Sunday morning: Catch-up once again....tired of doing it this way!!!!

FRIDAY……

The day was sunny when I got up this morning…….moved around quickly as Charlie and Katherine were to leave at 9am this morning…….so, with Fr. Roast in my travel cup, I hopped out and went over to see if there was anything I could do to assist Charlie in getting his new RV ready to roll. Well……as I might have expected, he had almost everything done and he was almost ready to hitch up the RV to his truck…..and then pull away momentarily. Before long, the 1st Lady was there also……and soon we were exchanging hugs and kisses as they were ready to head east and south to the Tampa, FL area. With waves, pictures, and more “goodbye’s”…….we watched them drive through the pine trees as they exited the RV park.

Walking back to TheHowserHouse, it was very lonely, just the two of us once again. We had had SUCH a WONDERFUL time with them while they were here…….it was sad to see them drive away. And…..that is the way it is with all of us rver’s……..we meet and make friends, spending time with them each winter/summer…..and then comes the time to part as each nomadic rver moves on down the road to their respective destinations…..and it is never easy to see them get on the highway and go down that road.

The 1st Lady did a few loads of laundry and then we had a quick bite of lunch. We soon decided to go to the beach as the sun was shining brightly and we had not spent any time just beach sitting, enjoying the beach, while watching everyone enjoying it also. Sooo, off we went…..and finding a great place to park and to go down to the beach, we made our place on the sand…..and enjoyed a couple of hours of beach time.

Returning to TheHowserHouse, we dusted the sand off of us…..and soon were on our way across the bridge to Panama City, actually St. Andrews, which is a part of PC. Once again, we drove to Hunt’s Oyster Bar and had supper. Once again, the oysters were incredible, as well as the rest of the meal which we ordered. And…..the place was packed and many were waiting outside for a table. Sooooo, let me say…….Hunt’s Oyster Bar is just an amazing place to enjoy seafood!!!!!! Go!!!! On Beck Street, towards the Marina area….you can’t miss it as it is a bright yellow building on the left side of the street. GO THERE!!!!!!!!

Back to the rv park…….we spent the evening watching some tv….and moaning because….BECAUSE we had eaten waaaayyyyy toooooo much!!! Such great food!!!!!
And…..even with all of this great seafood,……as always……

LIFE IS JUST AMAZINGLY GREAT!!!!!!…..And, I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!!

SATURDAY……

WOW…..what a beautiful day it was today!!!!! We were up and on our way out of the rv park by 9:08am…….heading across the bridge to PC, and then continuing on Hwy 98 south/southeast to Apalachicola and St. George Island…..about 100 miles away. Going through Tyndall AFB again…..about 16 miles through it, then through the long stretch of the seaside town named Mexico Beach, on to Port St. Joe, and then about 26 miles later we were arriving in Apalachicola. The initial thoughts were it was really an old town that has not has much economic activity lately, but the city center…..the downtown….has some really interesting looking shops and boutiques along the side of the main street….Hwy 98. We continued on across the LONG bridge….and then arriving at East Point, we turned south and began to cross the over 4 mile bridge to St. George Island.

A typical island community, lots of house for rent for tourists, plus just beach houses that are quite vertical….2-3-4 stories and all with balconies on the very top of the houses to see out to the Gulf of Mexico. Brightly colored, and each one a huge difference in style….nothing looking like any other house! We drove west a little….and turned east and went as far as the road went. We entered St. George State Park….$6.00 per carload(2 of us)…….and then eventually found the end of the road and stopped there. Unloading a couple of beach chairs, some bags, and a few snacks…..we made our “camp” on the beach.

WOW….WOW……you should have seen the tons and tons, millions and millions of seashells!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, they all seemed to be small, but OMG, I do not believe I have been to any beach that has sooooooo many shells for the picking/collecting. We picked up waaaayyyyy too many shells…..what the hell are we going to do with them????? We have containers galore in our garage with shells from every trip to a beach that we have made in our 38 years of marriage……why pick up more???????? But….we never answered that question and so we continued to walk the beach, each way, looking for the “best” shell we have ever found……haha!!!
We spent about 3 hours on the beach, enjoying the cloudLESS sky, the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico soooo brilliantly blue, and the white, white sugar-like sand all over the beach!!!! The temps were about 70 degrees with hardly any wind….just a soft breeze blowing in from the Gulf. It was sooooooooooooo damn relaxing!!!!!!!!! I dozed, then would wake up as others walked by us…..and there were VERY FEW “others” on the beach. Certainly no “spring breakers”……just families and seniors enjoying the sun and surf!!!

About 4pm, we packed up and returned to the mainland….and on over to Apalachicola. We had checked on some of the cafes, oyster bars, and so we settled on “Boss Oysters”….and sat on the dock outside where we could see the water of the bay, as well as many pelicans who were sitting around preening on the post of the dock. Our meal was good, not great….and the oysters on the half shell baked were not nearly as good as Hunt’s in PC. However, the fried oysters were really yummy, served very hot along with hot cheesy grits and some delicious Fr. Fries. However, the meal was MUCH more expensive and just not nearly as good, so HUNT’S wins the prize for the best place we have eaten down here along the coast!!!!

On the road again, we stopped for about 15 minutes in Mexico Beach to shoot some pics of the sunset into the Gulf of Mexico with some clouds enhancing the colors and the entire sunset. GORGEOUS!!!!!!!

We were in the rv park and at TheHowserHoue by 8pm…..and so we have just kicked back and watched some tv….NOT any park-wide WIFI as yet. Soooo, I will probably go to McD’s to post this post tomorrow….Sunday. It is supposed to rain about an inch tomorrow…..just a day to get things in order inside the RV. I packed everything from outside in the basement after we returned from the beach this evening……as we plan to leave for the Jackson, MS area on Monday.

It has been just a fantastic day…..incredible!!!!!! Love the beach….and as always…..

LIFE IS REALLY, REALLY GREAT!!!!!!…..And, I hope it is for all of you!!!!!!