The Northwest Coast of Florida

In My Humble Opinion
1

Does this go here or MPSIMS? Hell, I don’t know.

Anyway, so I am taking my yearly trip to Panama City, FL to see my brother in jail (vehicular manslaugther while driving under the influence - 10 years). In the last three years, I’ve seen everything there is to see regarding Panama City. Nice town. It would be more interesting if I was into biker bars and strip clubs, but I digress.

So this year I’m planning on taking a couple of road trips, in between my forays to the correctional facility. Road trip #1 will be to Mexico Beach and then Port St. Joe. I need some suggestions as to where I should go. Good restaurants. Good Bars. Landmarks. Interesting stores. That sort of thing. All I know right now is that I am going to check out the beach at Mexico Beach and the Constitution Monument State Park in Port St. Joe.

And please, don’t lead me to the local meth lab, or I’ll be pissed! :wink:

Road Trip #2 will take me West. Panama City Beach to Fort Walton Beach, with a brief stop in Destin. Again, what should I see? Where should I go?

One thing I do have planned for this year, to increase the excitement factor, is to take a dip in the Gulf, at dusk, while wearing bling-bling, with a paper cut. Ha-ha!

Anyway, any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

2

If you do that then be sure to bring your Bat Shark Repellant.
You could visit Egglin Air Force Base and see the histstoric birthplace of Zebra.

3

Make sure you call ahead. I don’t know that these places are fully repaired after the hurricanes last year. I thought I hear the damage to Navarre Beach would take several years to fix.

4

I don’t know if you are into the great outdoors, but this place is awesome:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/florida/recreation/index_apa.shtml

I saw me a big old wild boar there. :eek: :confused: :smiley:

5

Unless last year’s hurricanes destroyed it, the Wonder Bar in Mexico Beach is interesting. It’s been there, seems like forever.
One Friday night in 1961 I was drinking there on a fake I.D. and scored a cute chick for the weekend.

May dame fortune smile on you as well. :wink:

6

I lived in Tallahassee for close to ten years. Here’s a few places my friends and I used to go:

Wakulla Springs - a deep spring of clear, cool water offers swimming (mind the gators and the moccasins, now), glass bottom boats, spelunking, and plenty of places to relax. My favorite is swimming in the spring and getting stuck on the little 8’x8’ platform (because of a gator or moc) until someone could fetch us with a boat.

St. George Island - an impossibly long stretch of pure cane sugar dunes that never seem to melt no matter how much water washes over them. Sea turtles nest here, too.

Alligator Point - This groovy little town is one of the best places in the SE to find fresh caught seafood. Crawdads (don’t forget to suck the meat out of they heads), oysters on the halfshell, all kinds of fish can be found here for cheap. Luckily, they have beer as well.

When your in Port St. Joe, look for Ouzt’s Too for the best halfshells ever. It’s right on the river. If that’s out of the way, Posey’s is another excellent oyster bar.

Also, as ccwaterback mentioned, the Appalachicola Nat’l Forest is huge and swampy and is a way cool place to get lost for a few hours or days :smiley:

7

Hey thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback.

A couple of people have mentioned The Wonder Bar, so I’ll definitely be checking that out, along with Lookout Lounge in Mexico Beach.

My road trips will be under some time pressure, so I won’t be able to go to Appalachicola Nat’l Forest, or Wakulla Springs, or Alligator Point. Maybe next year. I might make it to St. George Island, but we’ll see, it depends on how much time I spend at Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe.

How about West from Panama City? Destin? Fort Walton Beach? I going there too, so I need some suggestions.

Thanks!

8

Destin is a party town; you should have no trouble finding places to go there.

If I remember right there’s a country bar on the west side of town, like just before the city limits, that really rocks on the weekends. Just be careful yer not hittin’ on some redneck’s old lady and you should have a ton of fun.

9

Thanks Bo. But, um, do you think a yankee Phish Head would interested in a southern country bar? I would be a, well, a phish out of water! He he. :wink:

Maybe I wasn’t clear in my OP. No biker bars. No strip clubs. No country joints. And I’m not looking to pick up any chicks. I’m married, with three kids.

Thanks again!

10

Pensacola has some beautiful beaches and nice restaurants, but that’s pretty far west – practically in Alabama. I’m not sure how well they’re doing after last year’s hurricanes, but Peg Leg Pete’s, which is right on Pensacola Beach, had great seafood and Cajun food, and Maguire’s Pub is famous around the state for great burgers and bar food. The town has a Navy base, so it is pretty large and “civilized” compared to a lot of the smaller towns in the Panhandle.

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Thanks Lou. Care to elaborate on “civilized”-smaller towns-panhandle? I just want to know what I’m getting in to, that’s all. :wink:

12

Sorry, Phish Head, I dint re-read your post before my 2nd one…

Many of the small towns in the panhandle are, um, archaic or at least anachronistic. Like IGA grocery stores, no police in town, and lots of houses without heat or air conditioning. Pensacola is a proper city with malls and fast food joints and cable TV, etc.

13

My relatives live in Mexico Beach and I was just there for the past 5 days. For the record, the Wonder Bar is actually in Beacon Hill/St. Joe Beach…different county than Mexico Beach. Mexico Beach is in Bay County and St. Joe is in Gulf County. The Lookout Lounge is a boring dive. I’d go to Toucan’s in Mexico Beach. Lots of tourist go there and they have a nice bar/restaurant where you can sit at tables and look over the water. They also have volleyball games right there in the sand if that’s your thing. I don’t really like the food at Toucan’s but many people do. I’d rather eat at Killer Seafood (try the hush puppies there) or at Half Shell’s raw bar. They only steam their food and all they have is seafood.

The constitution museum in Port St. Joe will only take you about 30 minutes to see. You can drive out to Cape San Blas on County Route 30C… very nice drive and a State Park at the end of the drive with big high white sand dunes. If you have time I’d look around Downtown St. Joe. Not many shops but some interesting ones. If you do like shopping, I’d go on to Apalachicola. It’s very quaint and very much the traditional fishing village. Great places to eat and interesting shops. St. George Island is great if you want to go to the beach, but otherwise there isn’t much to do there…besides the beaches at Cape San Blas or the Crooked Island area of Mexico Beach are much much better. Mexico Beach is only 1/2 hour from downtown Panama City and St. Joe is another 15 minutes. The Cape will take an additional 20 minutes to get all the way out to the State Park at the tip of it and Apalach is something like 60 miles west of Panama as the locals call it. If you leave at a decent time in the morning, seeing Mexico Beach, Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas and Apalach are all very easy to do in a full day, especially since it now gets dark so late.

This trip east of Panama City on US 98 is a trip back into the Old Florida…they way it all use to be. The area is under very heavy development as you’ll see in Mexico Beach. A company is building 1500 homes just west of Port St. Joe…so see it now while you can. But by far the best way to really see this area is by boat!

Now if you go west of P.C. once you get to the Walton County line from Bay County, turn off on County Route 30-a. This will take you on the same direction as 98 but along the coast. Here you’ll get to see the newly developed towns of Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Watercolor. They are very pretty to look at and very expensive. County Route 30-A will dump you right back into U.S. 98 almost in Destin. Destin has tons of traffic this time of year and no by-pass. So you will lose some time here. Destin is becoming the Palm Beach of the Panhandle. They have tons of bars, restaurants, putt-putt golf places and etc. They do have an excellent outlet mall, Silver Sands and one of those big Bass Pro Shops. It would take you another hour or more with traffic to get all the way over to P’cola. Destin/Ft. Walton from P.C. in a one day driving trip is easy to do, but P’cola would be pushing it.

This part of Florida is rapidly changing. It’s not that backwoods anymore. Enjoy yourself and you’ll definitely see some of the most beautiful beaches in the USA.

If you have anymore specific questions just let me know. I know the area quite well.

Oh yeah and don’t look for Ouzts too in PSJ, it’s in Newport in Wakulla County and Posey’s is in St. Marks in the same County. If you want to eat in PSJ, I’d eat at the Dockside Grille at the Marina. If you are going to eat in Apalach, I’d eat at the Owl Cafe, but they can be pricey but probably not so much for lunch.

Last thing, when you leave Mexico Beach and enter Gulf County, the time changes from Central to Eastern…just keep that in mind.

Have fun.

14

Thanks for correcting my error, Poonther. It’s been more than 12 years since I was riding my bike around the panhandle.

15

When are you going? Hurricane Dennis looks like its going to landfall on Sunday night or Monday.

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If you find yourself over this way, I too highly recommend McGuire’s. Great food and they have good live entertainent, usually a guitarist playing Irish songs - very fun with crowd participation. Great home-brew too, and make sure you try the 18 cent senate bean soup. There’s a McGuire’s in Destin which I hear is just as good as the original.

The civic center has some good acts and the Ice Pirates play Hockey there regularly, you might check that out. It’s about 1.5 miles from McGuires.

The Fish House restaurant nearby just renovated from Ivan and is better than ever, although a little pricey.

Pensacola Beach is getting back on its feet with Flounder’s up and running - good food and great beach-party location and theme with volleyball nets, bands, etc…

I would suggest using I-10 to over Hwy 98 if you want to make the best time. It doesn’t look like the fastest route on the map, but it’s the route I use to get to Panama City and back.

I grew up in Fort Walton Beach and like its beaches, they’re the least-developed of Destin, FWB or P’cola. On a good day you can be 100 yards from the closest person. Other than that, the best non-beach stuff is in Pensacola.

I would also stop by the national naval aviation museum on the base. It’s free, has an IMAX theatre and is on par with the Smithsonian - absolutely top notch planes and displays - you won’t be disappointed. Like Zebra said, Eglin’s Armament museum in Fort Walton Beach is well worth a look too. It has WWII to modern planes (a B-52 and SR-71 to mention some of the bigger ones).

I hope you enjoy your trip, where ever you decide to go. As for me, I’m hightailing it to Fort Worth on Friday to hide from Hurricane Dennis. :frowning:

17

Damn, crap, Hurricane Dennis is heading straight for the panhandle! :eek: I’ll be in Panama City ~ 11:00AM on Friday, and my flight out leaves @ 11:00AM on Monday. :eek:

What to do, what to do. I might try to get a flight out on Sunday, but something tells me that my chances are slim for that happening. Should I try to “ride out” the hurricane? Now that would be interesting, but I don’t want to put my life in danger. Like I said, I’m a husband and father of three kids. And I really, really don’t want to cancel this trip. If I do cancel, I won’t be able to see my brother again for good long while. My brother is dying to see me. I would be too, if I was sitting in correctional facility.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Anyway, thanks again for all the suggestions, particularly Leroy Brown and Poonther!

If I do go, based on the description of Destin, and the fact that a giant hurricane is barreling towards me, I think I am going to cancel road trip #2 (PC to Fort Walton Beach). I’ll go east to Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe on Friday, and I’ll probably hit St. George Island.

And thanks to Poonther, buy-buy Lookout Lounge, hello Toucan’s!

If I go, this should be an intestesting trip, to say the least. :wink:

18

You are welcome!

As for Dennis, I would not worry too much about him. As the forecast stands NOW (these things change daily) Dennis looks like he is heading for Pensacola or Mobile…it all depends on how he follows the flow around the High in the Atlantic. Even though Dennis is forecast to be a Major Hurricane, he is a SMALL hurricane in size. The Hurricane force winds right now only extend out 25 miles and those are the winds that you are really running from. While the tropical storm force winds can be bad, they usually aren’t deadly and they only extend out 125 miles. But remember you will be on the east side of the center and this is always the worst side. So any deviation in the track to the east will bring worst weather to Panama City. They expect him to make landfall sometime early Monday morning, but usually they seem to track these things a little on the fast side. If Dennis comes ashore west of Pensacola (100 miles west of P.C.) you should be fine for your flights. If they change the course to have him make landfall east of Pensacola…things could change drastically.

Don’t worry, you’ll be able to track Dennis’ progress easily while in the area, the local stations will have updates at least every hour on the hour. I do think because of the weather situation that canceling your westward exploring trip is a good idea. Just keep in mind that it could be a little rainy at times and windy.

I’ll be in Mexico Beach again this weekend and the idea of the storm doesn’t bother me in the least. Hell if it gets that bad, we can pack you in our car and take you back to Tally and you can get a flight out of here . :slight_smile:

For the latest on Dennis: You are welcome!

As for Dennis, I would not worry too much about him. As the forecast stands NOW (these things change daily) Dennis looks like he is heading for Pensacola or Mobile…it all depends on how he follows the flow around the High in the Atlantic. Even though Dennis is forecast to be a Major Hurricane, he is a SMALL hurricane in size. The Hurricane force winds right now only extend out 25 miles and those are the winds that you are really running from. While the tropical storm force winds can be bad, they usually aren’t deadly and they only extend out 125 miles. But remember you will be on the east side of the center and this is always the worst side. So any deviation in the track to the east will bring worst weather to Panama City. They expect him to make landfall sometime early Monday morning, but usually they seem to track these things a little on the fast side. If Dennis comes ashore west of Pensacola (100 miles west of P.C.) you should be fine for your flights. If they change the course to have him make landfall east of Pensacola…things could change drastically.

Don’t worry, you’ll be able to track Dennis’ progress easily while in the area, the local stations will have updates at least every hour on the hour. I do think because of the weather situation that canceling your westward exploring trip is a good idea. Just keep in mind that it could be a little rainy at times and windy.

I’ll be in Mexico Beach again this weekend and the idea of the storm doesn’t bother me in the least. Hell if worse comes to worse, we can pack you in our car and take you back to Tally and you can get a flight out of here . :slight_smile:

19

Ah man, sorry for the double posting. That sucks!

20

Poonther, thanks again man! You’ve put my mind at ease. Hurricane be damned, I’m still going!

You know, now that I think about it, since I cancelled my west trip, I’m probably going to go straight for Port St. Joe and St. George Island on Friday, and then go Mexico Beach late Saturday afternoon and evening; I want to hit Toucan’s at night.

If you guys are around, stop by Toucan’s Saturday night, and we’ll share a couple of drinks. :wink: