Vicksburg - Mobile - Apalachicola

After our immersion into Vicksburg's Civil War history, we drove through the historic downtown, where many old buildings remain. Some of the mansions have been turned into bed & breakfast inns.  Vicksburg has casinos, and we took a quick look inside of one, mainly to get lunch.  It looked pretty much like a Nevada casino.

We had a long drive through pretty Mississippi countryside.  We had been warned that it's a very poor state but we didn't see signs of abject poverty.  We finally arrived in Mobile, Alabama after dark and had a difficult time figuring out how to get across the bay.  It was too bad we didn't get to see the city in daylight as there are some beautiful buildings.  We spent the night east of the city and continued on the next day to the Florida Panhandle. 

We decided to go to Pensacola and drive along the Gulf of Mexico.  We soon realized that was a mistake; it was very slow stop and go traffic through total tourist traps, with few views of the water.  Shortly after Destin, we went north over the Choctawhatchee Bay to Route 20 and followed that east to county road 275, just past Clarksville.  Those country roads were scenic and had little traffic, so were much more pleasant.  We headed south on 275 and then 71 to Port Saint Joe, then east to Apalachicola, our stop for two nights.

Apalachicola (called Apalach by locals) is a pretty little town on the coast.  Most of the people who live there rely on oysters: fishermen, processors, distributors, and restauranteurs.  There are lots of historic buildings and a friendly, walkable downtown.  Our hotel has a small marina as well as being a hotel, and we had nice views of the Apalachicola River and the gulf (with a screened veranda for those buggy evenings).  Signs by the river ask that you not feed the alligators.  :-)  We had a nice dinner downtown; the highlight was a very friendly older kitten on the street who enjoyed sharing Mark's meat and gave lots of cuddly thank yous.

We stayed in Apalach for a day of relaxation, enjoying a walk around town and a couple of hours at the beach on St. George Island.  The beaches were almost deserted.  There were low sand dunes and grasses, reminding us of some areas of the California coast.  There are lots of homes on St. George Island; most seem to be vacation rentals.  They stand on stilts but few have hurricane shutters.

We had a lovely relaxing stop here.