2nd Week in Dothan

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Sunday: Day trip down to Panama City Beach. The sand and water really are gorgeous in the gulf of Mexico. Almost all of the beaches (or really beach since it's just 1 giant beach) don't allow dogs but there is 1 tiny area that does. Of course there were about a dozen other dogs loving the beach and the sand and getting zoomies. Copper on the other hand was miserable and did not like the waves and just wanted to hide between my legs. Not sure what he thought was so awful about it. He enjoyed St. Andrews state park outside of town much more and we walked around Aligator Lake but saw no Aligators. The evening was concluded with a sunset over the ocean on a dog friendly patio with some delicious food. Panama City beach coast line isn't directly east/west as you would think and since it is winter the sun is setting further to the south. So my west coast/California brain was able to be tricked as the sun really did set over the ocean!

Wednesday: Time to chop off my hair! Took a good 4 inches off and now it is shoulder length. Also did some more exploring around downtown dothan and discovered the coolest thing about the town- a community art project where 60+ peanut statues are scattered around for a city wide scavenger hunt.

Friday: I am officially completely obsessed with the peanut scavenger hunt. It is the absolute best thing to explore the town- I'm going to random places I wouldn't otherwise. Seeing what local businesses there are. And also interacting and asking local employees to help me find the peanut. What better way to interact with the city? Once I find all the peanuts I'll have a separate blog post 😊

Saturday: Started the morning at Enterprise farmer's market- though it is a year round market is is Winter and there were only a few occupied booths. Enterprise was a cute rural Alabama town. The center of town has the only monument (I think in the world) dedicated to an agricultural pest- the boll weevil. From 1915-1918 the boll weevil wiped out almost all the cotton crops too in the area so why is it something to be celebrated? Well because of the boll weevil they diversified and discovered how great peanuts grow in the area. Peanuts and diverse crops ended up being even more successful than growing just cotton. So the monument was erected to remind the community how even a disaster can be a catalyst for change.

After a stop in enterprise I headed just across the border into Florida to reach Florida's highest natural point at 345 feet. This is the lowest state high point in the country of course and well, just comical. 345 is nothing! I thought when I got there that I would at least be doing a small hike- but no you just drive up to it and there's not even elevation change or a hill around. It's really only Florida's highest point because it gradually decreases from the state line. Also of note- there are over 90 sky skrapers in Miami that are over 400 feet- the tallest being 826 feet. Florida is just that flat!

Saturday afternoon was a discovery of my favorite place I've found in a long time. Down a 3.5 mile dirt road was lake geneva. The water was gorgeous, there was a 2.5 mile hike along the lake and perfect trees for some hammocking. Copper wasn't so sure about the hammock at first with it's movement (which he kept making worse by moving btw), but then decided it was a great place for a nap. Remote lakes like this just aren't as common on the east coast- I think mostly because it's more densely populated as a whole. So I was pleasantly surprised to find such a deserted gorgeous lake to spent the afternoon at.

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