Well today started off by leaving the horror motel and getting the heck out of Panama City. One of the Oddasee watchers informed us that the Florida panhandle is not so affectionately referred to as "The Redneck Riveria." We now know why..... tacky, goofy and just plain too Cancun/Bad Vegas for us. While it was entertaining for a day or so, it felt as if our eyes and brains were not so slowly being corrupted by the explosion of plastic blow-up crapola. Plus the condos and resort hotels were scary ugly generic uninspired sterile monuments to the complete lack of taste. Oy!
In the midst, there were a few noteworthy visions. Take "Goofy Golf" - the one is the original of the coastal mini-putt sites. It is officially 50+ years old. There are many such recreational options of this ilk but this one really felt like a step back into the good old days. The owners have really kept the place up with new carpet and the creatures are all freshly painted. Way silly cool!
Also yet another retail outlet of enormous proportions - see entry with Orca Willy. "Oh darn it's closed. How will we survive?"
We wound our way along the coast. One hope was too get out into the water but that just did not work out. The best towns were the ones as far from the tourist zones as possible. We actually did find a couple that were very nice and bordering on quaint - not much left of the towns themselves but the houses were authentic and diverse.
We ended up in Apalachicola - the pronunciation of this berg was a tongue twisting annoyance so R. started calling it "Apple-Pepsi-Cola. This was a very nice small town by the bay. It is popular and resort-ish but not appealing to the same crowd that wants to play in the concrete nightmare further to the west. It is a fishing village and apparently the nearby oyster beds are world famous. Many of the visitors are there to fish from vessels bordering on luxurious.
In the name of compensating for the bad choice of accommodations from the night before, we picked "The Apalachicola River Inn" with a room literally on the water. You'll see a few pics from our porch. We walked around town and even went into a few shops - only one was dominated by bad gull carvings, crabs door stops and cheesy fish magnets. There were a couple of nice galleries and numerous restaurants. After sitting on the porch/deck for a blissful couple of hours, we had a wonderful meal. It was all quite rejuvenating and felt just a bit decadent - ahhhhhh.
The day was mellow. It has been a few days since our last real Oddasee fix of outsider art or quirky museums. We will continue the quest in the morning..... heading further east and eventually North. Contemplating a shortened Florida visit - we fear turning into concrete or blow up flamingos. And just think we haven't even been anywhere near Disney-ville, Epcot, Miami other normal destinations.
Love and Shellfish,
Rodney and Susan
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