PCB

sugar white soft sand of Panama City Beach

short trip to PCB - okay if you like traffic and LOTS of people!

rainy day playlist

the thunder rolls

as morning has broken

here in the beach house

watching Pandora pong

back and forth on the tv

a modern day mixed tape

listening to a playlist

based on our favorite artist

thank god he's a country boy

I wonder what John thinks

of sharing air time with the rocket man

and piano man and sweet baby James

lyrics that were written back

when songs told stories

maybe he is smiling down

along with Croce and Harrison

glad that their tunes

are still alive and well

morning has broken

as the thunder rolls

listening to snippets of old songs

makes me smile

and sad at the same time

some good ones gone too soon

if only I could save time in a bottle

or sail through the changin' ocean tides

or feel the sunshine on my shoulders

look! here comes the sun

the forgotten coast

Saint George Island Lighthouse (note the thunderhead boiling up)

Saint George Island Beach

 thunderstorm arrives

Took a short road trip southeast along the coast, through Apalachicola, out to St. George Island. It was a beautiful sunny day when we arrived but it didn't take long to get stormy, but we were just out sightseeing so no problem. The island is mostly rental houses, mostly full. Saw lots of small boats in Apalachicola Bay, not fishing, but harvesting oysters. The 'oystermen' now called 'tongers', use tongs (driving by it looked like posthole diggers to me) to bring the oysters up. 

oyster boat at Apalachia museum

This area was dubbed 'Florida's Forgotten Coast' in the early 1990s - south of Panama City Beach, from Mexico Beach to Carabelle, including Port St. Joe where we are staying. From the amount of people here I think they can change the name now. We were here 5 years ago and the little town of Port St. Joe was quiet - the only grocery store fairly empty. On our first day here this time we went to the Piggly Wiggly to get groceries and it was so crowded we just turned around and left, went back later in the day. The clerk said it has been this way for the last couple of years from Memorial Day to October. So the Forgotten Coast? I don't think so. 

By the way - the Piggly Wiggly folks are very nice. They have fresh seafood and will steam shrimp at no extra cost with your choice of seasoning, takes 5 minutes, best shrimp I ever tasted.

this cracks me up every time we drive by... seriously?

unplugging

beach entertainment

waiting on sunset

 

lets go fly a kite

Rain and storms come and go, but you know what they say - it's Florida, if you don't like the weather just wait a few minutes and it will change. Lots of R&R time, still having trouble unplugging... keep looking for a clock and then realizing it doesn't matter. No live TV here, just streaming movies... forced withdrawal from the real world :). During the rainy day did a little reading, watched lots of movies, then out to wait on the sunset. It didn't put on the anticipated show, but anytime sitting on the beach is a good time. Supper was Beach Pizza - not our usual pepperoni, try something different for vacation - The Key West: Ham, mushrooms, bell peppers, onion, shrimp, pineapple...mmm.

life is good

view from Constitution park to the Gulf

The first of Florida's five constitutions was drafted by a convention that met on December 3, 1838 here in Port Saint Joe, the site now the Constitution Convention Museum State Park.

Centennial Building and old train from Saint Joe Lumber Company

Old Saint Joseph Cemetery with many prominent Florida statesmen, mass grave sites of yellow fever victims in unmarked graves, along with the ship captain who brought the yellow fever epidemic from the Antilles in 1841.

Our first day - sightseeing, local history, beach time, eating fresh steamed shrimp - mmm life is good at the beach!

the beach house

We arrived at the beach house of nieces Heidi and Lisa just before midnight on Saturday, driving south after the wedding through rural Sweet Home Alabama and along the forgotten coast of upper Florida.

The nieces graciously offered to share their place in Port Saint Joe. Several family members have been here and they all describe it the same - it is so peaceful!

The house is almost cabin-like with the dark pine paneling, the old iron bedstead of Mamaw and Papaw Tidwell, but definitely Florida-like in the other furnishings and decorations.

I had seen a picture of Lisa's artwork pictured above, but this is the first time seeing it in person. What a talent we have acquired in Lisa!

When asked how she did this, her description: "Susan, I printed quote using specific font, tedious we cut out with razor blade, stenciled and painted one letter at a time. Sketched and painted the scene. Pallet wood came from Sue's.  The quote came out of a book that Heidi found in her grandparents stuff. I started reading it and just thought that if I could be a writer those words would have been mine; they capture my exact thoughts."

gulf beach memories

Remember when at the Gulf beaches...

the sand was so white and clean

the only thing you sidestepped were seashells

the only worry was an afternoon cloudburst

the rainbow colors were in the sky - not the water

the fireball on the horizon was just the setting sun

Remembering the Gulf Coast beaches, hopefully they will be pristine again real soon.

~photos St. Joseph State Park, Florida 2009

the blue lagoon

Found in a state park in inland Florida, land of caves and sink holes, swamps and gators… the Blue Hole swimming area stands out with it's jewel colored water.

No one was swimming there, maybe it was a school day, maybe the weather, but it could have possibly been the snapping turtles swimming or the gator sunning on the edge of the water (didn't have my camera that time, duh).

Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna is one of 8 parks in the state built by the CCC back in the 30s. The stone visitor center is a testament to their hard work and craftsmanship.

A nice park to see, camp, hike, take a cave tour, or swim in the blue lagoon...


more pics here

point of view

St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Florida

Going on vacation changes your point of view, puts things into perspective, things like - work isn't life... and you can actually function without cell phone and internet, who knew?


whether you are in search of the perfect seashell... or dinner,

taking time to read a book with your feet in the sand,

riding a bicycle, the wind in your hair, only stopping for the occasional deer,

or just sitting and staring out at the vastness of the ocean...

Camping out at the beach is awesome, from the picnic table covered with collected shells to the sandspurs in your flipflops, it was a great week off... do I really have to go back to work?

back to civilization

The last night of our vacation, we eased back into civilization by staying at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City, Florida. Comparing it to St. Joseph's where we had just spent several days, the campground here was a lot more crowded, and of course lots of traffic getting into the city. The beach was just as nice as St. Joseph's, but was too far from the campground to walk. We did get to eat out at Captain Anderson's Seafood!

The campsite was on the bay, and we discovered this sailboat grounded at our campsite, it looked like it had been there quite a while.

Well, the vacation is over, back to work. I have tried to drag it out as long as possible, don't you just love looking at other folks' vacation photos? Well, good, cause there's some more to see at webshots.

exploring

While bike riding, we discovered the other part of the narrow peninsula, the bay side, with marshes and signs warning of gators (no we did not see any!).

We saw the majestic birds (herons?) fishing in the bay.

Here we also found fiddler crabs with their one oversized claw, and watched them all raise that claw in unison, like some sort of salute. (We later researched this and found this to be a mating ritual).


We rode our bikes along the paved road back to the rental cabins and beyond, where we saw several deer, who were not at all scared, and seemed to posed for our camera.

Our bikes promptly stopped when getting off the pavement into the soft sand, and even though this trail beckoned, it was way too hot to do any hiking!

But we did get to do some geocaching while there!

vacation entertainment

We took long walks on the beach, covering just a small fraction of the long beach. We maybe saw a total of 20 people out there at any one time.

We were entertained by the sand crabs (ghost crabs) darting back and forth on the beach, and the seagulls and other birds scouring the shoreline for food. It soon became an evening ritual to go sit on the beach and watch the sun drop into the ocean.

the real Florida

St. Joseph Peninsula State Park

… the real Florida

A sweeping landscape of towering dunes and untamed wilderness encompassing 2516 acres.

On the gulf of Mexico, 9.5 miles of snow-white sand beaches lapped by clear, aqua-blue waters.

According to the brochure quoted above, the destination of the real Florida sounded very refreshing, especially after our last two Florida vacations in the un-real Orlando area (theme parks, etc.).

Our campsite was facing the sand dunes, and just over the dunes was the ocean. A short walk brought us to the spectacular beach.

The ultimate goal of sand between the toes was met, the beach chairs facing the ocean were comfy, the sunscreen worked well, the weather cooperated, total relaxation was achieved.

beach bums

Ahhh, the white sand,
the cool water,
the sound of the waves,
the beautiful sunsets,
we really did not want to come back.

~photo St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Florida - 2 August 2006