Grilled Fish in Foil

At our most recent trip to the beach we decided to have some meals with seafood. We had a shrimp boil one night. Then the next we had grilled fish in foil. We used Mahi Mahi but any firm white fish will do. We have done this with grouper, snapper and sea trout as well.
Ingredients:
any firm white fish
salt
1 lime (preferred) or lemon
1/2 med. onion
1 Anaheim pepper (Anaheims are best but any pepper can be used)
olive oil
1 tomato
Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic

Make a foil pan large enough to cover fish. Squeeze lime over both sides of fish. Sprinkle both sides with salt and Chef Paul's Seafood magic. Cut up vegetables and in separate bowl toss with olive oil and a little white wine if you have any. At this stage I also cut up and added the left over shrimp from the night before. Pour over fish. Place foil bag (closed lightly) on grill over hot coals for approx. 20 minutes. At this point, carefully open foil and check fish. If it flakes easily and is no longer opaque inside, it is done. This entire process takes less than 40 minutes, is easy and most of all, DELICIOUS! Enjoy.
I have to give my brother Craig credit for this recipe. He fixed it for us once with some variations from this. Be creative, you can add whatever you like to this dish.
Tip: You can find Chef Paul's seasonings at most groceries or through the Amazon link on this page. I always keep the Seafood magic at home and on the camper. It makes any seafood a culinary delight.

Gamble Rogers State Park

We had the privilege of staying in Gamble Rogers State Park Labor Day week. This park is located in Flagler Beach on the Atlantic Ocean. We were camped at site #17 and what a view we had! All of the Gamble Rogers slide show pictures were taken from our site except one. We were delighted to see all the wild flowers covering the dunes. We could sit at our site watching the ocean and butterflies dancing around the wild flowers. Even though it was still summer, we did not need air conditioning because of a constant cool sea breeze.
We were able to take a short walk across a boardwalk right to the beach. This beach has a unique reddish tint to the sand. It was clean and not at all crowded. Many times we would walk the shore and not pass a soul. We swam, fished and took long walks along the shore. We watched the moon rise over the ocean the first night there and it was a beautiful sight to behold. We took a night time walk and could plainly make our way by the moonlight.
Many people were surf fishing and Whiting seemed to be what was running at the time. The park also has a side on the river where there is a boat ramp and fishing dock. In the river you can fish for Redfish, Whiting, Mangrove Snapper and Trout.
Most of the sites do not offer much privacy but if you, like us, enjoy watching the surf and sea, that was not a problem. Due to the sea breeze we were not bothered by any bugs, biting or otherwise. The restrooms were clean and well maintained. There is a dish washing station and per the Park staff there will soon be a washer and dryer. It is a small campground which is nestled between highway A1A and the ocean. We were concerned that the proximity to the road would be a noise problem, but it was not. The sound of the ocean waves was the dominate sound and it was wonderful. The campground was very quiet and as usual, the campers were friendly.
Anyone who loves the beach has to make this one of their camping destinations. We slept all night under the sea breeze and awoke to sound of surf and the sunrise coming in the window each morning. We hated to leave and definitely plan to return.
The Happy Camper recommends this campground. But keep an eye on the weather, especially in hurricane season. We had a storm blow up quickly and sent our awning sailing over the top of our camper. Luckily we only suffered a couple bent poles.

An Angry Mother

We love to hike when on camping trips. During one trip to Blue Spring we decided to take a trail along the river. It was spring time and everything was lush and green. We were looking forward to a nice long morning hike to work up an appetite for lunch. Only a few minutes into our hike we spotted a female wild turkey. This is not unusual. What was unusual was that she did not run. They are extremely shy and once spotted, soon vanish. This one however stayed put and we soon discovered why. There directly at the base of a tree in front of us were several of her chicks. They were so adorable. They were huddled together and peeping. We felt so fortunate to be able to witness this rare scene. I was dying to get a closer look and take some pictures but every time we got closer, mama clearly got upset. The tree they were huddled under was right on the trail and mama was about 15 feet ahead of us. We decided to just walk quietly several feet around them and resume our hike. We figured mama would just run off in the woods. Well she ran, but not in the woods. She came running, flapping and cackling at us. For a split second I froze but not my husband, he went running past me in a blur. I turned and followed with the turkey at our heels. Once out of the woods we laughed so hard and so long it hurt. It was hilarious. Two grown hikers chased out of the woods by a turkey. Lesson learned: don't mess with mama, any mama!