As we pulled into our campsite at Three Rivers State Park in Sneads, Florida on Saturday December 23rd, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of this spot. We were parked at the top of a small rise looking out over Lake Seminole. There was a fishing pier straight down from our site and there were people fishing and tons of birds on the water. I was so happy that John had booked this for us – I always want waterfront sites but they are usually already booked or more expensive so John typically doesn’t schedule them. This definitely felt like a Christmas gift in itself and I could not think of a better place to end our first full year on the road and start the new year off right.
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day just relaxing around the campground and enjoying the incredible scenery. The camp hosts at this park, Tom and Julie, were the absolute best and we enjoyed speaking with them and other campers.
On Christmas Day, we started off with a nice breakfast of sausage and cinnamon rolls then we exchanged gifts. Living in a tiny house means that we have to be very mindful of purchases so we don’t typically exchange gifts for any holidays – we usually go out for a nice meal and do something fun (Maine Lobster Festival for my birthday, Weeki Wachee for John’s) but we had opted for a quiet couple of days at home and decided a small gift exchange would be fun.
I got a cute pair of pink boots stuffed with candy, meats and crackers, and chocolates which were expertly wrapped in a Walmart reusable bag. John got some baking pans for baguettes and buns, a dough lame for scoring artisanal bread loaves, and a Danish whisk (a tiny bit selfish because I LOVE when he bakes bread). I also commissioned a picture for him and he seemed to like it, too. The artist, Joey Russell, did an AMAZING job showing John in his happy place – his hammock in the woods with our dog keeping him company.
We had a large snack spread for lunch consisting of BBQ Little Smokies, Ham and Cheese sliders, macaroni salad and cookies. John went all out for dinner and made steaks with the most amazing potatoes! We spent the day watching Christmas movies and playing with Harley and the cats.
On the 29th, we took Harley and drove over to Falling Waters State Park to see the waterfall and sinkholes. The waterfall only had a “moderate flow” according to the sign at the park entrance (it looked like a little trickle to us) but it was still neat. There were SO MANY sinkholes in the park.
We also enjoyed walking the trails through the woods and sitting by the lake.
Later that evening after we got home, John had taken Harley out for a walk when he called me and told me to come outside. I found him down on the fishing pier staring out at the water. It was a clear and quiet night and the moon was shining brightly over the lake. It was one of the prettiest things I have ever seen.
On New Year’s Eve, we set out for one final adventure for 2023 – visiting the Florida Caverns in nearby Marianna, Florida. We explored the main part of the park for a bit then took the paid tour of the large caverns. It was tough going at times (even I had to walk stopped over at some points so I can’t imagine how it felt for people of a normal height!) but it was really cool to see the different rock and mineral formations.
We got to see formations known as “Donald Duck”, “The Wedding Chapel” room, and “The Cathedral”. For a rock nerd like me, this was an excellent adventure.
I also faced my fears and crawled through a smaller cave outside of the large underground caverns. I was able to walk through most of it but, at the end, did have to drop to hands and knees and crawl through. Of course, John got a few pictures to commemorate the experience.
We rang in the new year quietly at home (asleep) and spent the first week of 2024 enjoying the campground at Three Rivers. It was such a refreshing, calm place to be able to reflect on the last year and consider our hopes, dreams and plans for the future. We absolutely hated to leave this beautiful spot but it was time to move on to Alabama for the first of our month long stays.
I took SO MANY PICTURES at Three Rivers – please enjoy:
