Beautiful Gulf Beaches

After Panama City, we moved on to a quieter beach area and had 2 fantastic days in Destin, Florida.  The weather has been picture perfect and the beaches... crystal white sand that feels like you're walking in icing sugar!  We've really enjoyed slowing down a little and taking in all the natural beauty - pelicans flying in formation, little sandpipers running along the shore and really big surf. 
Well, that really only lasted one day and Jim was going crazy, so after his early morning jog .... it was time for another bike ride!  This one was through a state park forest where little geckos and lizards were constantly darting across the path.

 We started off being very quiet, hoping to see some wildlife, but after the coyote tracks became more and more numerous, decided it would be better to ring our bells and scare them off first!  Such naturalists...

We had record high heat (35 deg.) and humidity, but that didn't deter us from continuing the ride in a more civilized area.  Seaside is a gorgeous little town with exquisite homes.  Once again we considered a move, checked out the real estate and found out we could get a little shack for $500,000 or go big - $4.5 million!

As we couldn't agree on a particular house, we'll just have to keep searching.
After another great seafood dinner (we can't get enough) and some outlet mall shopping the next morning, we started driving again, only to discover we had crossed over to Central time 2 days earlier and didn't even know it.  We were an hour ahead of everybody else and wondered why it was so dark in the morning.  Duh!
Off to Mobile, Alabama for a quick stop through their downtown.  It was very southern with French and Spanish style architecture...

and visited a plantation (that's Jim ready to descend the Scarlett O'Hara stairs)

We arrived at our next destination, Biloxi, Mississippi and after watching the news, realized how fortunate we were not to be anywhere near the devastation further north of us.  These are strong people and there are still many reminders of Katrina.  Biloxi was actually hit harder than New Orleans.

Lots of boarded up windows and

empty lots where buildings used to be.

We stayed on the waterfront which is filled with Vegas style casinos - all brand new rebuilds after Katrina.  As we're not really gamblers, we checked out a great band playing soul/jazz in one of the casinos and then had a field day people watching.  We met a great guy who, "Started out pickin' melons and haulin' hay," complete with cowboy boots and a slow Mississippi drawl.

The next morning we hopped on a working shrimp boat tour and had a fabulous time.

Our deckhand Steve, first serenaded us with his own composition - something about a woman from Mississippi who left him, and continued with funny comments interspersed really interesting information.

 We actually got to identify all the catch, including some huge shrimp which sells for $3 a pound off the pier!

But the highlight was the dolphins that surrounded the boat hoping for some of the throwbacks!

It was a great way to end the first half of the road trip!!!  We are taking the next week off from driving and leave from New Orleans for a 7-day Caribbean cruise tomorrow.  We are really excited as it's our first cruise and are looking forward to only unpacking once during the whole week.  The blog is on hold for the next week, but we'll look forward to reconnecting next Sunday with lots of pictures.   Thanks again to everyone who is following along and sending us emails.  We love it!  Bon Voyage.

Tallahassee and then... motorcycle madness!

We visited Flordia's state capital, Tallahassee, and Jim was thrilled that we encountered 3(!) protests.  It brought back fond memories of his G-20 escapades.

As you can see, not quite the excitement of the

G-20 as these kids and their teachers were marching for public school options...

We toured the inside of the historic capital building (mostly because it was air conditioned and had a cheesy photo op!)

Then it was off to view the campus of Florida State University, home of the Seminoles.  It is an older, campus with elegant buildings and beautiful sorority/fraternity houses.

And of course, a tour of the athletic facilities was in order again!  (Jason, Jim was thinking of you...)

Football Stadium exterior

...and interior

Track facilities where Danny competed!

On the way to Panama City Beach, we stopped for a hike in a semi-tropical forest, where palms and pine trees happily co-exist.

Yikes, is that an alligator in the water??

Click to enlarge.

Must have been, as Jim climbed the tree to escape (or maybe get a better view?)

So, we finally made it to Panama City, where Jim convinced Cel to stay for the night, despite its carnival/midway feel.  Imagine our surprise (Cel)/excitement (Jim) when we checked in and discovered we were just in time for "Thunder Beach" - a huge motorcycle rally.  There were bikers and Harley's everywhere.  Thankfully, they were mostly older, grey hairs with their biker chick wives on the back.  However, we did see our fill of tattoos... are you getting a visual?

Despite the fact that hundreds of huge, throaty Harley's paraded up and down the main drag, we actually had a fantastic room right on the beach with this view out our window.

We had a nice stroll on the beach and watched the magnificent sunset from the patio of our beachfront restaurant.

How's this for our crazy hotel pool?

It was a little safer in the pool as it was a "double red" flag day, meaning the surf and undertow were dangerous and lots of marine life was washing ashore.  Planes were flying overhead pulling banners saying, "Don't swim in the gulf."

Jim almost followed all the rules today!

Easter on the beach?!

Well, Easter Sunday started conventionally with mass at a beautiful Spanish style church where the priest released monarch butterflies at the end of the sermon!  The rest of the day was not our usual, as we spent the afternoon at Clearwater Beach.  The Gulf water was beautifully warm (warmer than our pool at home!) and the sand was fine & white.

There is still evidence of a recent hurricane...

Clearwater Bay

As we were heading back to the hotel, we heard a great blues band playing and decided to continue our unorthodox Easter in an open-air bar on the beach!  Even better... it was Happy Hour so drinks were 2 for $5.  We dined on the most fabulous shrimp and enjoyed the music until a thunderstorm sent everyone packing.

Jim finally found an alternate mode of transportation that Cel would agree to!

Next we were on to Gainesville, home of the University of Florida Gators.  Jim was in his element as we toured the Basketball Stadium,

the Baseball Stadium,

the swimming/diving facilities,

indoor

outdoor

and the tennis facilities.

Most impressive though was the football stadium...

Just imagine the excitement of 90,000 rabid fans as they attend a home game in "The Swamp"?!

After Jim's university application was rejected yet again, he contemplated ending it all "gator style".

He was easily talked out of it though, as we headed off to Tallahassee - Florida's state capital!