Panama City Beach, FL

Day 14: Parked in Crestview, Florida, a massive storm loomed over us and multiple states threatening heavy rains, winds, and tornados (in certain areas).  Around 2 a.m. the winds picked up; at about 4 a.m. rain started to come down; and by 6 a.m. the world outside our windshield was a wet, rain-pelting mess.  Thank goodness the Cracker Barrel was open; we chose to have breakfast to wait out the rain storm.

We ordered a sharable dish of grits with the biscuits and gravy, while Chad ordered country fried steak and I had an over easy egg and tomato sandwich.  I tried their specialty french toast latte and Chad ordered straight black coffee.  The latte was WAY too sweet and I actually had to give it up to avoid tossing my good breakfast.  I don’t do super well with sweets….

The rain had stopped, and I was able to convince Chad to play a game of checkers with me on the porch! We sat in rocking chairs and went into war-mode. We played viciously, strategically planning out moves and chasing each other around the board. Eventually, I trapped Chad’s last king and destroyed him royally. We may have to have a rematch sometime at another Cracker Barrel down the road.

Full and ready to hit the road, Chad drove us to Panama City while I worked at my desk.  The landscape had the same feel as Louisiana with the watery bayous, but Florida has added tall pine trees and other filler bushes to accent the roads. 

We rolled into Panama City and I REALLY had to go.  There were shopping centers decked out in pastel colors and the architecture changed to the beachy vibe of summer resorts.  I could either go in the JC Pennys or Starbucks.  I chose Starbucks and we then continued to walk their main strip of little beachy shops.  There were super touristy-based themes and stores, but I guess that makes sense since this place used to be one of major places to go for spring break.

We tootled down to the beach and looked at the waves.  Since we were wearing tennis shoes, we didn’t want to get sand in the soles (our poor car, too!) and chose not to walk on the beach.  There will be other beaches, so it wasn’t too heart breaking to not touch the water (ok, it was a little…but, I have outfits for those activities and I wasn’t appropriately dressed.)

Since the city decided not to continue promoting spring break in their town and changed the ordinances, they are targeting a family destination place. Chad and I then went down a worm hole researching the best places to spring break at, the police force needed during those times, the revenue, crime and drugs, etc…. Anyway, Panama City was a nice, quiet town and the beach looked super relaxing.

Somehow, I ended up driving and I took us on a highway lined with super tall, skinny pine trees.  The road was hilly it was not a boring drive.  After about 3 hours or so, we made it into the capital of Florida.

Tallahassee was the cutest place ever! It had the similar vibe of Fargo, North Dakota (calm, quiet, family-oriented, little-college-town-feel); mixed with the look of Savanna, Georgia (massive southern trees with hanging moss and greenery everywhere); and hilly like the residential streets of San Francisco, California. It was a really awesome place to visit.

We did the drive by tour of “walk-it-with-your-eyes” Chad style and I drove around their downtown space exploring while Chad researched for a unique place to eat. I loved it. If I could have the college experience all over again, I would have chosen a campus like the University of Florida.

The weather is constantly nice (no snow, 50 mph winds, frozen below zero days…), there is greenery everywhere with massive southern trees and flowers. The buildings were constructed with red brick and it created a wonderful atmosphere. That was my ideal college campus.

Chad remembered that we haven’t tried gumbo yet and we had set out for Coosh’s Bayou Rouge Restaurant.  We ended up with gumbo, Étouffée, jambalaya, shrimp and grits, and a few hush puppies.  OH. MY.  The favorite was the shrimp and grits (it wasn’t as good as the one in New Orleans) and the gumbo had a unique flavor.  I liked the Étouffée (creamy like a clam chowder soup) and the hush puppies were like little cornmeal circles quickly deep fried. 

With the new time zone, we jumped ahead an hour and it was already time for bed. We backtracked to the Cracker Barrel and climbed the steep hills to the restaurant. They have a mixture of parking lots based on the elevation of the hills. We made the loop scoping out the available spots and parked in one of the tiers next to other car campers and an RV.

Now completely dark, the large happy trees with moss turned menacing-looking with crooked branches. I snuggled into my sleeping bag and pillow palace, ignoring the crazy shapes of nature outside our windows. There were stray cats prowling on the hunt in the parking lots and on the grassy hills towards the restaurant. We counted at least four of them!

There were no storms expected for the night and we were able to roll the windows down just a crack for air flow and let the cool night air seeped in.  But, not enough to let a potentially rabie-filled feline hop in for a nibble.  It truly is the jungle!  Little jungle cats are everywhere!