Finally, the Gulf of Mexico!

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Fourth of July weekend is a good time to visit the Florida Panhandle, of course if there is no hurricane watch on the way. Luckily we managed to do it without getting any troubles.

Starting from Atlanta at 10.15am with a Cobb County rental car, we drove through a busy traffic of Atlanta in the hot humid Georgian weather. There are two things I enjoy the most riding this rental car. First, air conditioning is running and kicking, unlike Ryan's red 97 Grand Am we were accustom to driving around Atlanta. Second, my iPod transmitter turns out to be a perfect tool to listen to good songs driving south at I-75 to Tallahassee, the capital of Florida.

I was slightly disappointed when we had to drive through the Georgia/Florida border without stopping or taking pictures at the state sign, mostly because it was raining and we don't like getting wet. Tallahassee is only fourteen miles away from the border, and we arrived at downtown Tallahassee around 3pm to find some cheap but clean hotel around. Two ladies at Park Ave. public library told us that area around the Florida State University campus might cater something that we're looking for. It doesn't seem to be a bad idea at all, in fact, we did find the University Motel, a little sketchy motel with $45/night rate for us.

I cannot stop thinking of what FSU is famous for; in fact, we drove by the Chi Omega sorority house where Ted Bundy raped and killed two students around 1960s.

After having Wendy’s for lunch, we headed down to the state capitol area, which is unique due to its lack of dome. I have expected Tallahassee to be more crowded than what we witness, but it was pretty much dead. It must be a summer thing, or people went somewhere for the long weekend. Same thing with the Florida A&M campus nearby.

What else to do in Tallahassee? We decided to drive to the cotton trail tour as suggested by the DK book. DK usually does a good job in describing a tourist side, but I have to admit that they didn’t do a damn thing on the cotton trail. Map was a mess, descriptions were incomplete and pictures were close to none. But one thing I agree with them: the northern part of Florida you’re in, the southern feeling you get. I could see that from the cotton trail: Spanish Moss hanging from limbs of Live Oaks, front porch with rocking chairs, and humidity of southland. We saw a gas station on the corner with traditional farmers selling their crops from nearby plantation; but unfortunately we were too scared to stop by. We drove pass many low branches of live oaks hanging over unpaved Old Magnolia drive; and when we got out the car, we could hear crickets and smell the damp swamp nearby.

The next day, we were ready for beach action. We drove along the I-10 scenic drive along the Gulf of Mexico. We could see how white sand (when I said white, it was white!) and inviting blue water. This scenery was even emphasized by the developers of Watercolor, FL and Seaside, FL, who mixtures the natural color of the gulf with pastel color for their houses and landscape. Seaside is the location for Jim Carrey’s “the Truman Show”, picturing a perfect neighborhood in a happy live setting. Everything was calming here, except it seemed to have too many people, as the long weekend has started.

We continued on, but still, we couldn’t resist stopping at the Mexican Beach to touch the Gulf. This was my first Gulf of Mexico experience, ladies and gentlemen! As it never been enough, we stopped again in Destin, FL, to swim and spend more time at the beach. Several weeks before our visit, many swimmers were attacked by sharks with two casualties, all occurred in this very beach. With that in mind, we played in the water, sunbathing, and went back into the water again.

We drove by the Panama City, FL just to see many overcrowded tourists spots, and this wasn’t even spring break. Our trip of the day ended up in Pensacola, where we spent the night, after having a good dinner in Santa Rosa Island.

The next day, we checked out the Pensacola Beach at the Santa Rosa Island. We were shell hunting, but many shells were already picked up with early birds. Many of the houses were still in ruins from last year’s Hurricane Ivan, including a condo that the Hardys rented one year.

Vacation was over! On the way back to Atlanta, we stopped by in Auburn University campus in Auburn, Alabama.

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