Okefenokee Swamp GA

It was a lovely day today, sunny and in the 80s. We left the RV and headed for Okefenokee Swamp Park. This is the north entrance and is a contract, non-profit run park. At first glance, it seems to be showing its age, created in 1945. The entrance building is newer and more modern, but some of the buildings and boardwalks are not as well-kept as they might be. Our first disappointment was that the little café promised on the website was closed, so we went without lunch. We did buy some crackers and survived on that.

We wandered around and saw a river otter and some alligators. They had some exhibit buildings including one about Walt Kelly and his cartoon character Pogo. At noon we went to a nature show in an old amphitheater. The young woman who gave the talk was personable and mainly talked about local snakes. She had some non-venomous snakes and a couple of baby alligators. At one, we took a 30 minute boat ride through part of the swamp. That was lovely, and we saw some more alligators.

The train ride that comes with admission was not going to run for another hour, so we walked to the Pioneer Island and looked at some old settler buildings and then left. We got home about 4 after 120 mile round trip. We were glad we had gone, but I doubt we would go back. At 5:30 we went to the Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, Osaka, that we like so much. We had some sake and a great sushi called Dynamite. It was a salmon, tuna, crab, and cream cheese rolled in nori, battered with tempura batter and fried. It was quite tasty. Then we had the teppanyaki – two shrimp appetizers, soup, salad, grilled veggies, fried rice. I got a rib eye, and Bill got a filet, shrimp, and chicken. It was all delicious and inexpensive. We were quite full when we came on home. Bill did a load of towels, and then we settled in for the night.