This was the first time we were able to sleep with the windows open last night. Overnight, it got kind of chilly and we had to grab another blanket. Even Auggie came to tell us he wanted to join us in our warm bed. His ears were so cold. He snuggled right in and we all went back to sleep. This morning when we got up, it was chilly, but warmed up quickly with the sunshine. We followed our morning routine and got ready to take the drive to Perdido Key. We left the campground around noon and drove across the bridge to the island.
Much of Perdido Key is state park and where you don’t see high-rise buildings, you see tall sand dunes on both sides of the road.
Our mission was to find the Flora-bama Bar on the state line between Florida and Alabama. It was hard to miss. The place is HUGE!
It is famous for its Flora-bama Interstate Mullet Toss–the Gulf Coast’s Greatest Beach Party. It’s legendary and has become one of the biggest beach parties on the coast. The main event is where people throw a dead mullet, from a 10 foot circle in Florida across the state line into Alabama, to see who throws it the farthest. It is a weekend-long excuse to party. Interested people can check it out online to see some amazing pictures of the crowd it draws. The bar itself is a conglomeration of areas on multi-levels. There are many different rooms and at least 6 bars that I counted.
We ate lunch there. Bob had the jambalaya and I had grouper bites. Both were very good. After lunch, we sat outside in the upper deck area to check out the view from there.
We walked out to the beach to see where all the action takes place.
Bob checked out the “wildlife”.
I had to try their advertised drink called “Liquid Sunshine”. It tasted like an orange Dreamsicle slushy….with RUM! Yum!
From there, we went inside to listen to some live music from the upper level.
We sat and watched the J. Hawkins Duo perform. They were excellent!
From that vantage point, we could see one of the quirky things in the bar–the collection of signed bras hanging on the lines strung across the ceiling.
Actually, bras were hanging everywhere!
After awhile, we moseyed into the Main Bar where another duo was playing.
This area was set up more like night club seating. The duo was the Lee Ann Crewell Duo and they were also very good. Her voice was amazing!
We hung out there awhile and then explored other parts of the bar. It was just a maze of interesting things.
We left the Flora-bama bar after a couple of hours and took a drive across the state line into Alabama–a distance of 300 ft.–and then turned around. We drove back to the Gulf Islands National Seashore. I could use my Senior Pass to get in to this area for free.
We drove the narrow sand dune-lined road to the end. We have seen aerial pictures of this island road where the road is impassable due to sand being blown across the road from wind and storms.
The road and spit of land are very narrow. On one side is the Gulf of Mexico and on the other side is the Intercoastal Waterway. Bob remembers driving through this area when we brought our boat down from Wisconsin.
We got back to the campground around 4:00 and relaxed a little before dinner. It had been the perfect day with cooler temps, sunshine, and no humidity. We sat outside after dinner until darkness fell. It was the end to a perfect day!
