Florida

Well, it is Nov. and I was wanting to go for a little trip and really there is no place to visit this time of year that has better weather than here where I am, in Arizona, but not to be deterred, I made the decision since we had not really been to Florida other than to catch a cruise one time it would be a clever idea to fly to Tallahassee and rent a car and travel around a bit.
First stop was Apalachicola, Fl. which is clear to the bottom of the state from Tallahassee and about a two hour drive. The drive was easy but we were tired from the flight but arrived at  The Gibson Inn in plenty of time for drinks and dinner. A beautiful Inn that was built in 1907 of native Pine and black cypress and fully restored in 1985.

This was looking out of our window and one of the many bridges we crossed over. Rained all night and was able to open the window and listen to it hitting the tin roof :)

The room was lovely...

and I especially liked the embroidered/quilted bed set...

 

 

 

 

The bar was full of people that were into a football game so I asked two ladies if they would mind if we sat at their table and as it turns out it was a Mom and daughter. Got to talking with them and the daughter was quite a girl....she was a firefighter by trade and loved to fish as most people do in this area but she fished from a kayak! I have never heard of this before and she showed us some pictures which I asked her to send to me so I could share them on my blog...

How is that for cool and she even shared a picture of one of her catches

Enjoyed visiting with them and they suggested we drive around the town and I snapped a few pictures here and there...

 Shrimp boats

 

 

It was a small town with not much happening...even the dogs were looking for fun..

Can you imagine how upset this home owner is going to be when they come home....but boy did I laugh!

 

 

 

They also suggested we visit St. George Island (since it was Sunday and everything was closed) "note to self: Pick a different day to visit places"  So we did that and mostly saw lots of houses built up on stilts......

 

 



 

If  I had it to do over I would not have made this little detour and as mentioned above not added a Sunday to out trip.

 

Our next stop was at Cedar Key, Fl.

 which is all the way around the bay (four hour drive) and we stayed in the Island Hotel. Once we arrived here I was not sure if I wanted to stay,as it looked like it could use some repair so we asked where we could grab a beer and think on it. The lady said there is a bar down the road and to the left so we headed that way. Saw this place that looked more like a house and it didn't have any signs but the door was open and we could see it was a bar so we went in. The place was so full of cigarette smoke (I am a ex-smoker) thought, we will have to drink up fast and ordered a beer. The bartender said "Could I see your card?" We asked what card she would like to see and she said it was a private club. One of the patron's sitting at the bar said let them sign in I will sign for them (this particular man had few teeth  but was friendly enough so we signed in and it turns out it was the Eagles club).  We decided to stay and was glad we did as the place was nice. Loved the little bathroom and the beds and pillows were great!! Best stay of the whole trip.

 

 

 Had this great wrap around porch...

 

 

and dinner in the restaurant was great!! Wonderful fresh sea food.

 

A few picture of the drive....

 

 

 This was a little road off to the side and thought it was so pretty.......

 

 

Our next move was to Fernandina Beach which is across the whole state of Florida and on the east coast. We had the bright idea that we would take the coast line highway thinking it would be like the west coast highway but it isn't....only view is big houses on the shore and driving is hectic. Told hubby we best get lunch before we get out of the town area and we got the last little restaurant called The Reef. Think this was one of the few highlights of this part of the trip. A little place right on the beach that looked out to the ocean and the food was fantastic! This was the decoration in the bathroom...

 Sand right off the beach and a candle:)

 

 

 

 

Our goal was the Florida House and must say it was a disappointment. It has high ratings but I found it to not be up to very good period restoration...this was the only antique in the house..

 

 and they had already decorated for Christmas due to some special gathering (one of my pet peeves is to decorate before Thanksgiving).

 

It did have a very pretty patio area....

 

 

with a fun tequila bottle tree...

 but was not able to sit here very long between the nats (that bite) and the rain. They did not serve dinner except for catered events and the room was horrible. I should have refused it when she showed it to us...it was so small, it really shouldn't have been a room. Could only accommodate a queen size bed that was hard as a rock and had this step up into the bathroom that was a real  toe stub if you weren't remembering in the middle of the night...

 sorry it is so blurry.

 

Here is how much room hubby had to maneuver to the bathroom around the fireplace (another toe stub and he did hit his shoulder on the mantle that was sticking out into the room).

Like I said it was just way too small and it rained the whole day so even though the town was cute, could not walk around or anything.

 

The whole area is about fishing and loved this little boat in a little restaurant where we had lunch..

 

and this lamp in one of the hotels..

 

Travel is all about learning...you never know how things are going to turn out, just try to be flexible and learn from it.

 

Happy Trails