2020 S.G.I. Chapter 1

Wow! After numerous attempts this year to head to one of our favorite Florida locales, we finally made it.

Here’s a brief synopsis of our attempts this year:

Trip #1 – Rental company canceled our reservation due to state restrictions for Covid-19 in the Spring. Ugh.

Trip #2 – NY Friends couldn’t make it due to 2-week quarantine upon coming into Florida, followed by a 2-week quarantine going back home. Yikes!

Trip #3 – this is it! It began with a packed truck and boat, followed by a car.

Adrienne is driving her car so Eric was driving solo. This was our view for 280+ miles.

Eating options were slim pickings if you don’t want to stop at a chain restaurant – and we don’t. Then you factor in possible restaurant closures or limited hours due to the state-wide shutdown and options get smaller. Prior to leaving home, we found a favorite – Cypress Inn – with a website that still says they are open AND they had a Yelp review two days prior. We had a plan, timed our departure for lunchtime and (yep you guessed it), closed. A sign on the door said ‘Closed for Cleaning’. Aaarrgghh.

Quick trip into a nearby gas station/food market and their recommendation was Carriage Inn Restaurant & Motel, but it meant back-tracking a few miles – not what we usually prefer. Choices were limited so back we went.

Breakfast was my choice (and served all day) and I had some f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s pancakes. They were literally steaming when the plate was brought to the table. An egg and rasher of bacon rounded out my meal.

Eric chose lunch getting a tuna salad sandwich and fries. I won – just saying.

Not sure this place will be a repeat, but it was filling and open when we passed through.

We finally arrived at St. George Island.

And the rental house Survivor.

It’s older than some of the places we’ve stayed, decorated ’80s style. It still works for us being on the back side of the island along a canal with a dock.

Our bathroom had something I’ve only seen on TV, a walk-in tub. Not quite sure how that is going to work. I may be borrowing Adrienne’s bathroom on this trip!

And then there is this………..a baby grand piano. Really? Really.

Something I almost forgot to include…………..the elevator. It’s important to Eric. It gets harder and harder each year to carry things up. Maybe it’s because we bring too much………

Sunday night dinner was a stop Adrienne and I made before getting on the island, picking up fresh seafood, specifically shrimp and oysters. For the record, Eric still had to cook the seafood, it was not prepared.

We always buy head-on shrimp. It’s a good clue the shrimp are super fresh.

Monday morning dawned bright and clear and WINDY. It was expected which was also the reason we didn’t put the boat in the water upon arrival. Not going to be a good day for fishing.

The day turned into a ‘Show Adrienne Around SGI’ day with the first stop being St. George Island State Park.

I mentioned it was windy…………………..

Yellow flag for moderate, windy conditions with the purple for stinging marine life. Ouch! We stopped at the last beach parking and saw this sign. I guess they are serious.

We grabbed a quick photo to prove we were really at the beach. Yep, still really windy and quite chilly

And then……………walking along the surf, we saw this. I think they were trying to get out of the chilly water and grab some sun – not.

Not too many people walking along the beach in November.

Nor could many shells be seen. The wind was blowing grains of sand along the coastline, burying many.

We made another stop inside the park – the Boy Scout Camp – where in years past we put in our kayaks for fishing. Man – look at that low, low, low tide. A full moon + exceptionally low tide + 25+mph winds out of the north = below.

Couldn’t resist a shot of this sign. Yep, the oyster bars definitely have sharp edges which could prove hazardous to the bottom of your kayaks.

Time to head over the bridge towards Apalachicola……….for lunch. Scipio Creek Marina’s restaurant & bar was our choice.

This is a new addition to their entrance – a wall of buoys. You can just see blue sky peeking out near the top.

What else would you drink in Apalachicola, but brews from Oyster City Brewing Company.

A dozen raw oysters and fried pickles started us off. These oysters were different from the ones the day earlier. They are being farm-raised in Alligator Point – east of here. That story could be a post all in itself. Lets just saw they were mighty tasty – better than the ones I picked up, which were harvested out of state. Add a dab of fresh grated horseradish or cocktail sauce – yum.

Eric enjoyed their seafood gumbo and fried okra. I loved my grouper and onion rings. OMG – those were some of the best onion rings ever. Almost forgot to take a photo of my basket. There are several nuggets of fried grouper and a few leftover onion rings (and then I remembered my photo).