So, we all know that Florida has 1350 miles of coastline and
that all the different sections of the coast have names - from the First Coast
(St Augustine), to the Space Coast (Titusville), to the Treasure Coast
((Melbourne), to the Sun Coast (Tampa), to the Nature Coast (Crystal River),
the Forgotten Coast (Keaton Beach to
Apalachicola) and lastly the Emerald Coast
(Mexico Beach to Destin). From Keaton
Beach around the bend to Apalachicola (I love to say that word!) and on to
Mexico Beach, tourism has not been actively promoted – until recently. Each time we visit M.B. the rows of small
condo buildings and the collection of small independent shops have multiplied
and flourished. By design, there are no
chain stores and no high-rise buildings in this small beach town! Rustic Sands Campground has stayed the same
also – quiet and comfortable. The
campground is a half-mile from the Gulf and its white sandy beaches so when the
cold front came howling thru, the winds in the campground were mostly just a
strong breeze.
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| Pier at Mexico Beach |
In southern Florida, when a cold front would come thru, the
temps might drop a few degrees, it possibly could rain a bit, and then life
would go back to normal. This cold
front in the panhandle was a real COLD front with high winds and rip tides and
angry dark waves crashing to shore.
One day, as we drove out along the coast and onto the St Joe Peninsula,
we watched as the waves grew in height and intensity. The winds continued even as we moved farther west from M.B. over
to Topsail State Park near Destin.
Topsail State Park was once a top notch RV Resort until the
state purchased it and the surrounding area to preserve this awesome
land and
keep it from being over developed like other seaside towns as Panama City,
Panama City Beach and even Destin. Each
time we stay in the area we are drawn back to Destin and it’s tourist filled
Harbor Walk, the white sand beach on the protective jut of land opposite it and
the arched bridge that continues the highway to the west end of
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| Harbor Walk |
Topsail is a big sprawling park and the road down to the
beach area is a half of a mile from the main campground loops to the dune area
that line that white sandy beach. And
we had no bikes to ride! Now that my
eye was healed and not nearly as sensitive as before, it was no problem to walk
down the winding blacktop road to the bottom and even out across the sturdy,
albeit lengthy, wooden walkway that crossed those massive dunes. The red and
purple danger flags were pulling at their sturdy masts so we didn’t walk far at
the waters edge. And we didn’t walk
back UP that winding uphill road either!
We sat and waited for the free shuttle truck and
Our 3 days passed quickly but not without a drive up to
DeFuniak Springs, the tiny town with a round lake/spring in the very center of
it’s historic downtown. We visited the
visitor center, the museum housed in the old train depot and, of course, drove
around the circle surrounding the lake!
The last time we were here was in a long ago December and the old homes
were decorated for the holidays. We
also had the “All You Can Eat” Shrimp dinner that we fondly remembered at
Fannin’s Family Restaurant! It was hard
to stand up and walk when we finally quit eating those scrumptious
Crustaceans.
Our next stop was north – as the crow flies only 10 miles
but via H’s GPs and roads – 30 plus since we had to drive up and around the
vast Choctawhatchee Bay! Our destination
for one more night was the Rocky Bayou State Park before really heading north
and leaving Florida. Oh look- a new
Florida State Park bar patch for the arm of my jacket! On a walk thru the woods that divides the
camping loop and the picnic area, were large areas of pale green clumps growing
along the pathway and throughout the woods.
We learned from the extremely friendly volunteers that these tiny golf
ball sized clumps were called Deer Moss and is what model train folks use for
trees in their panoramic displays!
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| Deer Moss |
