There was an occasional photo that didn’t have a place in my prior blog posts but I wanted to keep the photo anyway and share. Not a true theme in totality for this blog post, but a few groupings made sense. Here you go.
Walking around the city, I did find some holiday shots with bits of whimsy:
Most mornings (until noon-ish) fog was prevalent:
Similar to the photo above in regards to the location, overcast but no day-time fog:
Found a trailer in an off-site parking lot, probably used for their events. Liked the addition of longitude & latitude.
A bit further north of the downtown area was the docks for shrimp boats. One person in the past had a (really) bad day.
When the sun was able to break through and burn off the fog and we headed over the S.G.I. bridge for some afternoon fishing.
Bay-side, boy scout camp, oyster bars in the background.
Surf-side inside the state park.
This bird was trying to get a free meal by stealing Eric’s shrimp – then gave up.
One reason to visit the town was to check on our (empty) lot. Yep, things grow quickly in Florida. Never know that we did some clearing and mowed several years ago.
One of my first photos upon arrival was of the town ‘Christmas Tree’ along the river downtown:
Much, m.u.c.h, much better photo in the evening.
Great town in the summer and yet, still a coastal community in the off-season. Some year it will become ‘home’.
It would only be right to have a post about the city, which is Franklin County’s seat. Located on the shores of Apalachicola Bay – an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico – and the mouth of the Apalachicola River.
In 1827 the town was incorporated as West Point. Apalachicola received its current name in 1831 by an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida. In 1849 a local physician, Dr. John Gorrie, discovered the cold air process of refrigeration, the precursor to an ice machine and in 1850 received the patent. The rest as you say……….was history. There could be an entire blog post on that subject alone. Hmmmmm.
Back to the present times,…….there continue to be a number of businesses with summer being the height of their sales, they are however, open throughout most of the year. Staying in the Consulate Suites gave us great walking access.
Two of my top stores in the downtown were Riverlily and Go Fish.
Riverlily is an eclectic store with a variety of interesting (Eric says smelly) creams, funky gifts, some clothing & homegoods and my favorite item – really, really, cool earrings. Almost every visit I add to my collection.
Purchases at Go Fish are up and down. This visit, I found an awesome dress and light sweater to accompany it – now summer needs to come back so I can wear it!
Our accommodations had coffee from this establishment indicated below as part of the welcome and a purchase was made before coming home.
We did taste some of their chocolate, sorry no photos, we ate them too fast. You might notice the date of their establishment – 2016. I hope they make it. There have been a number of establishments through the years that have come and gone.
A short walk away was a memorial.
At the other end of the plaza was this memorial.
Apalachicola is the home port for a variety of seafood workers, including recreational fishermen and shrimpers.
A few were anchored along the riverfront along this downtown dock.
I would be remiss if I didn’t include a few photos from the city’s brewery.
Our visit coincided with their twice monthly Farmer’s Market. No purchases but we met some people that hopefully will be part of our circle once we move here.
Let me close with a bit of coastal chic, positioned along the waterfront.
Cooking on vacation is the last thing most people want to do, unless you’re my husband. Eric does a small amount when we’re traveling, hence one main reason for staying at apartments or AirBNBs.
However…………..food & local restaurants are a key part of most vacation experiences. We’re no exception. Let’s talk about some Apalach eating highlights on this trip.
A recent addition to our Panhandle restaurant list has been The (Red Pirate) Wheel House. Nope, didn’t get an actual picture of the red pirate, but they do have one right inside the entrance.
A good deal of the time we eat at the bar if that is an option. This day PLENTY of barstools were available. Yep, that’s a bar. Didn’t plan on taking a photo with the beer taps front and center, but there you have it. NO, we did not order a Bud Light. They had some local beers on tap but they were hard to read from this shot.
Naturally started with a dozen oysters – raw. Wish I could tell you where these were from. Eric asked each time he ordered some, but I didn’t keep track.
Add in some fried pickles for me while we waited for our meal. We’re picky about our fried pickles – they need to be sliced (not quartered), like what is seen below. These were some of the better ones we’ve ordered.
Fried flounder sandwich for myself and fried shrimp for Eric. No room for dessert.
One ‘can’t miss’ stop is Indian Pass Raw Bar. I’ve heard for years that it was a dive bar, driven past it years ago and truthfully, it didn’t look much. The restaurant was seriously damaged (flooded) during one of the many (recent) Florida hurricanes and they had no choice but to gut the inside and rebuild. Nothing pretentious, but a clean, open, inside & outside eating that serves primarily seafood. There are a few things on the menu for a meat/non-seafood lover.
Not pretentious at all. Your dozen oysters come out on a plastic cafeteria tray.
Throw in some smoked mullet fish dip and peel & eat shrimp and that’s plenty of food for the two of us.
This place operates on the honor system, which is seen with your ‘ticket’, given to you once you find a place to sit. Place a tic mark for each of the items and you’re golden. When done, take the ticket to the cash register, no questions asked. BTW, you even pour your own beer from a tap – seen behind Eric’s shoulder on the back wall.
There might have been a tiny bit of room for dessert such as their key lime pie. Last visit we l.o.v.e.d their key lime pie and asked about their pie-maker. It came from an industrial kitchen on their weekly order. No matter, it was tasty. We had to have it again and it did not disappoint.
One evening, we need a light meal and walked to The Station. No surprise, you’re going to see another dozen oysters from that visit. This time needed 6 more of the bi-valves before leaving the premises. Oh, and another piece of key lime pie. Sorry, no photo, we dug in before I thought of it.
One sunny afternoon we went back to the Half Shell Dockside Oyster Bar & Grill, which had been our first stop the day we arrived. They had a pirate!
They have an outside bar adjacent to their ‘normal’ restaurant with garage doors raised during fair weather. It was beautiful the day we visited.
Surprise! ha, ha. We started with oysters and smoked fish dip.
We both ordered more food to finish our meal.
L. – grouper rueben sandwich w/fries. R. – fried flounder with collard greens.
There was a lot of FRIED food on this trip. 😦 I should have eaten some salad. 😦
Okay, so there was one morning when we walked to this hole in the wall Baked shop. They specialized in biscuits, plain or as a sandwich. That’s a pretty ‘focused’ menu – just saying. They opened at 6:30am – 11am or until the biscuits ran out.
Thought you were done with oysters. Nope. We had a dozen one evening at our rental.
Eric had got a name for farm-raised oysters – sold to the public – and got a tour of their aquatic oyster growing operation.
Dang, I missed out 😦
We brought 100 oysters home to continue enjoying the bounty from the bay.
Eight dozen oysters was the total for this trip. It took me awhile to get into eating them, but once I did, they were great with a bit of grated horseradish and a drop of cocktail sauce or crystal.
This is a g.r.e.a.t grocery store, even if it is located in a small town. Every time we visit Apalach, there’s usually a post about the grocery. 🙂 I’m always finding something new! BTW – love their marketing. You can find it on shirts, cups, headwear and bags to name a few.
So, really, why talk about a grocery store on vacation? LOTS of reasons. I’ve listed my top three below.
~First – snacks & meals. Depending upon where we are staying, we usually have one of our daily meals at our place (breakfast or dinner).
~Second – great place for goodies and gifts to bring home.
~Third – interesting insight into the culture and people.
There you have it. You can pretty much guarantee the Dardens are hitting a grocery store no matter what place, state or country we are visiting. Now, on with the rest of this story………..
One thing I’ve always noticed was the plethora of options for many foods at this ‘small town’ grocery store. How many pickles can one community eat? I mean seriously?
How many salsas can a community try?
And these hot sauces? I’ve seen hot sauce stores with less options. There were more but I didn’t capture everything in the photo below.
Who or what exactly was Piggley Wiggley Groceries. A bit of history………
~Piggley Wiggley was founded in 1916 in Memphis TN, with their current headquarters in Keene NH.
~In 2020 they had 499 locations with their parent company being C&S Wholesale Grocers.
~They were innovative being the first self-service grocery store. At the time of founding, customers gave their list to the clerk who gathered their requested items – customers weren’t allowed to wander the store. This store changed all of that. Wow!
Let’s talk (more) products. As we wandered the Apalachicola store, they have items not found in my Publix: 4 different goat cheeses (pumpkin spice – really), pate’, sriracha sauce (heard there was a shortage which is why I can’t find any at home) and these Community Coffee flavors (I can only order them on-line! K-cups no less.).
This place is not stagnant and resting on current product selections. One corner of their store showcases all of their newest items. Yikes!!! That was a lot of newness.
Let’s talk honey, specifically Tupelo honey. Saw the price for this jug of honey and while I knew it was ‘special’ I didn’t know it was that special. $74!
Tupelo Honey – why the hype? Did a little internet research and came up with these 6 reasons:
(1) Buttery, mild flavor, golden hue with a taste that has wide appeal.
(2) Buy it as a liquid, it stays a liquid. It will keep in liquid form for years when kept at room temperature.
(3) Higher fructose ratio, healthier sweetener and easier for your system to break down.
(4) Medicinal uses: anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidant properties
(5) More than a sweetener having trace elements when not processed (Vitamin C, Iron and Thiamine)
(6) Preserves habitat. Tupelo trees grow in Florida, George and Lousiana.
Hmmmm, okay. I guess I’m won over.
Craft beer has exploded in the last decade and never would have guessed this small southern town would stock up on this variety of styles and names.
I mean come on – Icelandic beer? Two types no less. I can’t find this at all in my Publix.
I’ll close with brews from their local brewery: Oyster City Brewing Company. While only one was pictured in the photo below, the flier lists some of their others. One of my favorite was Hooter Brown.
My previous post I vaguely mentioned our accommodations………..we stayed in one of the Consulate Suites atop the Grady Market. The building has a few ‘extra’ touches with the Christmas decorations. Nice. Turn around 180 degrees and the Apalachicola River was the view in front of you.
Who’s patiently (or not) sitting on the front porch? The center door under the green Grady market sign leads up to the suites.
The Grady building was originally built to house J.E. Grady & Company in the 1800s and was a ships chandlery. What is a chandlery? Had to google it and discovered several definitions but the one for this was ‘a shop selling nautical items for ships and boats’.
Notice the balcony jutting out from the side of the building? Yep, that’s our room. Each of the four suites have a balcony.
The rooms atop the building fall under the umbrella called The Consulate.
Why The Consulate name? In the early 1800s France and other European nations maintained interest in Apalachicola due to it being the 3rd largest shipping port along the Gulf. Through the ages, the space above the chandlery was used for the French Consulate, the Captain of the Port and the U.S. Customs Office.
We stayed in the suite titled The Port Captain.
Brick walls, heart pine floors and tin ceilings are the first thing seen upon opening the door, leading you into the sitting area. Notice the ‘window’ with the handle?
Yes, that leads to the outside balcony with the Apalachicola River in the background. It was a little damp the day we arrived – not going to sit outside just yet.
Back to the tour, here’s the kitchen………
The Port Captain suite was one bedroom.
There are framed antique prints scattered around.
The current building was built after 1900 when a fire destroyed the original building. A three-year renovation begun in 1995 brought the red brick storefront back to life. Here’s a shot of the ‘back’ of the building facing downtown Apalachicola.
My last shot in this post………a coastal sunset with gorgeous colors.
We’re heading north to one of our favorite locales – Apalachicola. With St. George Island right across the bay, it is a hopping place in the summer months. We enjoy stopping in during the off season to get a real feel of the place. As you can see below, it’s under a 5-hour drive………unless you make stops – which we did.
The weather was looking gorgeous, giving us a break from the high 80s we’ve been seeing lately. Don’t get me wrong, LOVE the warm weather, but month after month after month of hot temps, you need a break.
Since we weren’t in a hurry, we took a different route. Not too many people & cars on this road. Eric was doubting the wisdom of google maps.
New roads gave us a chance to try new restaurants, like this one in Dunnellon, Front Porch Restaurant & Pie shop. It is a local favorite run by long-time members of the community. Everybody who’s working there knows everyone else – probably knows too much. Ha!
While driving I read Eric some of their menu. As soon as I mentioned fried chicken – he was sold. Naturally he had to add a basket of fried okra.
While I’m not the biggest fan of okra, the crunchiest morsels were okay dipped in the ranch dressing. Yes, it was ranch dressing and no, Eric did not partake.
While I was reading about the restaurant what sold me was mention of a cuban sandwich. Yep, that was my order, along with fries. The slices of roast pork on the sandwich were some of the best I’ve eaten!
Remember the full name of the restaurant…………….we had to try their pie. Cherry was my pie of choice with Eric ordering the blueberry pie. It was a tie concerning who won. 🙂
After a few more hours of driving, our next planned stop was in Sopchoppy – love that name. I will say, we have some unusual names for Florida cities.
Would you believe there is a brewery in Sopchoppy? Civic Brewing Company. Who knew? Well, actually we did, otherwise we would have taken a different route.
Here’s a snapshot of what was on tap. Eric selected the first one and I ordered number 8. They want the brewery to be a community hub, family and pet friendly gathering place for the surrounding area. They are the only brewery in Wakulla County.
We had been in the building waaaaay in the past, when it was a pizza place. The owner of the brewery is a native of Wakulla County. He opened in 2020 – not the best timing but talking to the barkeep (owner’s mother) he’s had success with small batch brewing and plans are in the works to upgrade and expand his equipment next year. And yes, she confirmed this 1912 building was originally a pharmacy, a restaurant, a pizza place and eventually this brewery.
Finally made it to Apalachicola early evening, checked into our accommodations and walked across the street to our second brewery for the day – Oyster City Brewing Company.
Did a little googling and discovered the idea was conceived in 2012 with the owners doing lots of research (drinking beer around the state – tough job), gave samples to friends and family for feedback before opening in 2013. An old dive bar was transformed into this brewery and the community has been supportive ever since. Their Mission: Improve their beer with every batch they make.
Lunch was so big we didn’t want much for dinner – but Eric wanted oysters. Only one place was open and serving food in this town, Half Shell Dockside it was. We’ve been there before and remembered their fish dip. You can barely see the pickles at the bottom of the photo. Didn’t remember them from the past, but it was a tasty addition.
Eric got his raw oysters……………….
I needed my six oysters cooked, with cheese, bacon & jalapeno bits of heat.
There was some fog rolling in off the Apalachicola River, keeping things quiet and mysterious. It’s been 40+ years since I’ve lived in a small town, things definitely close up early, especially in the off-season. That’s why we’re here. Is this where we want to spend retirement years? My guess – yes.
Along with fog – thick as pea soup. Yikes! Driving into town, you can barely see the river from the Apalachicola bridge.
They say take lemons and make lemonade. We’re taking rain and eating oysters! The day was the perfect time to head west for Indian Pass Raw Bar. Outside seating in a screened room was perfect for the current Covid environment.
This is the place that operates on a honor system.
First up was oysters two ways: raw and baked.
Preceded by some fish dip and cups of seafood gumbo.
Cole slaw was my choice of side, to go along with my chicken tenders – sorry Eric. At least the corn dogs were not my choice. Spoiler alert – they were Audry’s, both of them.
Topped it off with a slice of key lime pie before heading back to Apalachicola. BTW – Eric and I both got our own slices. That makes a lot more sense if you read the blog posts for S.G.I. 2020. 🙂
A trip into town was not complete without going to Piggly Wiggly.
I am always amazed at their intense selections. Look at these options for canned artichokes on the top row in the photo – at least 6. My Publix at home doesn’t carry that many! Party-size condiments and veggies underneath. How long would it take to get through that jug of mayo?
What place needs this many BBQ sauces? I stopped counting at 55. Really? Really.
This next photo was intended to show their jelly/jam selections (55+) but then I noticed the nut butters (15+) and that doesn’t count the ones chopped out of my photo.
Okay, you can laugh now. I love to visit grocery stores when we travel. There are usually items I’ve never seen, locally-made product (great for souvenirs or gifts) and just ‘stuff’ that is interesting. Eric just lets me wander as he gathers items on his grocery list.
Still two more stops before leaving town: 13 Mile Seafood Market and OCB. Googled 13 Mile Brand and discovered the name refers to a tiny community 13 miles west of Apalachicola. The family business began in 1957 and four generations harvest oysters, shrimp and fish from the Apalachicola Bay and Gulf of Mexico. Their seafood market opened in 2009 along the Apalachicola River.
Directly behind the seafood market is one of their shrimp boats.
OCB = Oyster City Brewing. Instead of cans, he gets the growlers filled. Also picked up their local newsletter The Forgotten Coastline. It is always interesting reading.
Oops, meant to include a third stop – our lot. It looks rough and definitely needs mowing and some tree trimming cleanup. It’s just not an attractive sight. Ugh.
But no, we can’t head to the rental yet. On SGI are several local businesses and one we occasional visit is Sometimes It’s Hotter. Usually it’s to pick up some locally-baked bread, which was our original intent this day.
They have an amazing wine selection for such a small community. This is only 1 of 4 walls that contain their wine choices.
Although not a purchase – since we make our own – I like they have things made from the area.
By the time we got back, the rain had stopped and I had a chance to walk to the beach. I started walking along the coastline, no storm in sight, just clouds. But boy, was I glad I wore my raincoat. The weather changed that fast and I would have been soaked in just a few minutes.
One more post is coming to finish out the week. Stay tuned.
Darden Travels 