Driving across the state of Florida looking for signs of life

Day 25:

Today we took a very long walk on the beach to see the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert being set up. They were scheduled to play at 5:00 (nice) rain or shine. We walked on our first sand bar. Unfortunately there was an 80% chance of rain, and there were heavy clouds rolling in, and we didn't want to risk staying another day especially if it rained all day. We also saw these 2 crazy dolphins, who were extremely close to shore. Miss Shelby thought it was a shark, but we must have got Punk'd by them. We took the scenic road (of course) and drove all along the entire Florida panhandle along the Gulf of Mexico which was so beautiful and the road goes extremely close to the water with no guardrails, it was like we were driving on the beach. We went over a million bridges that connected all the small beach towns. We stopped in a place called Mexico Beach on our way to Perry for the best ice creme in Florida, and a giant pothole that scared the bejeesus out of us. Perry was also dead as a doorbell, so we hightailed it to Gainesville (home of Gatorade), which is very much a young person's town - YAY. The best part I would say is the upgrade to a presidential suite in this exquisite hotel we were in. Our rewards program gave us free popcorn, which I objected after a brief war with my sister. And we had a very nice dinner. After dinner Jade chased a frog in the parking lot and then almost dropped it down a sewer grate. St. Augustine will be tomorrow and we will maybe stay for 2 days, then make our way to Savannah,Georgia and the Carolinas. We hope to make the best out of the rest of the experience going up the east coast and enjoy the time we have left. Blog on Augustine tomorrow.

Big Easy Over - Headed for the Panhandle - Destined for Destin

Day 24:
Hurricane Donna strikes back!!! She screwed up once again. She called my mom Miss Shelby instead of Jolie, and brought no English muffins and only one coffee mug. We decided that everyone should call my mom Miss Shelby. We heard that the hotel was once a former morgue which was sufficiently creepy for Friday the 13th. So we booked it and drove though this historic Garden District to see some old time Plantation Houses. We took the scenic highway 90 along the gulf coast and drove through Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama. We stopped at a wood hut on the side of a country road in Mississippi and bought sno-balls. We saw the little towns along the gulf coast that were severely attacked by BP and saw the cleaning crews with our own eyes. We went to Pensacola, Fla which was more dead than Deadwood. The liveliest place to be in that town was the cemetery. So we took the "scenic" highway to Ft. Walton and Destin Beach, which turned out to be a much nicer place to stay on the beach and found a great Italian restaurant. Today (sorry for late posting) we will visit Tallahassee, therefore missing the free Lynyrd Skynard concert, also being paid for by BP. That's too bad. We will be in St.Augustine in less than two days. Five days earlier. FuBP