Louisiana has been trying to get Palmetto Island State Park open for 30 years and now it’s set to happen on October 28, 2010. Our wait is finally over according to the September 30, 2010 release from the Lieutenant Governor. Check the .pdf here.
They do have a strange joint funding plan in the works, and I hope that gets done so they can keep it open. They plan on forming a public-private deal with the Community Foundation of Acadiana, area officials, the Vermilion Tourism Commission, and other community organizations to seek private funds.
They see this joint relationship as a model for the future, and only time will tell if works and can be spread to other Parks suffering from low funds.
We went out to give the boat a run June 25th and wound up at Palmetto Island State Park. Of course we all know it’s finished but there is no money to open it. There are even signs up on the local highways saying Palmetto Island Park and right under that is a sign that says “Park Closed”.
We just eased up in the slip and took a few pictures. The word is that there are a couple of caretakers hired to watch over the buildings. It’s a real shame that all the years of waiting and the millions spent have resulted in a park for buzzards.
My grandson couldn’t wait until I finished taking the pictures so that he could try to holler and scare the buzzards, but they knew they where safe and stayed put.
We think that this Sun Mountain Umbrella or something similar would be handy if you are camping with babies. It’s real important to keep too much sun from their delicate skin.
They are kind of hard to find on camping related websites, but we found one on In The Hole which is a golf site.
They have brackets that you can get that would allow you to mount the umbrella on the handle of a parked stroller, but you may want to just cut a pole and lash it on with some twine.
Who knows you might get to use it in a rain shower, but I’m thinking that bringing it along for sun protection would be the main purpose.
I’m not a big fan of putting my sports heroes on the wall, but we have been needing some motivation to keep us focused on doing more camping.
It seems like a big wall image of our favorite spot at Indian Creek would be great at reminding us what’s important in life. I was surprised that you could upload an image of that special campsite view to Fathead and order one of their custom “Make Your Own Fathead” wall decals to display in your house.
They have several sizes and prices, but the cheapest that I could find on their site was $59.95 for a 2′ X 3′ Fathead. They have a nice interface for you to upload your photo image and select the size that you can afford.
This looks to be the ideal lantern for inside or outside the tent. The 4 D-cell batteries have a life of 168 hours and it’s non-glaring so you can put it inside and not blind people.
You don’t have to worry about any of the problems associated with using a fuel burning lantern indoors. It would be great to have handy and I’m thinking of getting one before the hurricane season arrives.
You would probably want a little smaller version if you need to hike in as this model ways 1.5 lbs. It’s advertised for lighting a 45ft diameter area. It’s $79.95 at campsaver.com.
We are friends with a camping couple that just recently had a daughter get married. The neat thing was that instead of giving the Best Man and Groomsmen little womanly do dads and knickknacks they gave them pocket knives.
This is a camping family from way back and I guess they knew that the men in the wedding where outdoor types. The Groomsmen got a fairly inexpensive Bantam Swiss Army Knife from Summit Hut that cost around $15.00.
They spent a little more on the Best Man and he got the Classic Swiss Army
for right at $21.00. These prices where right in line with what folks are spending on junk gifts that you will never use.
I think the whole idea is noteworthy as a reminder that for the camping minded there all kind of ideas for the gifts that we have to buy throughout the year.
This is about a neat merchant we wanted to highlight called Play Outdoors that sells outdoor gear just for kids, babies, and toddlers.
It’s not everywhere that you will see clothing and gear for the tiny ones like this Patagonia Puff-Ball Baby Bunting. Heck how often do you even hear the word bunting anymore.
There is not much use in saying a lot here when you can see for yourself by checking out Play Outdoors.
When camping with the family we find it’s always easy to find stuff to do during the daytime but harder at night. That’s where we find a telescope comes in handy to explore the wonders of the night sky.
This GALILEO Refractor Telescope found at Stacks And Stacks is a little over a hundred dollars and will get you thinking.
A telescope works a lot better where the sky is dark without the reflection of all the city lights. What better time to reflect with your children on the vastness of the universe?
My daughter opted for some really large binoculars that show the moon real well and also bring the planets in closer too. They serve a dual purpose as they are great for observing wildlife at a distance. She has a little tripod to go with it to steady things up.
Last week I was called to Lafayette to visit my uncle who was camped at the KOA. He has one of those nice giant motor coaches. It’s the kind that country music stars travel around in and do concerts.
While I was there he invited me to have coffee and I was sure we were going into his big camper. I was surprised to see that he was cooking it outside without a fire. He had a butane coffeemaker made by Brunton.
The coffee maker was called a BrewFire and while thinking it might be expensive he said that it was priced at a little bit over $100. It brews up to a maximum of 8 cups in between 10 and 12 minutes.
You can use either a 1 pound propane bottle or 4 ounce to 16 ounce butane canisters. It had a real nice stainless steel carafe. I don’t know why but coffee always tastes better when cooked outside.
Looks like camping at Plametto Island State Park will have to wait a while now. I saw an AP article today by Melinda Deslatte in which she states:
But parks officials said Tuesday that Palmetto Island won’t be able to open later this year as scheduled, based on the funding proposed in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s budget recommendations.
Stuart Johnson, assistant secretary of the Office of State Parks, told the Senate Finance Committee that the governor’s budget wouldn’t pay for the new park’s opening and would force other parks to close.
I had been thinking about running my boat down the Vermilion to check on the status of the long awaited park, but I guess it’s no use for now.
