Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Travel Tuesdays: Apalachicola Style

Lately, I've been gushing over my recent travels, all while giving away basically no details.  Sorry, y'all!  It has really been a whirlwind two weeks.  Great weeks, but oh-so-crazy.  I live in Florida...the Florida panhandle, to be exact.  And, while I don't live at the beach, I live very near the beach.  Panama City Beach, just so we're clear.  So, when spring break rolls around, the locals find any and every reason to hightail it out of here.  Not that we don't love all of our visitors.  Truly, we love y'all.  Does wonders for the economy.  But let's be real:  things get kind of weird.  Which is why I've been a little MIA lately.  However, I have no travel plans for the next several weeks, which will give me plenty of time to get you all caught up!





When my sister, Olivia, had spring break a couple of weeks ago, she headed in town to spend it with family and a few friends.  My mom and I both decided to take a mid-week day off from work to head over to Apalachicola to shop and sightsee with her.

Apalachicola is a pint-sized town, located on the Apalachicola Bay and at the mouth of the Apalachicola River.  It is famous for the Apalachicola Bay oyster.  I know...oysters are a love 'em or leave 'em kind of item, but, around here, we are a love them family.  We've been scarfing them down regularly, thank you very much.

We destroyed these this past Friday night.

Apalachicola has relied on its prime location along the Gulf for a long time.  In fact, it was once the third largest cotton port in the United States.  Today, it's fishing and shrimping industry keep it on the map, along with the many historical homes and buildings that line the waterfront and are scattered throughout the town.  Many of these buildings have been or are in the process of being restored, and it was so fun to walk around and visit the little shops in the area.



The highlight of the day was, of course, lunch!  We ate at the Owl Cafe, a very well-known, prominent spot in the middle of downtown.  The lunch hour fills up quickly, and we had to wait a while to be seated.  Always a good sign when looking for a great place to eat!  I ordered gator and pork sausage served over grit cake, which is basically just pan-fried, block-style grits.  I cannot even begin to describe how delicious it was!  If you're ever in town, I highly recommend it!!








We spent the rest of the day wandering through town, shopping and chatting.  It was perfect.  We ended the day by driving over to St. George Island, which is a few miles down the road from Apalachicola.











Summer is only a short nine work weeks away, and I'm counting down like crazy!  I'm hoping to get more great day trips like this under my belt!

This is just trip number one.  More to come!!



Helene in Between

14 comments:

  1. so jealous you live in panama city! but i can imagine things getting a little weird. those oysters look absolutely delicious! what a fun little trip!

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  2. Found your blog through the link-up :)

    I want to eat all of that food! Gator and pork sausage sounds really cool. You`re so lucky to live somewhere with such warm weather, we still have snow on the ground here ;)

    My Travel Tuesday Post
    Jess

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  3. This looks like such an amazing place to visit! Chris and I travel often, so I'm always looking for neat little places like this to go instead of the normal vacation spots!

    Oh, and ps, we're one of those "love them" families when it comes to Oysters as well ;) Yum!

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  4. So beautiful. Looks like the three of you had a fabulous time. Having a girl's day is sure worth taking a day off work. The food and sites look spectacular....you are making me miss Florida all ready.

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  5. SOOO SGI is seriously my favorite spot IN THE WORLD! I've been probably 7-8 times now and it is heaven on earth! SO jealous since I didn't get to go last year.

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  6. Great pics Suzanne! I've never been there before but looks lovely. Those oysters also look DELISH!

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  7. I love the Gulf Coast. So different from my little slice of shoreline up here!

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  8. love those flamingos!!

    http://growninsouthernground.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/travel-tuesday-4/

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    1. Aren't they the cutest? Very quirky and neat. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. What a neat little town! On my list of places to visit in FL:) Looks like you had a lovely day with your Mom and Sister...those are the best! Happy Spring!

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    1. You've got to check it out some time! It's really quaint and beautiful. Definitely worth a visit! I hope your Spring is going great, as well!

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  10. Hey lady! Letting you know that I tagged you in todays post about self-truths! Keep it going! :)

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  11. What fun!!! Glad you were able to enjoy time away with your family. :-)

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  12. Such a charming little town!! Looks like you had a blast!! If I lived in a tourist area I would get out during spring break also!!

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