Feeling Free Fridays Tallahassee, FL
Marlo Moody Photography - Moody Family Truck Top Tent Adventures
Indian Pass Beach, Florida December 2022
Indian Pass Beach Campground, December 2022 - Our 1st Truck Top Tent Adventure
Nine years ago, I picked up a Canon camera that my thoughtful groom had purchased for me on our one-year anniversary. It was at this specific moment, my eyes were wiery with the lack of sleep a newborn brings with its marvelous gift, and my heart was full of unconditional love at the exact moment pondering numerous unknowns about my life. Without thinking, I turned on the camera and found myself! A person that had been focused on eating the right foods, taking the correct brand of vitamins, and experiencing my first childbirth. It was at this point, with the gentle hands of my beloved sister and the guiding words of my hubby that I finally figured out breastfeeding. I have stacks of parenting, breastfeeding, and sleep training books beside my bedside while watching the sleeping newborn Owen. I was simultaneously thinking “I actually get to watch this human grow”. A fleeting thought made me catch my breath and I realized with the new camera in my hand that I wanted to document our lives. His life. Our future children’s lives. This is where the tiny creative spark occurred for me. An outlet that I never knew I needed until it was in my arms.
Welcome to my personal feeling-free Friday blog! This is my space. These words and images are for me. I am not an author. I’m notorious for misspelled words or not using the correct comma. Everyone is welcome to explore my raw, real, refreshing, romantic, rollercoaster life that God has truly incredibly gifted me. I’m hoping to document my beautifully imperfect family’s adventures with our Truck Top Tent. I have always been a lover of reading and expressing myself creatively through my lens. I’m going to try for myself and hopefully for my family to express our lives in words along the way too. My heart truly sees beauty everywhere. Beauty is in all of us! Light is in all of us. Even in sad, raw, big emotions, I strive to witness beauty because all of our emotions are beautiful. We have the opportunity to evolve within our emotions if we allow ourselves. Unleashing my core creative side while expressing family adventures is the purpose behind this blog. Openly document these moments so my aging memory doesn’t forget. So, Mike and I can be snuggling at the young age of 85 and reliving our adventures and laughing over my pictures.
December 26, 2022, the Moody crew successfully loaded up after way too many curse words, two very big “what did we do” moments exchanged between husband and wife, and a dog plus two giggly kiddos ready to launch into this Truck Top Tent Moody Adventure. We headed towards Indian Pass Campground which is sandwiched between Apalachee, Florida, and Port Saint Joe Florida. One of our favorite beaches for spring break and our location for an anniversary getaway! With only one general store and one restaurant ( Indian Pass Raw Bar) plus the gorgeous beaches that is all that is available and it is perfect for our getaways! We have so many memories and now I am wishing that I started this documentary blogging earlier. We absolutely love Indian Pass Beach! We pulled in around 8:30 pm and quickly opened our Truck Top Tent to get ready for our first night in the uncharacteristic cold Florida weather. That night was called to get as low as 17 degrees. We didn’t realize our rented campsite was looking out at the ocean but also next to a very busy oyster business. That was a very early wake-up alarm with the fishermen driving up. Good morning Indian Pass!
First night down, first cup of coffee making, and the kids are helping get our campsite organized. We definitely brought way way way to much but somehow not enough. Reminder for self: Owen and Letha Kate are big snackers. I definitely didn’t plan enough snacks. Notes for “next camping trip” on my iPhone have already been started less than 24 hours into our camping trip. Our first day was to lay out our campsite and explore the campground. We rented a golf cart to explore the beaches and be able to go to the general store (a big hit with the kids) and enjoy Indian Pass Raw Bar!
My deep creative goal is to pull my big camera out and freeze our raw moments during our camping adventures. When I started editing I couldn’t believe the actual real moments that I managed to snag while living this camping life for a week. Though I didn’t take enough pictures because I was truly focused on being present with the family I did manage to capture emotional raw moments and what our camp set-up looked like. The week was filled with hammock time, crafts on the picnic table, fishing along the beach that provided dinner a few nights, cooking over the campfire, lots of doggie playtime for Duke, and of course meeting new people along the way. (Hi to Nashville Brenda!) Cheers to more Truck Top Tent camping in 2023! The next time is unknown but hoping in March for Spring Break!
