Hi Leslie! I recently signed up to CI. Always looking for great areas to camp in Washington. Your photos are beautiful! Do you happen to know of a group that welcomes singles? I don't always have someone that wants to go with and I hesitate to camp alone. Borrowing my friend's poochie isn't always the safest.
Are there many folks that camp in groups? Thank you so much. ~Andrea

I put up a few new state groups you might be interested in -- Indiana (http://www.campersindex.com/group/indiana), Alaska (http://www.campersindex.com/group/alaska), and Canada (http://www.campersindex.com/group/canada)... please stop by and join us!

Hi Leslie....sorry, haven't been on this site for awhile.....You asked about the causeway to DI......actually there isn't a causeway, but the bridge was out for awhile...they built it back better than ever. The west end of the island was wiped out from Katrina in '05. There are very few houses left out there. There is much erosion and Sand Island is now pretty much attached to west end. It was such a waste of personal property.I remember the ice cream parlor very well. I was living in Connecticut in the 70's, but a friend and I drove down to Mobile with our kids and we spent some time on DI and at that ice cream parlor. We got the kids ice cream cones and they melted down their arms before they could eat them..it was so hot and it was in the spring.
My aunt and uncle's second house was on that canal you are talking about. He used to take me and my brother floundering on the gulf at night with big lanterns and a gig. I grew up on all that fresh seafood as he also had a fishing boat and we would drag a net and get lots of goodies.
My husband and I go crabbing with string, chix wings and nets now, but our cooking is more sofisticated than an old popcorn popper...lol! He takes the backs off the crab and cleans out the goo before we get home and we boil them up with lots of Old Bay seasoning, garlic, lemon and sometimes beer. We had a haul of 57 of those beauties one time when we were at the Gulf State Park...it was in January after a warm rain and we were getting 2 and 3 at a time. What a blast.
I was wondering if you are on Facebook? Maybe we could friend each other if you are on.....I go by the same full name if you want to look me up.
Well, we are finally getting rain. It has been so dry here.
Take care and hope you are well and happy!
Cindy

I grew up in Mobile so Dauphin Island was my home away from home. Some of my family, an aunt and uncle, had a getaway house on the Island so I grew up there as well. When I was a teen, there were many a beach party I attended. Ironically, my uncle died as an indirect result of hurricane Frederic. When that bridge was out, he had to go by boat to the mainland for supplies and his boat hit floating debris from the storm and he was drowned.
I have such wonderful memories of that island growing up. I'm glad you got to visit there and from your experience, you'll always remember it!! BTW...we LOVE crab claws. It is a specialty here, but really hard to find in south Florida, if you can believe that!!
We live on the eastern part of Alabama near Pensacola so we haven't been by boat to Dauphin Island. We spend our time in Florida waters a lot of the time.
Leslie, do you live in Indiana? Our neighbors are from there and all their family still lives up there. They love it here and can't even think of living in cold weather again.
But, like you, I absolutlely love mountain camping. We did a lot of that when we lived in Vegas. I miss it and can understand why you love it so much. Have you ever been to the Shenandoah area? It's really beautiful there. There are so many places I'd like to visit and camp in this country!

Tugman is between Reedsport & Coos Bay on the Oregon coast, it's right off 101 so it's easy to find. It's about an 8 - 10 hour drive from our house (depending on traffic.) When we first started going there it was pretty empty, but last few years it has become more popular, word has definitely gotten out about this place. We spend 7-10 days there every summer.

Thanks for writing back! We are on the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama and boat in Florida as well. That pic of the tent in the wind was taken when one of the hurricanes was in the gulf...I think Ike...I can't remember exactly. It was an experience. The only reason our tent stayed up was my husband and a friend added another stake. Our friends tent was almost flat on them. To add to the excitement, it also rained. The noise of the wind whipping the tent was unbelieveable...my husband said it was like sleeping inside a potato chip bag...lol!!
We did a lot of camping when we lived out west....great times!!! I do miss that but love being on these wonderful beaches here.
Take care, Cindy

My pic so far is just one the site assigned. I just realized that I haven't posted one of my own. lol I think I should do that. :)

Great pics, looks like you get to camp in some Beautiful places.
(of course I love the ones with horses :) )

I just love your camping pix! We are tent campers, as well.