Wednesday, May 02, 2007

DRIVE FROM FT. WALTON BEACH TO PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL

Crossing over the bridge into Ft. Walton Beach.
View towards the Gulf of Mexico. These are some of the most beautiful waters we have ever seen. The progress from light blue to light green to medium blue green and then out on the horizon to a very dark blue.
Just at the edge of Destin, was best donut shop ever. Along with the freshest tastiest donuts made on premise, they served a wonderful breakfast which created a long line at the door.
Grayton Beach just outside Destin has soft white sand beaches and aqua blue waters.

Sandestin is a newer town made up mostly of condos, hotels, shops, huge golf courses and restaurants along the Gulf of Mexico.
We spotted this interesting looking boat.

Each home is unique in Seaside, and the original houses were smaller having a soft Caribbean cottage look in pastels.
This is the welcome sign to Seaside - a beautiful, carefully planned and unique seaside town.


A front carport in a Seaside cottage.
The road leaving Seaside to continue our trip to Panama City Beach.


As Panama City Beach recovers from hurricane damage they are building many of these enclosed walking bridges from 20+ story seaside condominiums to connect to the garage and the land side of the street. This main drag gets very busy and these bridges will make it safer for condo owners to reach their cars at the multistory garage across the main drag.

Motorcyclists seem to really like this area. Overall, it is a little too hectic, noisy, and busy for our taste.

The ship you see is actually a Ripley's Believe-it-or-Not exibit shop. Panama City Beach is known locally as the "Redneck Riviera." Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Georgia make up the majority of visitors to this area. Notice the sign to the right for x-rated products. There are many churches and church retreats along this road. If you double-click any picture in this blog you can enlarge it.
Panama City Beach is still going through serious reconstruction after Hurricane Ivan. Every section of the main strip seems to be going through renovations or completely rebuilding.

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