Some Beach…

May 11, 2015

Charming and I have just gotten back from a “look see” trip to the panhandle area of Florida.  Our purpose in going there was to check out the area to see if there was a possibility of us ever moving to the Sunshine State.  Charming had heard that the cost of real estate was reasonable in that area of Florida and he would love to own a piece of property near the water.  His desire to live near the water is centered on his dream of some day owning a sail boat and spending a few of his retirement years sailing to different parts of the world.  (I tell him that he needs to wait until I kick the bucket to do this because this ol’ girl can’t swim and has an intense fear of the water…thanks to “the baptizing incident,” when I was very young, and Brother Andy tried to fast track me to Heaven by holding me under the holy waters in our local swimming hole…but I’m getting off track here.)

Charming and I visited the areas of Panama City, Mexico Beach, St. Joe, Destin and a few other places along the way.  We weren’t thrilled with Panama City due to the pulp/paper mills in the area.  However, Mexico Beach is a lovely place with a really nice stretch of beach.  This would be my first choice of places to spend a winter.  Destin is also a nice area, bustling with all of the normal shopping centers, but also really nice beach areas.  Quite a bit of the beach area in Destin is public, but there didn’t seem to be many tourists on the beaches.  I guess vacation season hasn’t really started yet, so we got to see the beaches at the best possible time.  Florida is a really nice place to visit, and I could see myself lolling around in the sun during the winter months, but we really didn’t find a place that we felt we absolutely “had” to have.  Perhaps we’ll go back later in the year to investigate further. 

In the mean time, I’m trying to catch up on planting the garden and working on other projects.  The dandelion wine has been “working” and doing its thing quietly while sitting in a dark corner on the kitchen counter for the past two weeks.  I have already frozen a few batches of rhubarb.  Our pear tree seems to be loaded with jelly bean sized pears this year, but I’m expecting a “fruit drop” which will lighten the tree’s load by quite a bit.  Our peach tree also appears to have a decent crop on it.  Since this tree is only in its second year, I’m not expecting much, but I am hopeful that it will provide us with at least a few mature peaches to brag about.  Blueberry bushes have grown to about two feet tall and are blooming and our blackberry bushes are growing by leaps and bounds.  My wonderful niece, Kelly, gave me two raspberry bushes this spring; one is growing like gangbusters, but the other one seems to be struggling a bit.  I’m hoping I can nurse it along and keep it growing.  Will post some pictures, once I get everything in order.  

Palm trees line the coastal highway at Mexico Beach.

More palm trees on the coastal highway to Destin.

Lovely stretches of beach with emerald green water near the
beach that fades to blue, further out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Charming doesn't care for the pastel colors of beach houses,
but I kinda like them...probably because they remind me of
sherbet.  YUM!

"Hey, Dad, there's a really cute poodle over there on the beach!
Can we go?"

"Ahhh...there she is...my dream girl!"

"I know I can reach her, if I make a break for it."

"Doggone leash!"

(It may look like our Jax is taking a potty break, but he's not...for
some reason that we don't understand, he will never let his
butt touch the ground when he sits.  Guess we all have our
little quirks.)