Post Script, Epilogue, Whatever...

There were a couple loose ends that you, dear reader, must wonder about...

Bocce -- We never found a public bocce court. I called the local senior center and they said they had one bocce court but we had to be members to use it. Membership costs $15 per person...apparently no exceptions.  We didn't want to play that bad.


Key Lime Pie -- I can't believe I didn't mention the Key Lime Pie. Run...don't walk...to Uncle Ernie's in Panama City (Historic St. Andrews district) and order Key Lime Pie. It might take two people to eat it but it is good enough to share so go for it.

Christmas Trees -- I guess they celebrate Christmas in Florida. There were wreaths and bows at various places and we saw houses decorated with lights. Coming from a cold climate it was very odd seeing folks driving along with Christmas trees tied to the roof of their cars in 75 degree weather.

Mike's Diner & Oyster Bar -- We never made it back but Mike's had the best food that we found in PCB. Margaritaville had the worst but I guess folks don't go there for the food.

"Are you kin?" "No, I'm Paul, he's Ken"

We started out in the morning by finding our way across Mobile Bay to the battleship  USS Alabama. The ship is in a park along with the submarine USS Drum and a variety of military planes and other ships. Battleships were huge and had a crew of about 2,500 sailors and marines. Having that many people on board required a huge infrastructure and the services of a small city. The ship is like a maze and they have designated three different self-guided tours. We spent about two hours in/on the Alabama and didn't see everything. At one point Paul and I got separated on one of the interior decks and didn't locate each other for a half hour.

Even though it is a huge ship, it was crowded and conditions were cramped. There were hatches and stairways leading up and down through the decks. I was having trouble managing the stairways. I'd need about four days advance warning of a call to battle stations so I could find my way and clamber up or down the stairs.

There are four huge gun turrets and dozens of other smaller guns ranging from cannons and anti-aircraft guns down to smaller machine guns. The inside of the large turrets have a residual gunpowder smell similar to the smell of cap pistols when I was a kid. There are huge springs set up around the supporting base of the turrets to help absorb the recoil when the cannons were fired. The sound must have been deafening.

The other large ship is the USS Drum, a WW-II era submarine. I've been on a submarine once before and this one seems a little larger but it is still incredibly
cramped. I can't imagine a crew of several dozen men living and working in such a tight space. The captain is the only person with a private space. Everyone below captain had to share space and even share bunks. On the battleship, some sailors, like the ship's barbers, had their bunks in their work space and a little more room.

The submarine's torpedo room was not very large and would have been filled with torpedoes and a few bunks for the lucky sailors who slept there.

The submarine was powered by diesel engines that also produced electricity stored in the batteries. The ship ran on battery power when it was submerged. The air inside one of these submarines was stale and smelled of diesel fumes, cooking smells and the general smell of the crew. Must have been a joy to get fresh air once in a while.

From the picture you can see that people were constrained by the tight spaces and I was definitely having trouble getting through the hatches going from one section to another. In movies they show sailors moving around through the hatches like it was no problem at all.  Maybe it takes practice.

We were late getting away from Mobile since we spent most of the morning touring the two ships and looking at the military planes.  We headed toward home through rural Mississippi to Hattiesburg and Jackson. I'm always surprised at how empty Mississippi is. Population density is about 63 people per square mile in Mississippi compared to 86 in Missouri and 92 in Alabama but large areas of the state seem to be empty.

We stopped for a fast food lunch in Hattiesburg. While we were eating one of the workers stopped at our table and asked Paul "Are you kin?" We didn't quite understand the question because she was speaking Mississippian but Paul finally said (seriously) "No, I'm Paul...He's Ken". She looked puzzled and asked again and we finally figured out what the question was. She said that we looked alike and wanted to know if we were related. Then we had to explain that my name was Ken and he was Paul and we were brothers....and yes, we were kin. Our language fails us once again.

So on we drove. We got to Memphis and decided to go ahead and try to get all the way home to St. Louis. We stopped for supper in West Memphis and ran into a driving rain storm as we tried to get back on the highway. We got turned around a little but finally headed north again on I-55. It was slow going in the rain but we finally got out of it as we crossed into Missouri.  We stopped to walk around a few times and tried to stay awake. In Ste. Genevieve we got out to stretch our legs (at about midnight) and were shocked at the temperature. We went from about 65 degrees to  35 windy degrees in about 50 miles of driving.....that woke us up a little.

It was after 1 AM when we got to Paul's in St. Louis and collapsed into bed. I got started again in the morning and was back home around noon on Monday. It was a good trip and very relaxing. I got rid of a lot of my stored up stress from selling my house and moving. We joked about not doing anything or how dead and laid back everything was but that was exactly what we wanted.

My travelling companion...
yes, we do look alike

Heading Home - Fort Blakely Battlefield

We had another foggy morning but it cleared up by about 8 AM. This was check-out day so we were packed and on our way out of Panama City Beach by 9:30. Our plan was to just go to Mobile and spend about a day there before going home. We got to Daphne, Alabama, where our motel is, by about noon but we couldn't find the place. It took several tries before we found it.  Daphne is directly across Mobile Bay from the city of Mobile.

We had lunch at a local O'Charley's restaurant and headed out looking for Ft. Blakely, site of one of the last large-scale battles of the Civil War. The battle was fought about four hours after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia but there was no way to know here in Alabama. Mobile held out for a couple days before it surrendered and was occupied by Union troops.

Massachusetts battery

It's a long and involved story of why I'm interested in the Ft. Blakely battle and I won't go into it in any detail here. The battle included African-American Union soldiers as well as Missouri Confederate troops.

The battlefield is a state park but is only partially preserved. Not much of it has been reconstructed and most of it is overgrown and exists only as ruins or remnants of the trench lines and artillery batteries. That is a huge contrast from the famous battles of Gettysburg or even The Wilderness, where trench lines are still visible the forest. There are only a couple stone monuments at Ft. Blakely and these are recent additions.

Union trenches

Union forces laid siege of about three days and then attacked from trenches after an artillery bombardment.

Union troops were reinforced prior to the final assault and outnumbered the Confederates four to one.

The chaos of the battle is clearly recognized by looking at how the lines were laid out  and how close the lines were to each other. There were only about 1,500 ft. between the strongest defenses and there were various rifle pits and zig-zag trenches in the area in between.

Redoubt #4

 Confederate forces were well dug in in trenches and occupied fortified redoubts equipped with cannons and mortars.  Their positions were also protected by ravines and "torpedoes", an early version of land mines.

Redoubt #4 was the site of the final assault and the surrender of most of the remaining Confederate troops. Redoubt #4 is a substantial ruin but it is difficult to tell how it was laid out.

reconstructed cannon
ports - Redoubt #4

The state, the Civil War Trust and various reenactor groups are trying to preserve the battlefield. There was a town of Blakely located near the fort but nothing is left other than a cemetery.

Union trench line

Angle - Redoubt #4

Dinner was sandwiches from a local take-out deli.

Tomorrow we are going to see the USS Alabama, a battleship docked in Mobile Bay that is open for tours.

Panama City Proper

Today was cloudy and foggy and a little cool - there were even fewer people on the beach and they had jackets. We have a resident cat that lives out on the beach under the boardwalk but he was curled up in a ball in the sea oats  and just hunkered down all morning. Of course the beach bed mattress guy showed up and set up his umbrellas and mattresses but there was no one interested.

We figured this would be a good day to go over to Panama City...not the beach but the town. They have two "historic" areas...one is called St. Andrews and the other is the downtown area.

Historic St. Andrews is the few blocks surrounding the marina. We walked around a little and visited a couple galleries. There were several bars and restaurants. We ate lunch at Uncle Ernie's...pretty good food. We are starting to approach our quota on seafood although no fish species have become endangered due to our visit.

Uncle Ernie's is also a brew pub so we had one of their beers...an amber ale. It was more like a porter...much darker than an amber ale...but it was good.


The historic downtown area was bigger and more diverse - lawyers and doctors offices mixed in with the galleries and antique stores and fewer bars and restaurants. We wandered into a couple galleries. Some of the stuff was Florida beach cutesy but much of it was pretty good. Not all of it was Florida or beach-based art. The galleries were quite large with several exhibit rooms.

As things go, that pretty much took up our day. We leave for Mobile in the morning and will stay there one night before heading for home.

We're Not Dead, We're Only Sleeping

Well, It took several days and it was quite a struggle but we have finally conformed (succumbed) to the vibrant pulse of Panama City Beach...yawn, scratch. We're not dead...we're only sleeping.

The beach bed mattress man was late this morning, Whoa! What was that all about? Must have been something serious...but he looked the same when he finally showed up. He probably leads a double life or maybe he's a terrorist. Good thing we're staying on top of that. Y'all can rest easy 'cuz we got the mattress covered...

Now, today was the day when we planned to get wet -- we were going to enter the ocean. We walked across the beach and waded into the surf...up to our knees. It was sunny and 72 degrees but a little windy and they had that yellow flag up so we decided to be extra careful. But, the water was fairly warm so we did OK. There was no one else on the beach so I guess we were pretty brave to be out there under those conditions. We have seen folks walking around wearing coats.

We had lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville down the beach road by the mall...the one just across from the pier. The place is huge, like other restaurants in town, but the lunch crowd was about five tables. Of course, we had to wait to be seated and then the question was "sun or shade?" Damn, so many decisions. We found an acceptable place and then waited for our server  to show up.  She arrived and dragged a huge umbrella over so we were in the shade whether we wanted to be or not. Prices were high and things didn't look all that good but we finally got fish and chips and a beer.  We asked if they had malt vinegar for the fish..."yes we do".  We should have asked..."would you bring me some malt vinegar?" We finally got some and it was a big improvement on everything except the beer.

We stopped off at the Winn Dixie, our local wine merchant, on the way back home. We've taken a liking to Argentine Malbec.  It's our one vice....that and nap time.

Supper was the nightly forage through the fridge and pantry. Not much more to report and this is wearing me out.

A Stroll on the Beach

Today we managed to stay out of the car for the entire day.  We had good weather again even though they kept saying that it might rain. We decided to just hang out close to home. Paul chose to bask in the sun on our balcony. Since it faces south the sun is our constant companion when outside...plus you get to watch the various goings on on the beach (not much).

One of our high points is watching the guy with the mattress and umbrella concession come out at 9 AM in his ATV and set up the beach beds. He sets everything up and then retreats to his little booth a few hundred yards down the beach and  watches to see if anyone lights on one of his beach beds...then he races up on his ATV to collect his money. Yes...entertainment is hard to find but he's the only show for most of the day.

I decided I was going to take a walk on the beach down to the fishing pier. The pier is clearly visible and didn't seem that far away...just a little barefoot stroll down the beach. Walking ankle and calf deep in the water was nice. The water is still warm enough for swimming. Folks were out looking for shells in the surf...there's not many. Most of the shells are broken. There were a few other walkers out on the beach...including a large pelican who was maintaining authority over a small section of shoreline. People would come to a stop when they reached the pelican, not sure what to do...he wouldn't fly away and wasn't going to budge. Finally they would make a wide detour around him and continue up the beach.  It took an hour to reach the fishing pier and an hour to walk back to the condo...about 4 miles all together. That was much farther than I had anticipated walking in bare feet on sand and broken shells. But it was an enjoyable morning and the few other beach walkers were a friendly bunch.

After I recovered from my walk and Paul recovered from basking in the sun we decided it was time for lunch. There was a little cafe and oyster bar across the street and up the block that didn't look like much but had great reviews. We figured we could risk it and strolled over to get something to eat. Wow.  I started out with a pint of Guinness and Paul had a pint of Stella Artois and things went up from there. I got an excellent plate of baked oysters and then a couple grouper tacos. The grouper was wonderful. Paul got a big plate of fried shrimp with fries -- lots of food. We had to have more beer but, of course, it was happy hour...how fortunate can we get?? I suspect we will make it over there again.

Later in the evening we went up on the roof of the condo (in the meeting/event room) to listen to a aging folk singer who has a standing gig each Wednesday singing to the vacationers. He has a long list of songs that he does so he opens it up for requests. Every song requested for the first 45 minutes were sad tear jerkers. What fun that was!  Finally things lightened up and it turned out to be a semi-enjoyable evening. He ended the evening with "Run Around Sue" and "This Land is Your Land" which were big improvements.

Since we were still full from our big lunch we gave up on eating supper and just grazed on stuff we had in the kitchen.

Introducing Kids & Dogs to the Ocean

Panama City Beach is a popular and accessible beach destination and, compared to some other places, it has a family-friendly reputation and is pretty laid back. Countless thousands of kids have been introduced to the ocean here, including my daughter, Jill, and it has been fun watching the parents and the different methods they use. Some just take the kids out and stroll along the beach and let them see it without any pressure to get in or even get wet. Others take the toddler-age kids in their arms and walk into the surf  out to knee depth and jump in the waves. Some parents encase their kids in various inflated devices and encourage them to play in the waves. The kids may, or may not, take to the ocean and if they do, the taste of sea water is the second shock to their system.

I enjoyed watching the families and the young dads trying to get the kids in the water. The moms are usually in charge of the camera and sometimes the grandparents are nearby offering encouragement. Today we got to see a puppy go through the process. A couple guys were on the beach with a puppy trying to get him to fetch a stick. Nope...he didn't want to. He wanted to run and check out the beach. An older dog was there with them and it was concerned with keeping track of the puppy. There were so many distractions...sea gulls, waves, people, odd smells. The guys finally just sat on the beach and let the puppy investigate it on his own.

Not too far down the beach road is a fairly large mall so we went there for lunch. We had lots of options but settled on the Hof Brau Beer Garden, a Munich-style beer hall with tables inside and out and German music. The menu was strictly German but with a little American, Turkish, Indian fusion going on. The waitress was dressed like she had come straight out of Bavaria. It was a good place to sit and watch people. This place, and others, must be crammed full of peope during spring break or the summer season.

We had the dunkel (dark)  beer with big, soft pretzels and some brats with sauerkraut. The food was good but the music was predictable...think Beer Barrel Polka. The men's bathroom showed a little bit beer garden humor.


We walked around the mall a little and over to the fishing pier. The mall at least had some activity going on...much of Panama City Beach seems to be hibernating.

One place that wasn't hibernating was the Sea Breeze Winery.  They have 100 acres of muscadine grapes, which makes them the largest vineyard in Florida. Muscadine grapes are much different from the standard variety grapes we are used to in Missouri. The wine is quite different as well. We tasted about eight wines and some special fruit wines plus a port and a sherry. I have to say that the wines were drinkable and might have been great muscadine wines but I wasn't familiar with the type to say it it was good or bad. Paul is more familiar with it and was happier with it. We had a good visit with the attendant and talked wine and wineries for about a half hour. We left with a few bottles of wine.

We ended the day back at the condo watching a soccer game and having sandwiches.

Tuesday Morning

Enjoy... 8 AM on the beach...

Lazy Day (#1)

We didn't do a whole lot today. The weather is great but started out cloudy for a few hours. We had coffee and breakfast on the balcony and spent most of the morning just enjoying doing nothing.

The morning is taken up with pelican and sea gull watching. The pelicans can dive from 30 feet into the water and always come up with a fish. The sea gulls will pose on the beach trying to look cute until some poor sucker decides to feed them and then all hell breaks loose. Every sea gull within earshot shows up and demand to be fed.

After resting from our morning efforts, we decided to try finding a bocce court someplace. Not an easy task. Apparently bocce hasn't been as popular here as it is in other parts of Florida. People we asked said they never heard of bocce and didn't know what we were talking about. The online phone book said that "Joey's On The Beach", a NY pizza joint, had bocce courts. When we finally found Joey's they didn't have bocce courts and didn't have a clue what bocce was. The pizza was good, however.  When we got back to the condo we asked the front desk attendant...she thought that bocce was something like rugby. She found a place for us but it turned out to be a company that installs bocce courts. By that time it was too late to check them out. We will call tomorrow. There is at least one bocce court in the town of Rosemary Beach, a little ways up the beach but not exactly local.

That's about it.

Obligatory Sunset Picture

This is off season and a Sunday. Panama City Beach is almost empty compared to what it is during Summer or Spring Break. Looking up the beach, there are more trash cans than people. And they still pay a guy to drive up the beach and empty the trash cans every day.  Well, that's what we wanted...a place just to chill out.

We are on the 3rd floor of a 16 floor high rise so we are almost on the beach. The surf is pretty loud which is cool. The weather is really nice. People are swimming in the gulf and hanging out on the beach. We have a nice balcony so we can just sit and enjoy it.

I'm not complaining but the combination of the bright sun reflecting off the water and white sand means that sunglasses are mandatory...and I left mine at home. One of our first stops today was to get sunglasses so I didn't have to squint all the time.

We ate lunch at Sharky's, a local tiki bar on the beach, They had football on the TV so we watched part of the Titans - Texans game. The food was good and the beer was cold.

I took a walk on the beach in the afternoon. There were a couple families out playing in the surf or in the sand. Some kid named Luke wrote his name in the sand in several places. I guess he wants to be noticed. There were several young guys out on paddle surf boards. They made it look effortless. I don't know how they kept standing up. They used long-handled canoe paddles (sort of) and managed the surf with no problems.

I walked about a mile up the beach and ran into only about a dozen people. The pelicans were busy diving for fish and the shore birds and gulls were busy working in the shallow water.

The sun sets here about 4:30 and by 5:15 it is pretty dark. I managed to get several pictures as the sun was going down and then my camera battery died. Probably a good thing...but I got the obligatory sunset picture.

We went to Shuckum's Oyster Bar for dinner. Lots of advertised places seem to be closed until next March.

We stopped off at the local Winn Dixie for a few groceries and then headed back to the condo and watched some TV.

This was a quiet day -- what we wanted -- and it was good not to spend hours in the car,

Have You seen Anybody Who Looks Like Me?

Brookhaven looked better in the morning than it did at night but not much. We took advantage of the "continental breakfast". We were located next to the Walmart and discovered that, for a mere $4.00, we could take a carriage rides around the Walmart parking lot. The carriage was pulled by miniature mules or ponies...we couldn't decide which.

We headed south on I-55 looking for the junction with I-10 which would take us east. Too bad that we didn't have a map...Note to self: next time bring a map. We crossed into Louisiana and kept going until we were in the middle of New Orleans.

New Orleans was not where we wanted to be...we missed a turn somewhere but, oh well, here we were.

Anyway, we found I-10 and headed east, We crossed back into Mississippi and decided to stop at the Welcome Center. We picked up  a map and some route information and Paul had a smoke while I used the facilities. The place wasn't that big but we lost track of each other. They were serving coffee so Paul got some coffee and asked "Have you seen anybody that looks like me?"  The young black woman serving the coffee looked at him funny and said no, she hadn't. So a few minutes later I showed up to get some coffee and asked "Have you seen anyone who looks like me?" She stopped and looked funny and said "Somebody else asked that question and yes, and he gots the car keys"  Paul and I met up outside and were talking when she walked by and laughed and was happy we found each other.

So on we went...along the Mississippi gulf shore. You can still see a lot of hurricane damage. We saw some in New Orleans and some of the trees were torn up in the forests along the highway,


One thing we learned at the welcome center was that Joe Bonamassa was performing a concert at Biloxi this evening, Dang...we could have worked that out better if our timing was different. Note to self: check concert schedules!!!


Once we were past Biloxi we were in Alabama and on our way to Mobile. We want to come back and spend a day or so in Mobile before we head for home. We passed the battleship Alabama, which is open for tours and there are other things we want to see.

Mobile is an interesting place and it looks impressive. We will have to check out what there but I'd like to see Ft. Blakely...one of the last Civil War battle sites.

Bellingrath Gardens and the Jefferson Davis home are nearby if we have time and can find them.

We kept going east and crossed into Florida and went through Pensacola without seeing much of it. By this time we were seeing lots of water and most of the highways were elevated over swamps or bayous.

We made it to our destination in Panama City Beach at about 5 PM but it was already dark. The sun goes down early here on the far eastern edge of the central time zone. We checked in and relaxed. There was an old performance by the Rolling Stones and Muddy Waters on PBS that we sat and enjoyed. The sound of the surf is very relaxing and it was good to be done with the travelling for a while.

First day - On To Mississippi

We were on the road by 9:30 and headed south on I-55. We got through Missouri and into Arkansas, stopping at Blythville for lunch at a Grecian Steak House. This place has two Grecian restaurants located right next to each other. If you want Grecian food you know where to go. Maybe it's a local zoning thing...all Grecian restaurants have to be at the same location. I had a "Grecian Burger" and Paul had a Gyros thingy. French fries were the best part of the lunch...big fat steak fries.

Traffic was fairly light all day except around Memphis. Our view of Memphis was mostly bridge girders and the back of the cars in front of us. We knew it was there. We could see glimpses of it as we got close to the bridge but were soon he

We were soon crossing over into Mississippi. Mississippi ading out of town.seems to be mostly woods. Lots of pine trees and the deciduous trees had turned colors but still had leaves. We were seeing some crops in the fields...maybe winter wheat but there was something else we couldn't identify...looked like spinach??

Jackson Mississippi is much bigger than I remember it. There is a huge Nissan factory north of town and the place looks like it is doing quite well.

We weren't sure where we were going to stay. We ended up in Brookhaven MS at a Comfort Inn. When we pulled into the parking lot there was about a half dozen guys partying on the 2nd floor. They were having a good time. It was dark and after 6 PM when we got there and decided to walk to a place to eat. Not much around...so we ended up at a Waffle House. The food was OK but I woudn't want to see the inspection report. We decided that this was going to be the extent of our search for local color. Paul thought it was a color resembling a bad bruise.

The guys were still at it on the balcony when we got back to the motel but they quieted down...or passed out...a little while later.

The Trip is On

Thursday afternoon -- I got a later start than I hoped but still made good time and got to St. Louis and Paul's at 4 PM. Nothing exciting to report...weather was warm and sunny...up in the 60's, Traffic was light on US 50. We got an Imo's pizza for supper - a St. Louis icon in the pizza world. Sandy was at the de Menil mansion for a Christmas event. Several old homes were open tonight with a progressive reading of Dickens's Christmas Carol with people dressed in character. Sounds like a neat idea for starting Christmas.

Road trip coming up -- Florida

Well, I finally sold my house after three stressful years of trying. I have been stressed out for months so I decided that I needed to get away for a week or so and sit on a beach. Even though it is December it will be fine -- and warmer than here in central Missouri. I invited my brother and sister-in-law to go along so it will be a family trip. We leave in about a week or so.

My road trips are always fun and help me recharge my batteries. I'm looking forward to it.

Here are a few pictures from some earlier trips...

Indian River, Florida

New Mexico

Colorado

New Mexico

Venice




Peru - Altiplano
















Peru - Urabamba River

Peru Ollantaytambo

 

 

Sea Smoke -- Atlantic Ocean -- Florida

Fly fishing - Colorado River -- Colorado