"Forgotten Coast of Florida" :
Thanksgiving Trip, 2005 November 24-28
This year for Thanksgiving Holidays I traveled again to North-Western Florida, to its "Panhandle", the area
between Tallahassee and Pensacola
( see the US map below on the left, and click it to see the detailed map of the area where I traveled to ).
I like this area because of its sugar-white sand, palms and nice shallow bays with sandy bottom and transparent
water. Besides that, this place is relatively hard accessible : unlike Miami, Orlando, Tampa and other famous
resorts, there are no major roads going directly to Panhandle coast and the traveler has to use the local roads
to get there. The more so, this place is still untouched by modern builders. All the hotels there are built
sometime in the middle of XX century, so they are not big. As a result, the beaches are not badly
crowded even in the peak seasons.
Because of that, some people call this area
Forgotten Coast of Florida.
In contrast to that, the service in the hotels is good, and a plenty of stores located
in thirty-forty miles ( west in Panama City and east in Apalachicola ) offers the same variety of goods as
the stores in urban areas. All these features make this place be a rather cozy and pleasant corner.
I think, Thanksgiving traveling to this place becomes my tradition.
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It snowed when I was leaving Maryland on Wednesday Nov 23 evening, further it snowed in Virginia almost all the
way till Richmond, it rained in Richmond, it was cool and windy in Carolinas and Georgia, but when I crossed
the Florida state line on Thursday Nov 24 morning it was sunny and warm, up to 20°C ( 72°F ).
From Thursday Nov 24 till Sunday Nov 28 the weather in Florida remained nice and warm although sometime a strong
wind made enjoying the beach be a challenge. Only on the last day, Sunday Nov 28,
it was cloudy and drizzling although still warm. The temperature of the surf was not too bad : about 17°C
( 62-64°F ) : like sometimes in Black Sea in June-July.
The distance between Maryland and Florida Panhandle is about 1100 miles ( 1700-1800 km ), what is 17-18 hours
of non-stop driving. This time I was traveling through Jacksonville and Tallahassee using I-95, I-10, then
local roads, and finally the scenic Rt98 going just along the sea coast and offering wonderful sea views.
The hotel prices in Florida was extraordinary low this season : in Mexico Beach I had a room with
ocean view and kitchen in the motel located just on the beach for $40 per night : very cheap! I think everybody
is now avoiding traveling to Florida because of the recent hurricanes and for that reason all the hotels were
having vacancies, while personally I hadn't seen even a single sign of recent weather cataclysms. May be the
only result of these events was the unusual number of nice large shells scattered everywhere on the beaches.
I departed from Florida on Sunday Nov 27 evening and I was in Maryland on Monday Nov 28 morning. The curious
thing was that recently snowing Maryland met me with Florida's weather ( may be I brought a tiny piece of Florida
with me ), but already in a couple of days the freezing weather and snow returned,
so I was very smart to clean my car ( which was full of sand ) on the first day while
it was still warm...
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My fun in Florida began in the first day, even before I had settled in the motel in Mexico Beach. Driving towards
the motel on Thursday Nov 24, I stopped by St.George Island where I spent a few hours, almost till sunset.
The second day, Friday Nov 25, I spent walking miles along on St.Joe Beach, till dusk again.
The third day, Saturday 26, I drove to St.Joseph Peninsula where I again enjoyed the beach and the sea as well as
fantastic shapes of dunes and dune forest.
The forth day, Sunday 27, already on my way back I stopped again on St.Joseph Peninsula and reached walking its
distant cape separated from the nearest road with almost eight miles of dunes as well as deep and wet sand. Only
after the cape was "conquered", I felt comfortable to depart home.
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In the conclusion the image of shells I picked up on the beach :
( keyboard for size comparison )
Have a nice day !
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