Okay, now I gotta play a little catch-up! On Feb 25, we spent the day in Destin, FL which is about 35 miles from our RV park in DeFuniak Springs. Destin is on the Emerald Coast which is what they call this part of the Gulf. The water is so green at times that it looks emerald-colored. Our new friends, Pat and Bill (from Atlanta, GA), vacation every winter in a condo owned by his son in Destin. While they're here they do a little work on the son's 3 units there, paint decks, plumbing, etc. During other times of the year they travel by car all over the place. We met them at an Oregon lighthouse while they were on a month sojourn around Washington and Oregon and we were on our way back from our Alaskan cruise/road trip. They took us to lunch for our anniversary at one of their favorite restaurants, The Back Porch, looking out at the beach and we had the best sandwich, the Amberjack. The Amberjack is a most delicious fish but I've never heard of it before and with it we had.....seafood gumbo......yum! After lunch we returned to their condo, played cards with Pat and stayed until she had to serve us dinner too!! Yummy again, leftover meatloaf.....downhome cooking!! Then, she served us dessert and made us take some cake home with us. Don't be surprised if I'm a little bigger when I return home. The food just tastes too good here on the Gulf Coast!
Laundry, truck washing, chores and grocery shopping...with a little laziness in-between...occupied the next day.
Yesterday we were determined again to see what we could see. We started by driving back down to Destin and drove along the coastal highway to Fort Walton Beach. In Fort Walton we stopped at the Indian Mound Museum, walked thru the museum, old school house, old post office and then onto the top of the mound. The mound was the center of an Indian village about 1000 years ago. It's amazing that the mound has survived the millennia as it's right in the middle of a bustling town. Another nearby mound was leveled for a parking lot years ago. A lot of the artifacts in the museum were found right in the area and some from other parts of Florida. Very interesting stuff! In the school house, we learned that 100 years ago school teachers were held to high standards. They couldn't be married during their time as a teacher in fact were not even allowed to go out with men other than their fathers or brothers. They could not wear bright colors, dye their hair, had to wear 2 petticoats (?), couldn't loiter in the local ice cream parlor, and had to be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless they were at a school function. Remember though, this was the time before women worked much outside the home. The turn-off factor for me would have been that the teacher was responsible for keeping the school clean by sweeping and scrubbing the floors, cleaning the blackboards and had to start the fire at 7am (no electricity) so the room would be warm by 8am for the children.
We had to travel back the way we had come to get back to the rv park so with the sun on its downhill slide into the sea we reluctantly turned around. We had spotted an interesting looking place to stop for a bite and so kept an eye out for it on the return trip. Aha, Fudpuckers!! We found it again and pulled in. Yeah, crazy name huh? Well, it gets crazier...they keep a kind of nature area, a man-made swamp, as a gator habitat. Yep, we got to see gators finally. Also found out that the reason that alligators don't show up much in the winter is because they are ectothermic animals (aka cold-blooded). They can't make their own heat so they rely on the sun to support their metabolic systems. Translation: they don't move much when it's cold. Don't think I'll test that theory if I find myself up close and personal to an alligator in the cold though. Had a great dinner there too.....our appetizer was gator strips! Did I feel guilty later while viewing the precious things....umm, a little!!