We’re off! We didn’t make it too far on the first leg: just to Apalachicola, FL for a few days of R&R, which in our case stands for Rambling and Restaurants. We came to the right place. Miles of untouched beaches to walk on, and a new place to eat on every corner. So far one of our favorite places is the Up the Creek Raw Bar, in the building with the two gables. We actually have to get up from our rocking chairs to go eat, but we don’t have to exert too much more effort than that.

If you’re looking for a relaxed place to stay with the family, Apalachicola is it. It’s on the Gulf coast of Florida, about halfway down the panhandle, far from cities, neon lights, amusement parks, crowds, noise – in short, it’s not about to become the next Spring Break destination. The main activity here is catching, cooking and eating various sea creatures. The next most popular activity is sitting around talking about catching, cooking and eating; if you do that while drinking coffee or a beer, so much the better.

Not everybody sees it that way. At our favorite breakfast place, Café con Leche, the waitress was from Venezuela; she said that she used to love Apalachicola twenty years ago, when it was “like a third world country, except everything worked.” Now, she said, it was getting too crowded, too many new buildings, too much going on for her. (People say pretty much the same thing about Austin, so I guess there’s a lot of that going around.)

Out on the beach, most of the buildings seem brand new (built after the last hurricane?), but in town they all look like they’ve outlasted a hundred hurricanes – some of them only just barely, but still they’re here.

Out of town, the beach is 15 minutes away. It’s just beach. There’s plenty of parking, but beyond that, nothing to mar the scenery. Just miles and miles of beautiful sand, sky and ocean.

But so much for relaxation. On to our next destination: Palm Bay, FL to drop the car off with Wade and Chris while we’re gone. Then we’re off; just the two of us, to our next destination.