end of last day in Destin

Gypsy fan club alert - she is eating!!! just about all of her food. What do you think? Was she protesting the trip, not being able to go to dog shows, what?

Can you guess what this carcass is? Email me your answer. Ok. How about these ducks in the endangered species habitat?

I want one of each of these chairs. Well maybe not the pink since I already own two of them.

Jelly fish in full plumage

Plain jelly fish.
The bridge between Fort Walton Beach and Destin.

My sponge & shell collection so far. Not certain how many, if any, of the sponges will come home. I gave them the BIG bleach today and left them in the sun. Only one just smells of bleach, i.e, the rest really stink. I'm rather proud of the giant horseshoe crab, at least I think that's what it is, found on the beach at Tybee Island, outside Savannah. S/he gets special treatment and safe passage in the dishpan.

A few snails, I think, but I liked the pattern created by the receding tide.

Darn! I forget what this fish is. Couple a fisher people I chatted with knew what it is, but could not identify the jelly fish. These photos were taken near the bridge (earlier photo) and on land owned by Elgin Airforce base.

Last day in Destin

Abandoned housing awaiting final destruction.

Some sort of berries - last two, that intrigued me.


Me in front of the camper wearing the wonderful jean jacket (now officially complete) with Japanese applique, the fixings for which were sent to me by my friend, Annie, in California.
Remainder of a sand castle construction. The bubbling in the water appeared to be coming from underground.


Sea oats in the sand; they are actively planted to help control the erosion and protect sand dunes.
I just checked the 'layout' re: text and pictures and for the most part they coincide. Lucky, so I am not going to try to have the following text appear at the top.
Haven't posted in the last few days since the sights were unremarkable. Destin has gorgeous beaches & water (called the Emerald Coast), but I find them boring to walk as there is very little stuff brought in by the tide which is probably why they are so popular. Water temp is much like our cottage in the spring. I would describe this place as a shopping mecca, but since I'm not really a shopper, it hasn't the appeal of other places we've visited thus far. That's not to say that I/we haven't shopped. Goodwill purchases: a gorgeous black beaded & sequined evening top, a size 2XX jean jumper (now in pieces) and a neat pair of pants with beadwork, but by the time I finished removing the hems, stitch by stitch, I then had to repair the damage of dropped beads. All done now and ready to be made into a tote with denim lining. Al wants to go look at the Kitchenaid mixer appliance we saw yesterday - all gorgeous colours, refurbished but still gleaming. I need some bleach to soak the sponges I found at Alligator Point as the aroma is ripening nicely behind the trailer.
Tomorrow we push off for Stephen Foster state park in Georgia, west entrance to the Okefeenokee wildlife refuge.
Oh yes, just so you aren't too jealous about being in winter, the temperature the last two days has been a wee bit cold - high 40's, requiring the duvet for sleeping and use of the electric heater in the evenings. And gas prices are funning $3.15 a gallon.

Destin, Florida, the Emeral Coast

Many hotels, rentals have private access staircases.




The trailer is ours.

Panama City beach pier with wannabe surfer

Our walk in the morning going eastward.

Travelling to Destin RV Resort

Friday, Feb.22
Wonderful fog this morning at 18C. Great day to take pictures only we’re leaving. While Al takes care of garbage & dumping duties, I find some white flowers growing on a rose-like vine. On our way out of the park I spot some very tall, perhaps thistle in bloom. Absolutely stunning in the fog. Of course we don’t stop. However I insist on ‘borrowing’ WiFi from The Subway to post yesterday on the blog. If the pictures don’t follow any order, well rack that up against the pressure I’m under with the driver of this actually stays up on his board so I can get a picture.vehicle asking ‘are you done yet? Are you done yet? You probably get the idea that I was quite entranced with what I believe are rosemary flowers.
We’re following the coastline on #98 west. Port St. Joe provides a brief respite from the dense fog. Some lovely homes & beach. Mexico Beach as befits its name looks more like a tourist/vacation town. The Forgotten Coastline continues to provide miles and miles of beautiful white sand beaches.
#98 passes through the middle of Tyndall Air Force, until now just a name on the map. It goes for miles with parking lots full of cars, a very impressive main entrance and well kept housing.
We check out the local Ford dealer in Panama City to see if we can get an oil change. No such luck; 3 cars waiting and it’s lunchtime. We head for #98 alt which runs along the beach, stopping at Bay County Pier Pavillon where parking is free. Someone is feeding the sea gulls and someone else is going surfing. Lots of good breakers but it’s going to be a while before this fellow actually stands up and stays up. Lots of skyscraper hotels along the shore as we continue our journey west into very quickly darkening skies.
Speaking of rain, this area sure got hit yesterday flooding some major roads. And now it’s producing more again. We arrive at Destin RV Resort. Oh my! An immaculately landscaped grouping of 36 trailer sites on concrete & interlocking tiles, each site with precisely trenched gardens of azalea, palms, grasses, ... complete with terrazo table & benches for outdoor dining. The question is - how will the dogs manage in such a manicured situation.

http://www.destinrvresort.com/ to read more about this place.

last day in St. George

Thursday, February 21
Yup! The weatherman was right. Very overcast and feeling like rain; temperature is 15C. We’re off to Aligator Point as I said. #98 and then hang a right at 370 going to Bald State Park & Lighthouse Point. We find the perfect public access as described by a fellow beach walker yesterday. Lots of shells and sponges, even better no signs re: dogs. I take just one picture down the shoreline before we leave with very, very wet, but not really smelly dogs despite both of them having rolled in unknown substances.
About 5 min. down the road, the heavens open up. We stop for lunch at the Tinbucto (correct spelling) resturant where I have oyster chowder; and yes they are local.
Back home I take another walk behind our trailer to visit these wonderful orchid-like flowers. Several attempts later I have a few photos I am pleased with. Then I take a last hike to the ocean where a park volunteer is fishing in vain. From him I learn how to find oysters and hear about when a 5` shark encircled a friend of his while fishing in waders on the bay side. As the story goes, his friend cut loose his fish catch and made a run for it never to return to fishing in waders again. Should one should swim on the Gulf side? to which he replies that he has caught several sand sharks, but nothing to worry.
We end the day with a 30 minute session of hooking up the trailer. The difficulty this time is that when the car is backed up to the requisite 18`` in order to “observe the angle`` the front wheels are still on the pavement. Toward the end of this process our neighbour who now drives a bus (former owner of 2 Airstreams) approaches to help. Fortunately by then we have it all in hand. He is anxious to share his RV towing experiences, including not one, but two Airstreams. I’ll quit at this in the vein of ‘you had to be there to appreciate the story’. PS After items such as the canopy etc. are taken care of in prep for an early departure, we settle into the trailer to enjoy shrimp & dip with the local news before dinner. Yet another weather advisory. Seems any TV channel can be pre-empted to deliver the latest weather warning - Franklin County, that’s us. We step into action and collapse the dog pens and store various carpets etc. It’s now well past the time this storm should have hit. We have seen only 3 lightning streaks. It would appear to be yet another false alarm for us anyway.

Apalachicola & St. George Island beach

Wed., Feb 20
Somewhat cloudy this morning. Sun will have to work at getting space to shine. Coolish temperatures, i.e., 60’s when we set off. First to take some pictures of tall skiny rentals units sitting on the beach. From there to our wireless location – the Subway which just happens not to open until 10am, so we park out front and use the ‘free’ service to get our mail and post yesterdays’ pictures. We hear that gas in the Ottawa area is now $1.11. It’s risen here as well from $3.05 to $3.19 Then we drive to the westerly most part of the island to walk the beach in front of a gated community. Almost deserted so let the dogs go and go they do. See pictures – Gypsy particularly loved rolling and scratching her back on top of some fishy thing. Both dogs are more adventuresome and venture into deeper waters meaning both are soaked and in the end carry half the beach in their fur.
Our next destination is Apalachicola, slightly west of here on the mainland, but requiring us to cross another bridge from Eastpoint. We walk around, sampling a few of the shops and buying Christmas gifts. When Al headed off for the hardware store, I discovered yet another beaded silk velvet cell phone bag, more elaborate that the other and having a colour-matched zipper closing.
Our day ends with Al playing like a true RV’er by vacuuming the car seats which are sandy to say the least and then moving on to test out his newly purchased long-handled brush by scrubbing the black streaks off the trailer. I should have had him buy a squeegee as well since the windows are showing my somewhat ineffectual window washing from several days ago.Tomorrow I hope we will go to Aligator’s Point where we have been told the beaches often have mighty nice shell specimens. It’s 1.5 hours away, so we will need to check the tide charts to time our arrival at low tide.