Seaside Getaway

The last couple of weeks have been hectic, and by last Friday I was feeling more than just a little burned out. I was glad to finally have a long holiday weekend where nothing much was going on so I could recharge and decompress.

Last weekend, the weather was stunningly beautiful, so my husband and I took a drive to Seaside, FL for a short day trip on Saturday.

Seaside is an idyllic planned community of sea cottages and cute little shops and restaurants alongside the Gulf of Mexico just beyond Sandestin in Northwest Florida. Seaside is about a 45-minute drive away from my neighborhood, and we're lucky that we can just hop in the car and be there in no time.

We are quite proud of Seaside here in the Panhandle because it served as the fictional town of Seahaven in 1998's "The Truman Show" starring Jim Carrey.



Only Seaside is real. It exists, and, yes, it really looks like Seahaven. We enjoy popping over there every once in a while because it's just so darn nice. It's almost like being on another planet.

The beach is the main attraction, of course, and during our visit on this warm Columbus Day weekend, there were plenty of beachgoers enjoying the surf and sand. (And, as you can see, there's no trace of oil on the beaches from the BP spill - our gorgeous sugar-white sand is still sugar-white, and the waters of the Emerald Coast are still emerald green!)

You would think that I would be at the beach all the time, living so close to it. So many people pay big bucks to come down here to enjoy what's just a short car drive for me. But the truth is, I haven't been to the beach in years. Well, I guess what I should say is that I haven't been to the beach for the purpose of hanging out in the sand and going in the water for years. When I go to the beach, it's usually just to snap a few photos. If it's the off-season, it's nice to walk along the water's edge for a bit. Honestly, though, the traditional hot-weather "going to the beach" experience is just too much of a sweaty, messy hassle for me anymore. I was probably spoiled growing up with these gorgeous beaches in my backyard. When I was a kid, we were out on the Hobie or visiting the beaches a lot. As an adult, though, I can rarely be found at the beach or on the water.

Anyway, a couple of my favorite independent shops in Seaside are Sundog Books and Central Square Records, both housed in the same building. Sundog Books is a cute little book shop with a lot of local flair. They have mainstream books there, but they also have gorgeous coffee table books about Seaside and coastal living, regional cookbooks, and other souvenirs. And upstairs at Central Square Records is a hip little space filled with new and vintage CDs and records (large, grooved vinyl things that are played on an ancient machine called a "turntable"). Both stores have a cool, coffeehouse vibe about them. A sweet black dog even wanders around the bookstore - I don't know the dog's name, so I just call him Sundog.

The Modica Market is another favorite. It's a neat little grocery store with a deli and a bakery and lots of gourmet items. We picked up a yummy jar of spicy-sweet peach salsa and a slice of orange Sunshine Cake during our previous visit. And Modica Market was also featured in "The Truman Show" - Truman's buddy was stocking a vending machine there in one scene.

Our little trip to Seaside was a nice getaway for the day. Clear blue skies, beach breezes, and the gentle swooshes of the waves certainly soothe the soul. It's easy to forget your worries when you're in a place like Seaside. It seems inconceivable that any problems could exist here, but I'm sure they do.

If you ever have the opportunity to come out this way, I highly recommend it. (Just please mind the lifeguards and our beach safety flag system!)

S'no snow

Well, Wonder Turtle fans, we Panhandle Floridians got all excited earlier this week over reports that we might get some snow flurries overnight Thursday. The last time our neck of the woods saw flurries was 2002, and I don't remember snow since 1994.

Well, Friday morning looked much like every other morning. No flurries, no "snow" sticking to the hoods of cars, no picture-perfect icicles hanging from leaves. I was hoping to have some cool photos to post here for you.

C'est la vie.

And, baby, it's cold outside! Well, cold for us. We've been having days in the 40s and nights in the 20s (with hard freeze warnings) for several days now with more to come. It's rare for it to be so cold for so long here. I love it, though. I'm from Florida, and I don't like the summer. It's not so much the heat as it is the humidity. Ninety degrees would be so much more tolerable if the humidity wasn't 95%. Ugh, gross. I'll take our Florida winters any day, thank you very much.

Here's an example of a winter day in the Florida Panhandle. This photo was taken on a "cold" day in Seaside in early February 2008.



You know who's not loving all this cold, though? Our poor turtle friends. I read an article in the Northwest Florida Daily News today about some 200 green sea turtles in nearby Port St. Joe being rescued yesterday from frigid St. Joseph Bay. They were relocated to the heated pools at Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach and will stay there until the bay waters warm back up. More volunteers are going back to get more turtles today and this weekend.  Another front is coming our way, and it's about to get even colder.

The cold weather and low tide in the bay left the poor little guys exposed and they went into shock. Florida turtles aren't used to this nonsense. Fortunately, almost all of the turtles are alive and will most likely survive and will go back home to St. Joseph Bay once the temps rise again.

Wally the Wonder Turtle and I would like to thank the St. Joseph Bay Buffer Preserve, the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Friends of the Buffer Preserve Organization, the folks at Gulf World Marine Park, and all of the volunteers for helping out our turtle buddies!

--Jenny

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