The Florida Panhandle is in the northwest of Florida: a narrow strip of land with the Gulf of Mexico to the south, known for its beaches. We woke up and went for a walk around Corinne Jones Park that we'd parked next to overnight, but pee-ew!! Some poor wild animal like a raccoon must have died somewhere in the park, because it stunk terribly. At least we spotted a tiny turtle the size of Michael's thumb before we left, which was the saving grace of our stay. If we lived in a house and we'd found it, we would've kept it as a pet and called it Turty, it was that adorable!
Before leaving Pensacola, we drove through Palafox Street, one of the main street downtown, and checked out the Crystal Ice House, a relic from 1932. No, it wasn't a drug house (yes, it sounds like it could be), but a is a building that used by the Crystal Ice Company to sell ice to travelers. It's an all-white building that looks like it has stalagmites and stalactites forming on its roof to almost seem like a dragon with its jaws open. It's all fenced off, and admittedly could do with a bit of restoration (and a historic plaque!), but it's great that such buildings continued to be preserved.
Pensacola Beach and the Longest Pier
We got to Pensacola Beach, and the area is clearly a popular summer vacation destination, with tons of bars, restaurants, and family-friendly places. Fortunately, we found that we could park near Pensacola Dog Beach (not all beaches allow pets), where we could hang out for a while on the sand and have a swim! It was wonderful to set up our camping chairs on the sand, and spend some time chilling on the white sand beach, with the sand so white that it squeaked under our feet. There was, however, a lot of seaweed in the water, black blobs that were scattered as far as we could see.
After spending the afternoon at the beach, we headed to the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, the longest pier in the state, at 1,545 feet long (470 meters), the pier is the longest of its kind in the state. We wanted to walk across it, but we got to the entrance and saw that there was... a walking fee! It cost $1 so it wasn't going to break the bank, but it's the first time we've ever heard of a fee to walk across a pier, and we weren't that keen to stroll along it. There's separate fees for people who also want to fish on the pier, and a big sign with a long, long list of "no" activities (no running, no chairs, no glass containers, no lights, and the list goes on). Maybe that's why when we went, the pier was empty except for one man walking ahead of us!
We weren't going to find a place around here to sleep for the night, but managed to stop at a parking lot in Destin, another city on the Florida Panhandle. It was relatively quiet, although a little bit stinky--we were woken up in the early hours of the morning with the arrival of a garbage collector to retrieve the trash in the bins near us, so that the smell of rubbish made it into our subconscious!
Day 202: Man in the Sea Museum
We figured that we'd spend more time at the beach chilling and catching up on errands in the Florida Panhandle. One additional attraction we did visit was the Man in the Sea Museum, apparently the oldest diving museum in the world (since 1982). It's a nonprofit museum that came about by the Institute of Diving, a group of US Navy veterans from the SEALAB program, who donated various items over the years, which makes money from things like admission fees ($10 for adults), donations and merchandise.
Inside the museum there are a ton of diving artifacts, showing how helmets, boots, and other scuba diving items have evolved over the years. Visitors can try on some of the boots as well as helmets (some of the helmets are incredibly heavy that it would not be suitable to keep this on above water)! We also watched an in-depth documentary about the SEALAB I, the first underwater habitat where divers lived under the sea, and the pioneering work of Dr. George Bond, the "Father of Saturation Diving", who wanted to show that people could handle living for long periods while breathing different gases and under higher pressure conditions. The program was launched in 1964, with 4 Navy divers (called "aquanauts") living in the vessel for 11 days off the coast of Bermuda, at a depth of 59 meters (192 feet). It was really engrossing to watch the documentary and realize the impact that such research had, although subsequent initiatives were definitely more ambitious and pushed the aquanauts to their limits.
After the documentary we got to ask a ton of questions to someone working here (not sure who he was? Seemed like he was a US Navy veteran involved in some of these initiatives), before we headed outside to see some of the vessels used in deep-sea exploration, including the SEALAB-1 module, where we could see the living quarters of the men who went deep underwater. It probably would've felt cramped after being onboard for days on end, but when we walked in it seemed like a decent amount of space, with bunk beds, a kitchen and a table and a couple of chairs. On the other end of the sleeping area was the shower and bathroom, and we could also see the door at the bottom from where the men entered and exited the vessel.
In the evening, we went to Raccoon River Campground, an RV Park where we continued to catch up on errands, and spend some time at the pool. There was nobody at the pool when we were there, and the water was nice and cool! Because we can plug in to electricity and city water (and dump our grey/black water tanks), it's ideal for us to cook (heat can dissipate with the air-conditioning on), clean (don't need to ration water as much), and do other errands. A welcome opportunity to do this and of course have a much easier night's sleep!
Day 203: Errands, and St Joe Beach
The next morning we caught up on errands, including getting an updated driver's license for Michael, as it is going to expire soon. Fortunately the RV park let us extend our stay to 1pm, and we left just a few minutes after it.
So now... beach time! We continued to drive along the Florida Panhandle, and the hot and humid weather meant that we had a brief stint of rain near Mexico Beach. There were some dog-friendly beaches that we passed but not necessarily RV parking near it, but further along we found St. Joe Beach, a quiet family-friendly community known for its white sand and calm waters. It was incredibly quiet with only a couple of other folks there, and we felt very fortunate to pretty much have the beach to ourselves!
We stayed until just after sunset--and what a sunset it was! The sun was a vibrant red, illuminating the skies in oranges, pinks, purples and blues in what a spectacular image that can scarcely be captured by photos or videos. We've seen a lot of incredible sunsets on this trip, and we certainly never tire of them, and the illustrious colors they emit against the sky. Once the sun's rays had dropped below the horizon, we drove along, as a mere 15 minutes from the beach was a closed road where we could rest for the night. There were a few other cars there, most likely fisherman who were wrapping up their day. There was a bit of traffic along the road in the evening, but it wasn't a loud night.
Day 204: Sheila's Dog Encounter & More Beach
We got up around 8am the next morning, the sun already high in the sky, but it was slightly overcast, making it feel cooler than the previous day. Today would be another beach day! Before heading back to St. Joe Beach, we stopped at a memorial park nearby, where we noticed there was also a dog park for Sheila. There were a couple of dogs already there with one owner, and we figured since the park was quite big that they'd have more than enough room from each other.
Unfortunately, the owner, a young lady, didn't have a good read on her dogs, and while she had mentioned that one dog was fine, the other could be a bit more jumpy (but was also fine). She kept that second dog on leash while the first one was let off. It was a playful dog, even jumping on Michael and I in its excitement. Sheila doesn't like overly excited dogs that want to play, so let it be known by growling, which the dog understood.
The owner then said she was going to let the other dog off leash, but when she did and the dog ran up to Sheila and Sheila growled at it, the dog took it as a sign of aggression and started to attack Sheila! Thank goodness Michael had quick reflexes, grabbing the dog immediately by the collar and yanking it off, while the owner grabbed Sheila so the dogs would be separated. Sheila has been victim to a dog attack before (by 2 aggressive dogs), and it was horrifying to see this aggression happen again. Clearly that dog wasn't ready to be let off leash, and we left the park immediately, as did the young lady and her 2 dogs. Fortunately Sheila was fine--we were shaken, but there was no physical harm.
We want to socialize Sheila as it's important for dogs to have some interaction with others, but it's difficult when we don't always have a good sense of what other dogs (and owners) are like. Hopefully we will find other dogs for Sheila to be good friends with, like she had when we were in San Francisco, and when we stayed with our friend Meri and her 2 dogs on this trip back in Bremerton, Washington (they became the best of friends immediately)!
Back to the Beach
We returned to St. Joe Beach, where we'd hung out yesterday, and where there were several groups already relaxing on the shores, but no other dogs. The water was very cool and refreshing, perfect for a dip. There were so many fish in the water with us, so every minute there'd be at least several fish jumping out of the water! It was hilarious to see, as clearly they were feeding (or being fed on) at this hour!
The cloud cover left in the early afternoon, and we started to feel like we were cooking under the sun, so we headed back inside the RV to wait until the late afternoon to return to the beach. We noticed that we were on the cusp of the Central and Eastern time zones here--at one point, Lisette's watch and phone had Eastern time zone, and Michael's phone was still an hour behind on Central time zone! Once we leave this area we will be on Eastern time zone for the remainder of our trip, and have crossed into our 4th and final time zone in the continental US.
The sun was roasting our RV so despite being inside, we were sweating profusely, and poor Sheila also felt the discomfort of the heat. But finally, it got to late afternoon, and we walked the 50 feet or so back to the shores, bringing Sheila's life jacket with us to encourage her to get into the water more and help cool off. Michael carried her out several times, depositing her into the shallow waves, but each time she trotted right back to the beach. She used to love the ocean when we were in San Francisco, running immediately towards the waves when we went to the beach, but it seems that she's lost her love for it, preferring to just chill by the sand or get nothing but her paws wet.
There were a couple of other folks who were on the beach this afternoon, both couples with dogs, and replacing the groups who were here earlier. Sheila actually ran up to a couple with a teeny terrier, but the dog didn't bark or give much notice to Sheila. And in place of the fish leaping out of the water earlier in the day, we saw tiny, white crabs skedaddling along the waves in front of us, with tiny shells also seeming to come alive by the shore, with tiny mollusks stirring within them. There were also a number of birds dashing along the shore, their little legs skittering speedily as they looked to peck at whatever they could find.
Again, it was another stunning sunset, with a bright red sun beaming in all its glory along the skyline. As the sun started its rapid descent, we could see the moon had also made its appearance on the opposite side of the sky. What a phenomenal sight to behold!
Similar to last night, we went back to the closed road for the night, where it took us a while to get comfortable as we needed to cool down the inside of the RV. Sheila, unsurprisingly, seemed a bit out of sorts following her less-than-awesome day. She was pacing at night, prompting Michael to sleep on the sofa and comfort her successfully. It even got a bit chilly overnight, as the temperatures dropped and a crisp breeze floated in.
Day 205: Carabelle Beach
Since we'd spent 2 days at St. Joe Beach, we pressed on eastwards to check out another beach, stopping at Carabelle Beach, another dog-friendly beach with ample parking, and a toilet block. It was also a minute's walk from the RV to the shore--perfect!
We've been really loving going to the beach the last few days, evidently visiting as the hoards of people who would have been here just a few weeks ago have left now that the summer holidays are over. It's still summer, so we can enjoy the beach without the crowds!
After we'd set up our camping chairs, it wasn't long before Michael pointed out a cute little bird in front of us with the skittering legs when...the fin of a dolphin jutted out of the water close to where we were sitting! What!! We went into the shallows of the water, and noticed soon a pod of dolphins that were clearly feeding in different parts of the bay in front of us. What a special sight and experience to behold, with so many dolphins so close to us! They stayed for about an hour to feed, before disappearing out of the bay. We had a little bit more swimming time (and Sheila also had the smallest of dips), before heading back to the RV, having lunch, relaxing and drying off, and leaving the beach. We could have definitely stayed for longer--maybe had at least one more beach day--as this could be our last one for this summer (we looked at the temperatures in the northeast and it's already lows of single digits)!
Making Our Way North
Before leaving the Florida Panhandle, we visited the world's smallest police station in Carabelle, a phone booth. The police station was established in 1963, as the city had been having problems with tourists making unauthorized long distance phone calls on its police phone.
When the local telephone company replaced the phone booth in front of a pharmacy with a new one, it was decided to put the police phone in the old booth, which protected police officers from rain and the elements, although some people still snuck in to make long distance calls. Eventually, the dial was removed from the phone, making it impossible for tourists to make calls. Today, while the local phone no longer exists inside, it's still a quirky tourist attraction, and has been vandalized, shot at, and even attempted to be stolen over the years.
Our final stop in Carabelle was the Bottle House, a private residency with a few structures made out of bottles. Nobody was home, but there was a sign at the gate inviting visitors to come in, so we wandered inside to take a brief look at the sculptures within the backyard.
After a brief grocery stop at Tallahassee, Florida's state capital, we continued to drive north, crossing the border to arrive at state #33: Georgia!
Route Map
