At Eastertime in 2002, I took my family on their first American trip.
Starting from Atlanta, we headed down to Florida. I had booked three nights in the "Best Western" hotel in Apalachicola. It is a sleepy coastal town of some 2,400 people, famed for its oysters. It boasted just one set of traffic lights. We loved being there.
On the first evening we walked half a mile from our hotel to what is now called "The Up To No Good Tavern" though it wasn't called that then. I recall the friendly proprietor appearing gobsmacked when I told her that we had not driven from the "Best Western" to dine - we had simply walked down. The crazy English!
The next day we headed out to one of the offshore islands. There's a causeway across to St George Island which is sandy and low-lying - a thin sliver of land that reaches about twenty five miles across Apalachicola Bay. We headed to the state park at the far east of the island where we hung out on the beach and played in the sea for less than two hours. Remember we were still in the month of March but both Ian and I absorbed too much sunshine that day.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped off at the "Piggly Wiggly" supermarket for a large hot pizza and cold drinks. I guess that it was only when we got back to our room that the effects of the afternoon sunshine properly began to kick in. Ian and I were both zonked out and woozy but Shirley and Frances had spent much of their time in the shade so they were okay.
The next day we visited Cape San Blas and Panama City and that night we paid a special visit to Papa Joe's Oyster Bar on the edge of our adopted town. Sadly it is now permanently closed but that night we enjoyed fresh and simply prepared cooked oysters with fries, salad and beer. I remember a huge pile of oyster shells outside the kitchen door - like a model of Mount Fuji.
I loved Apalachicola - even though we were only there for a little while. It seemed like a place where land and sea merged together and it was so peaceful - right out there on the edge of things. People have sometimes asked me what my favourite place in America is and I nearly always say "Apalachicola". I guess that if I had experienced the town in the very height of a sweltering Florida summer, I might have thought differently.
From Apalachicola we headed on down to Orlando and Disneyworld but that's another story. The last three images were snipped from Google Streetview. Little seems to have changed in the past twenty two years.
The only other place I have read about Apalachicola is Mary Moon's blog as she mentions it often as a place she and Mr. Moon visit so I was surprised to read your post that you have been there too! I had never even heard about Apalachicola before Mary mentioned it. I wonder how you picked that spot to visit?!
ReplyDeleteI picked it because of geographical road trip planning - Atlanta to Moultrie GA then straight down south to the gulf coast where Apalachicola just happens to be then on to Cedar Key > Orlando > Jacksonville > Savannah and back to Atlanta for three nights. The circle completed.
DeleteThat was very interesting. I was particularly interested in the tavern proprietor's surprise (or possible concern). Many years ago a friend of the family was in San José, California. She went to the house next door to where she was staying to take part in a meeting. When she eventually got up to leave (in broad daylight) two men got up to walk her home (across the two gardens). She protested. They were totally gobsmacked that she had walked to the meeting without an escort and were certainly not prepared to let her return without two people accompanying her.
ReplyDeleteThe proprietor wasn't concerned about our safety. To her, walking any distance just seemed weird. Thanks for sharing the San José story.
DeleteAll those years in Florida and I never visited Apalachicola.
ReplyDeleteDid you spend all your time at Disneyworld Bob?
DeleteI think my favorite place in Florida was Sanibel Island, before the hurricane that hit it head-on a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI just checked that island out on a map - down near Fort Myers.
DeleteVisiting a completely different place is always pleasant and you learn something.
ReplyDeleteYour brain is super-stimulated.
DeleteIt sounds like a wonderful place to holiday, except it's in America where I will never go.
ReplyDeleteI have been to America a dozen times and have always loved it over there but I have not been in The Dark Ages (Trumptime).
DeleteWhat a nice memory.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of walking, in Australia inner city residents are generally fitter that those in outer areas, myself excluded. I would suggest Londoners are fitter as wow do they walk, even if they use public transport. This probably applies to locals in New York City and Chicago.
Florida, hot, humid, sewerage overflowing into the streets, alligators getting near humans when areas flood. No, not for me.
Florida is a big state - plenty of variety.
DeleteI once stayed in Miami in transit. I've always fancied visiting The Florida Keys, but the nearest I got was Grand Cayman.
ReplyDeleteWere you going there to join a tax avoidance scheme?
DeleteThat looks a nice place - small town America, which few tourists see. Not somewhere I've heard of though I've been to Florida several times. The first time was in 1972, when British holidaymakers where something of a rarity and a curiousity! On several occasions we were actually asked to "say something in English", when we explained where we came from! We stayed in an aparthotel on Collins Avenue, the main drag on Miami Beach, and one night decided to walk to nearby restaurant for our meal. We had only walked a short distance when a police car pulled up beside us and asked us where we were going! Our answer seemed to confuse the officers, who then told us to take the car next time as no-one walked! Which explained the tremendous number of obese people we saw.
ReplyDeleteYou should have asked him why they had sidewalks (pavements) then. He would have probably shot you for being smart.
DeleteI don't think I've ever heard the name Apalachicola before. On the other hand, I realise that if I come across it again in a few years (or even months), I might well say the same thing then! ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a hard name to forget and for me a hard place to forget.
DeleteI would like to visit Gracelands and travel Route 66.
ReplyDeleteYou will have to sell a few more plants at car boot sales for that.
DeleteThat is a pretty part of the country, very deep coastal south. I have been to St George Island a few times, I was swimming there one trip with dolphins, a very unique experience. Glad they were dolphins and not sharks.
ReplyDeleteDolphins can bite too and it is hard to argue with them.
DeleteIf you actually went back to Apalachicola now, you would be shocked. It has become a sort of mini-Key West. If I go once a year, I can't believe all the tourists and the number of new shops catering to them. In some ways it doesn't seem to have much changed but in others, it truly has. A lot of people have moved there too and the downtown is filled with older people in golf carts sporting flags and what appears to be the requisite dog or two. I'm glad you got to visit there and St. George and Cape San Blas. The number of houses on those beaches has expanded incredibly. I can remember when there was nothing on Cape San Blas but white sand dunes and it was probably the most beautiful beach in Florida. Not any more. One empty mini mansion after another. Same with St. George. People build them and then only stay a few weeks out of the year. The state parks are still beautiful and natural.
ReplyDeleteSuch a shame that those houses are empty most of the time. I realise now that we were very close to Dog Island.
DeleteYes! At one point Dog Island and St. George were one island, I do believe.
DeleteAnother huge difference from when you visited Apalach and now is that although you can still eat oysters there, they do not come from the Apalachicola Bay anymore. Oystering is no longer permitted due to over harvesting and the water situation. The flow of the Apalachicola River which runs into the bay, creating a perfect breeding ground for the oysters has been reduced drastically by the use of the water all the way up in Atlanta. This has been battled for years in the courts.
Very, very sad. Oysters have been taken in the bay since humans first lived in that area.
Despite the fact that I grew up in Florida, and spent the first 33 years of my life there, I've never been to Apalachicola. It's not an easy place to get to unless you try! I still hope to go one of these days, though.
ReplyDeleteThat corner of Florida is alluring.
DeleteDuring the one and only time I have ever been to the US (Florida, by the way) my then husband and I walked to a friend‘s house from our motel. Boy, did people stare at us! Cars were slowing down, but nobody asked what we were doing, and no police car pulled up next to us. It was a really strange experience.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I enjoyed Florida very much. Indian Rocks Beach was my favourite place there, apart from the Kennedy Space Centre.
I would like to have seen more - maybe heading down to The Florida Keys but Apalachicola felt very special as did Cedar Key. I am glad that you were there once too.
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