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.
ReplyDelete