Weekend at Jetty Park
Last weekend we packed up the camper and went to Jetty Park Campgrounds in Port Canaveral with the Bingley and Stella. This is what I consider our first “real” trip out in the camper and we stayed Friday and Saturday night. I think we were even more excited this time than our test trip to Fort Wilderness. We are still so new to this but felt a little more prepared when packing up the camper. We had left a lot of the essentials in the camper, so we did not have to repack everything. We added a couple of essentials including the outdoor mat, a griddle, a grill, and an outside trash can. This trip also involved a slightly longer drive, so an opportunity to get used to hauling the camper with our car. The driving part is all Matt per our agreement when making this investment, and from my perspective you would think he has been doing this for a long time. There was that moment when backing into the campsite that I thought we were going to have that inevitable “sorry for what I said when we were backing in the camper”, but thankfully we both kept our mouths shut and did not have to apologize.
We spent the weekend listening to the ocean breeze and waves splashing. Although, you couldn’t see the water from our site, you could walk a short distance to the inlet where we walked down the fishing pier, enjoyed the view, and the beach. We walked over to the inlet with our camp chairs to watch all of the cruise ships departing. We were lucky and the man sitting next to us had a radio to listen to the harbor master and ship captains throughout the process. Of course, now my husband wants a radio too. We drove up the road to Fish Lips and enjoyed a delicious lunch and drink right on the water. The rest of the time, we sat around at the campsite, enjoying the atmosphere. Matt cooked breakfast using the griddle including potatoes, sausage, and eggs. We grilled chicken and corn for dinner. The dogs LOVED the new outdoor mat and felt much more comfortable this time watching all of the activity. Bingley and Stella behaved fairly well. They were a little uneasy and couldn’t contain all of their barks, but overall I do not think we were disruptive to other campers. And as an unexpected turn of events, I won the cornhole game… by A LOT.
We both really enjoyed the campgrounds. The staff running the grounds were delightful, it was clean, the bathroom facilities were clean, and it was a close walk to the beach, pier, and inlet. The sites were close together without a lot of “woods” to create a sense of privacy. Matt likes the woodsy feel a bit better than this setup. Some of the sites had a bit more privacy than ours, but that was likely why ours was available with short notice. Jetty Park outside of the campgrounds has a huge set up with pavilion rentals and a store with all of your needs for a day at the beach or fishing. The campgrounds allowed us to take our dogs, but there are no dogs allowed outside of the campgrounds or on the beach. We will go back to this location!
Our biggest take-a-way from this trip was campsite etiquette. We all must be aware that we cannot let our fun impact others at the campgrounds. Unfortunately, we were right next to a family gathering there for a weekend of fun and they were loud. They were really nice and even came over and introduced themselves. The dad said he knew they could get loud, so just to let him know if it was too much and they would dial it back. But it was a large family group, listening to music, drinking, and having all the fun. We did ask them to lower their music one time, but it just kept creeping up in volume. I am certain if this was my family or friends all together, we could easily have been this group. This would have been easier if they were rude or disrespectful, but they were not, so we did not complain. But the truth is this impacted our day and the peace we had hoped for on this trip. This experience will remind me every time to think about our activity and the impacts on others that are so very close.
Stay tuned… we cannot wait to get back out for our next weekend getaway!!!!
