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.