Fla. Panhandle, January 2017, Panama City Beach part 1

Thursday, Jan. 19-Friday, Jan. 20

We checked into our apartment. It is in a highrise building, The Summit, which we generally dislike. This one was nice and quiet, it being waaaay off-season here. We were on the third floor, very near the staircase so we often used those instead of the elevator.

Not such a bad view from the balcony.

Friday we enjoyed the sunrise and then went out for an early morning beach walk.

Too true, sadly....

And Friday evening we got a foretaste of what was approaching....

Fla. Panhandle, January 2017, St. George Island S.P.

Still Thursday, January 19.

We drove west, along the Gulf, and fortunately the fog eventually cleared up. In fact, it turned into an absolutely beautiful day.

Near Apalachicola (yes, I had to look it up to get the spelling right), we turned south and crossed a long bridge to the barrier island of St. George. AT the western tip is the St. George Island State Park, and I think we had it all to ourselves.

The softest white sand imaginable!

Absolutely heavenly!

It's not a beach if you don't stick your toes in the water:

We still had enough food left over from yesterday's picnic that we were able to have another one, with a great view of the beach.

We were well behaved and didn't share with this sea gull, although he was eager to join in!

I later learned that this beach and island are known for a lot of sand dollars. Does this mean I found fifty cents worth?

Fla. Panhandle, January 2017, Bald Point State Park

Thursday, January 19.

I will stop writing that we woke up early, as we always do anyway and especially when suffering from jet lag after flying to the US.

After breakfast in the hotel, we headed south to the Gulf of Mexico. We have found out that Florida has some truly wonderful state parks, so our first stop was at the Bald Point State Park.

Early morning, foggy and eerily beautiful!

The fog got even heavier!

That didn't stop me from finding wildlife on the beach, though!

Across the way you can take a boardwalk through the swamp. Equally neat with the fog!

Fla. Panhandle, January 2017, Wakulla Part 2

After the boat ride, it was lunch time. We had shopped earlier and so got the picnic items out of the car and headed to the picnic area. Although we may also have eaten before the boat ride, come to think of it......

This is of course, a natural spring, and you can swim here. Bit cold at the moment, though.

And you do have to keep an eye out for the local wildlife:

From here we drove to Crawfordville. Let me just say that much of this area is not developed, extremely rural and sometimes rather creepy! Crawfordville was quite nice, though, and we walked through an interesting antique store.

Then south of town to the Best Western Plus Wakulla Springs Inn and Suites. Lovely place with a central courtyard, which the weather prevented us from enjoying.

We decided on barbecue for dinner and took the recommendation to try this place:

We can highly recommend it!

And like this sign, thought of Lucas when we saw it :-)