St George Island Day 7

Today is our final full day.  We took a really long walk on the beach this morning with Foxy.  I think she can sense that we have only one more sleep here.  After a quick errand we had some lunch and hit the pool at 300 Mile.  This is a very nice condo community.  There are two pools total.  After a couple of hours at the pool, we retired to the crow's nest to enjoy the ocean sights and sounds.

Foxy was planted in her bed on the crows nest and Dar would pop in and out of the sun for the finishing touches.  I wanted to post a little video for all of you so that you can enjoy the sun, sand, and sounds of St George Island.

After a very relaxing day at the beach and pool, we had to start the inevitable task of cleaning up and packing.  Do we go home?  Do I YouTube how to fish in the ocean and clean it so we can stay and be beach bums?  This level of contemplation requires Corona.  

After that sad state of affairs, we drove over to Apalachicola for dinner.  We ended up at Tamara's right on the main drag.  We scored a prime outdoor table along the side of the building.  Darla got the seafood linguine with red sauce.  It had mussels, scallops, and shrimp in it and Dar enjoyed it very much.  What drew us there was the pecan crusted grouper.  It was good, but fried and didn't seem like the best piece of fish.  Our overall experience was good.  We would return, but after we've tried some of the other places first.

After dinner we took a stroll through town to let our food settle.  Dar stopped into the Artemis Boutique to make sure there were no more sales to be uncovered before our departure.  The owner there suggested that we go check out the art opening down at the Bowery Art Gallery.  There were some very nice pieces of artwork in this gallery.

Bowery Art Gallery

We continued to walk off dinner and found some interesting old buildings.  You just have to wonder what their story was.

We also found a raw bar and a Marina/Hotel that will have to be tried on our next tip to the Forgotten Coast.  While we were in the Bowery Art Gallery a fellow patron suggested to check out the Apalachicola National Estaurine Research Reserve.  They were also having a gallery opening.  We strolled back to the car and headed to the ANERR.  

The Apalachicola National Estaurine Research Reserve should be on everyone's must do list while you are in the area.  I could see spending at least a half-day there learning about all of the critters and ecosystems in the area.  The half hour that we spent there this evening sealed the deal that we would return to the Forgotten Coast, if not for this center alone.  Fortunately, there are at least a dozen things on our list to see and explore next time.

Up The Creek Raw Bar

With that, I bid you adieu.  See you on the flip side.

St George Island Day 4

Hi, Y'all.  Sick of me yet?  I've picked up some southern vernacular.  Y'all are fixin to get some pictures.  Today we drove over to Apalachicola, which is two causeways away.  Apalach is where the Apalachicola River meets the Gulf.  This is where a lot of the shrimpers and oystercatchers unload their daily hauls.  There was some fantastic shopping and scenery.

For the most part this is a very cute town.  We visited many, many, many little boutiques and outfitter stores.  When my shopping compartment was full, I would stroll outside and take some snaps as Dar continued the hunt.

If you need anything nautical, the Tin Shed is the place to go.

I have a feeling that Disneys Pirates of the Caribbean got a lot of their props here

At least Apalachicola's City Hall was bigger than Carabelle's phone booth police station.  Seriously, google it.

The hunt continues 

While Dar continued to shop, I strolled over to the riverfront to see a shrimp boat being worked on.  It looked like they were welding some parts onto the net boom.  I am not sure of the exacts terms to be used here.  There aren't many shimpin opportunities in Columbus, Ohio.

The Lady Thelma

Gridlock

AAA for shrimpers

Miss Donna J

After that, we went and had lunch at Papa Joe's Grill.  This was again a 'Don't judge a book' situation.  The longer tables were the long heavy duty plastic collapsible scrapbooking/cafeteria tables that you see in schools and churches.  But, heavens to Betsy (something else I picked up down here) the grouper was fantastic.  I had a sandwich and Dar had it on a salad.  After lunch we went down to Battery Park and watched a couple of boats working in the bay.

Working the Bay

Smaller scale operation

This was actually pretty neat to watch the booms lower and the nets go out

But first, let me take a selfie

It is interesting to see all the sizes and shapes of the boats

I wanted to stop into the John Gorrie museum, but they were closed.  The gent was a physician that pretty much helped establish the entire town, pretty much did everything.  He had a lot of patients with yellow fever and is the father of modern air conditioning and refrigeration.  He came up with an invention to cool the hospital to help with his patients that had a fever and make them more comfortable.  Bryant and Trane, you owe this cat some royalties.

I will say the one down side was our attempted trip to the Chapman botanical gardens off of Ave L and 5th.  It was at the far end of town and very sketchy at best.  I would not recommend driving there without armed escort.  Drug deals in the middle of the street going down.  We didn't want to be there, and we were not wanted there.  It didn't even seem like there was a true entrance to the gardens from the way we went.  The town should do a better job with directions or cleaning this part up if they want positive visitor reviews.  This was unfortunate because it was our first bad experience on the trip.

Anyway, the afternoon was a success because First Mate Foxy got a new necklace for her jingles and an iced sweet potato seahorse cookie.  OysterBones is a cute little shop and pet bakery right on Ave D and Highway 98 behind the Gibson Inn.  After that we went for a long walk on the beach and even got Foxy in the ocean.  She is still not having anything to do with the water, but she really likes the sand.  

First Mate Foxy's new necklace

The evening concluded with a seaside dinner of fresh caught grouper and mahi mahi.  If you are ever at Paddy's playing trivia, here's an answer for you:  Mahi is also known as Dorado and Dolphin (not Flipper).  You're welcome. 

Sunset on St George Island

Tiki torches at Blue Parrot