ON THE ROAD WITH ROCKY
Southern Travel Columnist Roxanne Lark
Florida’s Forgotten Coast I don’t have a lot of money. I don’t live far
enough north to be considered a snowbird. Since becoming a mother 32 years ago, I also left spontaneity behind with my dark brunette hair, my unlined face and my ability to go braless. So for me to toss around an idea of going to Florida for a month on a Friday af- ternoon and then be packed and on the road by Saturday evening, well, let’s just say sev- eral people considered fitting me for a straight jacket. I picked a house to rent simply by going
with the first realtor that called me back (
teresasbeachhomes.com). I dealt with Teresa herself and she worked so hard to find a house that would be right for me to work from for three weeks and also would accommodate my two Great Danes – no easy feat and she came through with flying colors. I had never been to the area before and knew nothing about the place I had chosen to make my home for the rest of January but after several conversations with Teresa, I was packing my car and heading south within 24 hours. I ended up on the Forgotten Coast of
Florida, and didn’t even know it was called that until I got there. A long drive from any direction on mostly deserted two lane high- ways, it isn’t the easiest area in Florida to get to. Three weeks was not enough time to see the whole Forgotten Coast area but it did give ample opportunity to explore the western half
A few miles down the road from there, Ap-
palachicola is home to some of the best oyster beds in the southeast. A beautiful old town with wonderful shops and restaurants, it is easy to visualize how the town must have looked 150 years earlier. Port St. Joe, which was base camp for my stay, is a wonderfully
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of this unspoiled waterfront paradise. The area I concentrated on consists of Mexico Beach, St. Joe Beach, Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, Appalachicola and St. George Island. Cape San Blas is a long sand bar extending into the Gulf of Mexico where there is no cell phone reception and nothing much other than some beautiful Gulf front homes. No matter, though, as all the homes seemed to have unlimited long distance, wifi or both so it is easy to stay in touch with the outside world.
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