Erin packed most of the car this morning while I was tending to something or other. Anyway, it was all ready so I hopped in and off we went. We were down the road 3 or 4 miles when I realized I still had the room keys in my pocket and hadn’t checked out. Probably not a big deal as checkout is usually automatic, and the keys are now cheap plastic cards – but it was a good excuse to go back and retrieve the candy bar we left in the room fridge.
We left again, taking US 90 through town and on into Alabama’s panhandle. When traffic started to build, we hopped onto I-10 for a few miles to catch the tunnel that goes under Mobile Bay, then exited to head south to drive along some of the beaches. We found our way to the town of Orange Beach and onto highway 182, where we could drive along the gul
f coast, crossing over a bridge into Florida. We looped up towards Pensacola then back down to Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach, out on Santa Rosa Island, a long narrow spit of sand that supports houses, hotels, restaurants and parks. We stopped at a state park to walk in the beach and the water, and Erin added to her collection of sand. Normally highway 399 on this island is a through road, rejoining the mainland at the other end, but either the road or the bridge at the east end was out of commission so we had to backtrack to Gulf Breeze to pick up highway 98 along the mainland shore. We took this opportunity to stop at a little strip mall along the road on the way back, where we had lunch at a place called Native Café. Erin had the ‘skinny dip’, a French dip sandwich, and I had a shrimp Po’boy – both were excellent.
We continued along the shore on highway 98, but by the time we got to Panama City, the traffic was building, and there wasn’t much shore to be seen over the condos and hotels. We veered off inland on highway 231 over to Fla highway 20, a nice highway that didn’t seem to be getting much use at all. As we approached Tallahassee we turned southeast on 267, then rejoined 98 into Perry. There weren’t many businesses or hotels along this route, and as it was getting to be time for a stop, our backup plan was to head north to the Interstate where we knew we’d find a bevy of motels. But, Perry saved the day, with several to choose from. And choose we did, declining the first stop after we registered and went to our room, which smelled like a mixture of mildew and mothballs. We got our charge reversed and chose another motel. None seem that busy here.
Tomorrow we head on to Mims/Titusville, where we hear there’s a birthday party for our grand niece Ava. We’ll join the party.
We left again, taking US 90 through town and on into Alabama’s panhandle. When traffic started to build, we hopped onto I-10 for a few miles to catch the tunnel that goes under Mobile Bay, then exited to head south to drive along some of the beaches. We found our way to the town of Orange Beach and onto highway 182, where we could drive along the gul
f coast, crossing over a bridge into Florida. We looped up towards Pensacola then back down to Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach, out on Santa Rosa Island, a long narrow spit of sand that supports houses, hotels, restaurants and parks. We stopped at a state park to walk in the beach and the water, and Erin added to her collection of sand. Normally highway 399 on this island is a through road, rejoining the mainland at the other end, but either the road or the bridge at the east end was out of commission so we had to backtrack to Gulf Breeze to pick up highway 98 along the mainland shore. We took this opportunity to stop at a little strip mall along the road on the way back, where we had lunch at a place called Native Café. Erin had the ‘skinny dip’, a French dip sandwich, and I had a shrimp Po’boy – both were excellent.We continued along the shore on highway 98, but by the time we got to Panama City, the traffic was building, and there wasn’t much shore to be seen over the condos and hotels. We veered off inland on highway 231 over to Fla highway 20, a nice highway that didn’t seem to be getting much use at all. As we approached Tallahassee we turned southeast on 267, then rejoined 98 into Perry. There weren’t many businesses or hotels along this route, and as it was getting to be time for a stop, our backup plan was to head north to the Interstate where we knew we’d find a bevy of motels. But, Perry saved the day, with several to choose from. And choose we did, declining the first stop after we registered and went to our room, which smelled like a mixture of mildew and mothballs. We got our charge reversed and chose another motel. None seem that busy here.
Tomorrow we head on to Mims/Titusville, where we hear there’s a birthday party for our grand niece Ava. We’ll join the party.
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