Again, Where Have I Been?

Now, where have I been?!

Hubs and I left last Tuesday for a get-away to celebrate our 54th anniversary on August 26. We headed to the west coast and then followed Florida's Big Bend to the Panhandle, from Cedar Key to Fort Walton Beach. 

Yellow stars indicated where we spent our nights in Apalachicola, and Okaloosa Island

Our first stop was Cedar Key, a place we'd visited in June 2024. We were there just a few months before Hurricane Helene hit in September. (This YouTube video gives you an idea of how damaging Helene was.) We wanted to check out the condition of the little town that's at the end of a 21 mile peninsula. 

We ate lunch at Steamers. The food was as excellent as I remembered, though the restaurant has temporarily relocated due to damage from a September 2024 fire - yep, first a hurricane; then a fire. A new, elevated restaurant is being built.

Overall, the community appears to be in a slow recovery mode, with many waterfront buildings being renovated and put on stilts. The only grocery store remains closed, so residents have to drive 30 miles to Chiefland for supplies.

Located on the waterfront, the "Pink Pearl" is where we stayed during our last visit, and though it's on a waterfront street seemed to be the same... likely due to it already being on stilts.

We continued driving north, bearing slightly left to travel along SR(state route)98 with the unseen Gulf of America to our left. I took pictures as we passed along this "Big Bend" so you can see that Florida isn't all beaches and congested entertainment areas. 

Chiefland area

It looks quite bucolic in places, with occasional deer crossing and bear crossing signs. 

Eastpoint area

I always liked it when SR 98 took us along the empty oceanfront. 

We spent one night at the Gibson Inn in Apalachicola, an historic town along the Apalachicola River that spills into the bay/gulf. 

photo courtesy of Gibson Inn

We arrived without reservations (something we do when traveling mid-week around Florida). The Gibson Inn was established in 1907, and much of the old character has been retained.

We had a lovely third floor room.

Our window view of downtown looked toward the river and bay. One block away, Water Street was once the site of more than 40 three-story cotton warehouses. In the 1840s to 1850s, Apalachicola was the third largest cotton shipping port in the US behind New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama.

Nowadays Apalachicola is known for it's production of Tupelo Honey. Apparently it's highly prized, and unique among honeys.

White tupelo trees along the Apalachicola River produce white blossoms for two to three weeks each April. During that time, bee hives are loaded onto boats and taken through swampy areas to pollenate the trees. The honey produced is a light golden color and never crystalizes. It's supposedly beneficial to diabetics and people with allergies - even people who do not live locally. 

https://www.tupelohoneyflorida.net/

I took a picture of a picture hanging the wall of our Gibson Inn room. I wish I knew the year it was taken and who the women were. Charming, isn't it? They're on the beach. See how they're holding the tails of their dresses between their legs, to keep their skirts dry? 

Continuing our SR98 journey the next day, this is still the Apalachicola area. 

This is the Port Saint Joe area.

These are Port Saint Joe residences to our right along SR98, overlooking the Gulf. 

Homes built along here have to expect hurricanes. 

This part of Port Saint Joe along the ocean remains mostly pristine. 

I appreciated seeing natural sea grasses and sand dunes. 

This is a typical home on Port Saint Joe Beach. Lots of properties are for sale, but none are at a bargain price. We agreed that renting is the best way to spend time in a hurricane-prone ocean front home.

This is a cabbage palm at Port Saint Joe Beach. 

Our SR98 view of Mexico Beach. This area is referred to as "The Forgotten Coast."

Going toward Fort Walton Beach is a stretch of SR98 - Henderson Beach State Park - where you can see dunes and grasses protected and left to their natural beauty.

Our second and third nights were spent on Okaloosa Island at Beal House, a six-story hotel on Okaloosa Island at Fort Walton Beach. You can see why this is stretch of beaches is called "The Emerald Coast." 

From our fourth story balcony we had unobstructed ocean views... 

...though the sunset was just out of sight, to the west. 

The full moon. 

We walked on the beach, enjoyed meals out - something we don't often do at home - and played gin rummy while appreciating beach views... seeing occasional leaping dolphins. 

Hotel staff suggested a couple of webcams to watch.

One is from the Boardwalk toward the ocean, and sand volleyball nets where tournaments are held.

The other is the Okaloosa Island Pier marine webcam. That pier can be seen in my full moon picture.

Interestingly, Eglin Air Force Base isn't far from Fort Walton Beach, so we saw and heard fly-overs of F-25 Lightning II fighter jets. (I got this info after uploading my picture to Google Gemini to determine what we were seeing and from whence they came.) Pairs of jets were on fighter pilot training missions.

This was our last view of the beach before heading home. 

Almost unbelieveably, our entire return trip home along the same route was through steady rain. I'm glad I took "going" pictures as keepsakes of our lovely trip.

It's always good to visit new places in one's home state. Linda

In Process

Everything I've touched lately continues to be in process. I'm making headway on each project, albeit slowly. 

The QuiltCon 2022 Artisan Cotton Fabric Challenge (such a long title to remember!) is due October 31, along with all QuiltCon 2022 entries. 

I've been quilting my challenge entry, hopping back and forth between machine walking foot quilting and big stitch quilting with size 8 Wonderfil Eleganza perle cotton.

There's no rhyme or reason to quilting designs. I'm just going with the flow, adding stitches here and there, and using thread colors as the mood strikes me.

With this approach, the quilt may end up looking unplanned, but I'm having fun with it. Each evening, I look forward to sitting in my comfy aqua chair, under my Slimline 2 floor lamp for hand stitching time. 

Participating in the Finger Paints Quilt Along, I made blocks 1 and 2 this week. They're each about 22" square. I've been surprised to look at my finished blocks and believe I improv cut these pieces - I didn't use a ruler. 

Guess my 40-plus years of making quilts has given me a "good eye," though I wish that wasn't the case! Still, I know I'm going to like this quilt.

Though this quilt top is done, I'm not yet sharing a picture of it - my Central Florida MQG Chips and Charms Challenge quilt - because I submitted my design for publication. If it doesn't happen, I'll share later.

Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman was a happy read, after my disappointment with the last book (Malibu Rising).

Good Eggs is a charming, family story that takes place in Ireland. A family of five is struggling through careers, keeping up with kids, and dealing with a somewhat eccentric grandmother, Millie. Kevin, the dad, is at the heart of the story, trying to navigate his own unemployment and his middle-aged attraction to another woman, while handling Millie's quirkiness, and a rivalry between his teenaged twin daughters. Sixteen year-old Aideen is so recalcitrant that boarding school seems the only option. Not surprisingly, Millie and Aideen understand one another, so running away from home together doesn't seem like a bad idea.  

I really enjoyed the audiobook narrative, listening to well-acted Irish and American accents. Not to give too much away, but when part of the story happens in Florida, I felt a real affinity for the character's impressions of the state.

Linda's score: 4.2/5.0

This morning, while golf carting to 7:30 am line dancing, I paused to appreciate God's beautiful creation. The sky was stunning. In one direction, sunshine glowed on fluffy white clouds, and in the other direction this double rainbow appeared in a gray sky. 

Later, alongside the golf cart path were three sandhill cranes. I love seeing them! They're distinctive and very majestic-looking. Since they're a protected species in Florida, everyone stops - golf carts and automobiles alike - when they wander across roadways. 

To keep them in perspective, they're about four feet tall.

While I had a lovely cart drive to line dancing, and this was the sky on my way into the rec center...

...my drive back home at 9:30 was rainy. Tropical storm Mindy is making her presence known. Linda

Visiting Old Florida

My maternal grandparents were hard-working Ohio farmers. It was rare that they ever traveled more than a few miles from home. However, in 1959 my parents convinced them to leave the farm and animals in the care of two of their children, and travel by car with my parents to Florida. 

When I came across a cardboard box of Florida memorabilia in our grandparents home, I claimed it, brought it home with me, and have been marveling at what my parents and grandparents did and saw. Many of the places are not far from where I live now!

They drove to and from Florida mostly along highway 301. There was no Interstate 75 cutting north-south through the state. After finding a small bar of soap from a motel in Gainesville, Georgia, I could see that their route to Florida avoided Atlanta, like we try to do when we're traveling!

Of course, there was the standard must-keeps - a bag of moss, seashells, and a bottle of Orange Blossom perfume that cost 75¢. The moss and seashells have been tossed.

Brochures reveal that they visited Silver Springs in Ocala; Cypress Gardens (current home of Legoland);  attended a Passion Play and heard the Singing Tower - Bok Tower (where we celebrated my birthday in March!) in Lake Wales; and the Seaquarium in Miami.  

I'm really curious about this place in Ocala: "Uranium Valley and Caves." 

Ticket stubs are from Silver Springs, and Ross Allen's Reptile Institute. Who wouldn't want to see 'gators for $1.15? 

In the Silver Springs souvenir book is a picture of swimming in Silver Springs, in 72℉ water. This doesn't exist anymore.

A little 15¢ box of photos was interesting. 

Black and white pictures are of Silver Springs (that famous arched palm) and a Stuckey's in Belleview. 

My uncle traveled to Florida before my grandparents did, so it's possible he visited Bok Tower earlier, in 1956. 

He would have been there, to hear the bells, on my birthday. 

Forty-five color postcards show the tourist attractions and sites of Florida in the mid-1950s.

These four postcards were jumbo-sized, so they must have been favorite places. 

Top L-R: Cypress Gardens, and Bok Tower
Botton L-R: Miami, and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the Keys.

This alligator is a nut cracker.

And someone liked Cracker Jacks. 😁 

This is the only picture I have of them in Florida. L-R: my Mother, Grampa and Grandma. Looks like they're at Cypress Gardens. My dad took the picture.

It's nice to have these things (and more that I didn't share) that give me pause to think about how times have changed... and not changed. Generations of people vacation in Florida, and knowing that my ancestors did, makes me feel good.

Book Recommendation

Another great listen! This title was recommended by a line dancing buddy, Judy. 

Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff is a charming tale that came, for me, at just the right time because it made me recall times spent with my grandparents.

"Fish" (Fischer) spends time with his grampa in this story about Fish and "Bread" (Dale Breadwin) who are two young boys growing up together in Wisconsin. Bread's dad is abusive, so when Fish sees him beating on Bread, Fish shoots and the boys run. Two fatherless boys take off cross-country, encounter the wilds and its perils. Chasing the boys are four adults: Fish's grampa; Fish's mom; Sheriff Cal; and Tiffany who works at the local gas station. But more danger awaits the boys than any of them realize. 

I found this story captivating with nice visual imagery of wildlife, forests, marsh, meadows, river, and stars.  Linda's score: 4.4/5.0

Linda