Happy Groundhog’s Day! We re-packed the car and started off to see more of Florida. After a short ride on I-75 we took route 98 to cross over to the Panhandle of Florida. The road is tree-lined and at times canopied with dense pine trees. They are long and tall, and often appear on lumber trucks barreling down the highway.
We saw many cattle ranches, and a few dairy farms and miles and miles of trees. We were surprised at so few palm trees in this area. We are reminded of the movie, Groundhog’s Day with Bill Murray – and the scenery here is the same everywhere we look – time after time. After what seemed forever, we saw glimpses of the Gulf. We tried to document the journey with photos out of the car window, with some limited success. A traveling car makes photo ops a challenge.
We stopped at Port St. Joe for lunch, at the Sand dollar Café.
This is a cute little restaurant with outdoor seating at cypress tables and home-cooked, local foods. The special of the day is Mexican Chicken and Rice casserole with two sides (pickled beets, broccoli, squash medley). The artwork at this place is very interesting and we enjoyed the total experience.
Then, we went off to find the white beaches of Destin.
We stopped for the night in Daphne, Alabama!