It was another beautiful day. We made plans to take a drive into Port St. Joe. We left around 10 AM and drove through the other camping area in the park first. We decided we like the campground we are in better due to the shade and close beach access. It isn’t called Shady Pines for nothing. After checking that out, we took the short drive into Port St. Joe. The road west reminded us of the roads in northern Wisconsin, lined in pine trees.
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As we got closer to town, we could see the lighthouse in the distance. That was one of the things I wanted to check out while we are in Port St. Joe.
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The road took us through the “downtown” historic area in town. There were mostly small shops, businesses, and a couple of eateries, but the town stretched out far beyond that.
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It was a big marina and there were a lot of big boats docked there.
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From there, we went to check out the Cape St. Blas Lighthouse built in 1848. It was destroyed 4 times by Mother Nature’s storms and even damaged in the Civil War, but rebuilt each time until the last time when the lighthouse was moved. It was dismantled, moved inland, and re-erected on July 24, 2014 on Port St. Joe’s bayfront where it stands today.
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I remember seeing something about this endeavor on the news. It was one city’s combined effort to save their lighthouse. We made a quick stop at a sporting goods store to check out their end-of-summer sale and a stop at Piggly Wiggly for a few non-refrigerated grocery items. From there, we had a desire to find some raw oysters for lunch. The locals told us about two places—one farther west about 11 miles and somewhat questionable and the other one was on the way back towards the road to the campground and a couple of miles further. That one sounded great and we remembered passing it on the way here yesterday. We got a little bit lost and stopped at the Indian Pass Trading Post to ask for directions. It was closed, but there was a Schwans delivery truck in the parking lot, so we asked the delivery man where it was. His answer….”You’re sitting right in front of it!” Sure enough, there was the address on the front of the building staring us in the face. Duh! The bad thing was that they are closed on Mondays. Have no fear! We’ll stop there tomorrow for lunch. So back to the campground we went with a quick stop at the Cape Trading Post for milk since we were now headed back to the campsite. The ride back along St. Joseph Bay was a picture-perfect postcard.
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Back at the campsite, we brought Auggie outside and set up our chairs in the shade. There was a nice onshore breeze blowing which kept away the flies. We were joined by a male cardinal who sat on a palm leaf nearby and watched us and Auggie for the longest time.
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When it got too warm, we went inside in the AC to get some relief from the heat. We had a later dinner and took our walk around the campground. It was a lot less full tonight than last night. All the weekend people must have gone home. We brought Auggie back to the trailer and took the boardwalk to the beach. (Dogs aren’t allowed on the beach.)
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A few people were on the beach waiting for the sunset like we were. It was so quiet, except for the sound of the waves on the shore.
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The sun peeked out of the clouds on its way to the horizon and created some fiery colors in the sky. Bob took this picture and tried to make it “artsy”. (His words). It turned out beautiful!
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