We set the alarm to get up at 7:00 so we had enough time to do what we do in the morning and still get to our 9:00 appointment at Ford on time. While Bob was waiting for the truck, we thought it would make good use of the time to do some laundry. We checked it out online and found a laundromat on the way to the Ford dealer. Perfect! Bob would drop me off on the way to the Ford dealer. The laundromat was quiet at that time time of morning with me being the only one there. It was located across the street from the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center–an aquatic training facility.
I hung out and did some reading (and writing) while the laundry was getting done. Bob called to say that since the door on the truck wouldn’t open now, the repair would take all day or longer because they would have to take off the entire door (not just the inner door panel) to fix it. We decided to wait until we get home since the door won’t open now at all, so there’s little chance it will pop open while we’re moving—we hope! Bob also made a stop at the Verizon store to see what might be going on with our MiFi. It is getting extremely hot to the touch when in use and we don’t want it to burst into flames. Might be time for an upgrade. We’ve had it for 8 years to run our Internet in places where we didn’t get good service and it comes in VERY handy! Bob came to pick me up after about an hour and a half and I was ready to go. He exchanged our antiquated MiFi for a Verizon 4G Jetpack. I guess we’re out of the stone age now. We stopped at Publix for a few needed items and went back to the park. After putting away the groceries and the clean clothes we had some lunch. After lunch, we went check out the beach in the park.
There is a nice concession stand and lots of picnic areas. We walked out on the boardwalk to get a look at the jetties and the cut between Shell Island and the mainland.
The beach and the color of the water were in beautiful contrast to each other.
After we walked around the beach area, we hopped into the truck and drove down to the water’s edge on the Grand Lagoon of St. Andrew Bay to check out the marinas.
There are at least 4 large marinas there and many charter boats for hire.
We spotted a guy who had come back from a good day of fishing. He had quite a few king mackerel.
This beautiful carving of 4 pelicans on a tree sat on the shore.
From there, we drove to the Oaks By the Bay Park.
In historic St. Andrew’s park, this rare 4-headed palm tree grows. It is the only one of its kind known in the world.
Also growing there is the 250 year old oak tree called Old Sentry.
We walked out onto the “dune walkover”–a boardwalk to the bay.
From downtown historic St. Andrew, we headed back towards the campground, but we had one more stop at the Half Baked Oyster Bar and Grill for 75 cent beers and oysters.
We read in a tourist brochure that they served 75 cent beers from 11-6, so we had to check it out. Well, the beers were really $1.50, but that was ok. We ordered 1/2 dozen baked oysters with bacon and Parmesan cheese to try them out. We had never had baked oysters before and they were good.
The bartender delivered 1 dozen by mistake, so that was a pleasant surprise. We ate 12, but she only charged us for 6. What a deal! They were yummy! Our final stop before going back to the campsite was to explore the Old Cracker Turpentine Still. This still was used until the late 1930’s. It was interested to learn about the turpentine industry in this area.
We were ready to relax a little before dinner after all the running around we did today. Tomorrow is a beach day as we explore the Panama City Beach area. Neither of us were hungry after the oysters we had earlier, so I made some mac and cheese for dinner. After dinner, Auggie and I took our walk and came upon 3 deer in the campground just passing through. Auggie just stood still and watched them until they passed by. That’s always a treat! We got back to the campsite before the mosquitoes came out. (Note: The Jetpack loaded my pictures in seconds compared to the MiFi which took minutes…..lots of minutes. Wow!)
