After a long day at work, we were finally able to head to Apalachicola.  This was not our typical drive……….half of our drive was in the dark!  Why is that important?  We’re driving through heavily wooded, mostly deserted pine forests and started to see deer grazing along the roadway.  Yikes!  We do not need a face to face meeting with them.  After our first few sightings, Eric slowed down, which took us even longer to get to town.  We easily counted 12 deer grazing.

After calling the Coombs Inn Bed & Breakfast, she gave us the electronic door code as it seemed we would be the last of their guests to arrive.  Let me say, this room looked great upon arrival.

The next morning I was able to get a few shots of the Inn.  They have 3 buildings  that encompass their total available rooms.  There’s a nice little patio to the left that’s enjoyable when the weather is cooler.  We were in the main building, the second floor – the Raney room.  More on that name later.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As the name mentions, breakfast is included.  Good thing since in past visits, breakfast offerings are extremely limited around town, especially on sunday.  There are several offerings daily for a hot breakfast, along with breakfast breads and cereal.  Here are two of their menus.

I got a kick out of every couple asked for 1 of each and surprisingly, sometimes the gentleman asked for the sweet offering instead of the meat.  Go figure.

I pitched an idea to Eric earlier in the week and again – surprisingly – he thought it was a solid thought.  We’re going to do some yard clean-up on our city lot we purchased earlier this year.  We had to carry all off necessary (and unnecessary?!?) equipment up with us and be sure it was secured during the drive and then when parked overnight.

First up was mowing.  But our main task was cleaning up the fallen tree, seen in the right side of the photo, in the background.  Eric cut, I hauled and just realized I forgot to take a photo while he used the chainsaw.

However……………….you can see the results.  Yes, the vast majority of that I piled up along the roadway.

We found these bottles and this interesting well(?) once some vegetation was cut away.

Yes, yes I know.  These next two photos are not exciting – except to us.  While most people just see green, we see 5 hours of sweat, not much blood and no tears.

Eric’s last task was spraying Round-up to kill remaining vegetation.

While we looked anything but glamorous, we’re done for the day.

After cleaning up, it was (past) time for lunch.  Today’s location of choice was Boss Oyster.  It’s been a number of years since our last visit and one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday.

After our smoked fish dip (very tasty I must say) we both ordered flounder.  I had the basket and Eric got the sandwich.  The fish was so fresh, Eric said it was too good to eat with bread and removed the bun.

The food was excellent, the service didn’t quite reach the same level.  😦

 

Across the street is one of Apalachicola’s eclectic shops, The Tin Shed.

They feature all things nautical and had some great photo ops.

Nearby was the Oyster City Brewing Company and we stopped in for a bit.

We finished the evening at The Bowery Station.  They had live music on a Sunday evening, featuring Boo Radley.

It’s a local hang out, not air-conditioned (or heated for that matter) but easily within walking distance.  This is the second time I’ve heard them sing, so I googled them to find out more.

• they met in Tallahassee, FL, became fast friends, and married this past year at The Bowery Station.
• their songs highlight Michael Shaun Turner’s songwriting skills, sophisticated harmonies and guitar work and her vocal range.
• writing a song together, “More Than Meets the Eye” never expecting to perform it, eventually led to its recording and the title track of their first commercial venture recorded  in Nashville.

Monday morning, Eric drove an hour (1-way) to pick up our boat trailer in Medart, I took the time to walk around town.  There’s so much history these signs are everywhere.

This gentleman was the reason we can live in Florida – comfortably.  He essentially invented air-conditioning, initially for his yellow fever patients.  Dr. John Gorrie noted that “Nature would terminate the (severe yellow) fevers by the changing of the seasons.”  We’ve visited the museum in the past, but not this visit.  It was a block away from our lodgings.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

By the way, each state is allowed two statues in Washington representing their state.  Dr. John Gorrie is one of our figures.

Since we’re in the ‘Raney’ room, I waned to stop by the Raney House Museum – but it was closed.

David G. Raney came down from Virginia in the 1930s as the cotton port of Apalachicola was rapidly expanding.  One of his 8 children, George P. Raney served in the Confederate Army, practiced law in town afterwards, was elected to the Florida Legislature, became Attorney General to two Governors before becoming a Justice of the Florida Supreme Court and then its Chief Justice.  He made an impact upon the state.  The Raney House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

And across the street is a bit of fun whimsey…………………and actually is a bike repair shop.

My last stop in the morning was the Chestnut Street Cemetery.   It is the oldest burying ground in Apalachicola and the burial site of many individuals connected with the history and development of the town.  They created a nice brochure for a cemetery walk, including bits of info from 47 gravesites.  It would be interesting to walk the cemetery, in a cooler season.

 

Finally, Eric returned and we drove to the Scipio Creek Marina to get our boat.  I had never seen a power lift do its job – here you go.

Last stop was for lunch – at the Seafood Grill.

Through the many years of our SGI visits, this place has had a variety of names, but continues to feature seafood.  🙂   Eric stuck with his fish of choice this trip (flounder), getting their daily special of ‘whole fish’.  I had a delicious blackened fish with fries.

The drive home seemed to take forever, slowly  (very slowly) eating away at the 280+ miles to Central Florida.  Finally, our boat is home.

While we enjoyed this extra trip to Apalachicola, we would prefer different circumstances.  Regardless, we made lemonade out of lemons.  🙂

 

Ginny