 sites to state or local park and recreation authorities or private interests. USACE hosts about 360 million visits a year at its lakes, beaches and other areas, and estimates that 25 million Americans (one in ten) visit a Corps’ project at least once a year. Supporting visitors to these recreation areas generates 600,000 jobs.” – Wikipedia

We really enjoyed the COE campground. There was a lot of space between sites, it was well maintained, and the people we met were very friendly.

the eastern bank of Lake Seminole in Georgia

We stayed here March 15-17, 2021 so some trees were starting to bloom. It was beautiful to see the bright pink flowers against a backdrop of fresh green leaves. And Spanish Moss hung randomly around in the trees. Oddly, Spanish Moss is neither a moss nor native to Spain. It is a flowering plant that grows upon larger trees and is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern United States, West Indies and is also naturalized in Queensland (Australia). And it is known as “grandpas beard” in French Polynesia.

In October, 2018, Hurricane Michael came ashore as the first Category 5 storm to strike the US since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The damage is still visible around Lake Seminole. We noticed large areas where trees were twisted and broken as we drove in. Once inside the campground you could see some of the damage near the entrance gate.

We pulled out our camp chairs on our first night. The next day when we were moving them we discovered a small frog that jumped in to the back and was settling in. Cute little guy but he couldn’t stay with us.