Bars, Oysters and Beaches

May 21, 2016

On the road from Naw-Lins we skipped the interstate, choosing the longer but more interesting state routes. I have long been curious about this section of the country along the Gulf Coast between New Orleans and the Panhandle. I had this route pictured in my mind as two lanes wandering through a string of well-separated fishing villages. Try three lanes… in each direction. And with traffic signals about every mile, seemingly timed to encourage plenty of time to look around before the green. That coast is fully developed with the exception of some nature reserves.

They may be developed but they are centered around hunting and fishing as well as tourism and retirement. We drove near several military bases, The local bumper stickers and license frames clearly pointed to military folks who liked the area and stayed on. I can’t prove this, but I got a sense that guns in this area were just tools for hunting or war. There weren’t the ego-maccho gun stickers and t-shirts so common in urban and suburban communities.

I never imagined Mississippi  as interesting or beautiful but that Gulf highway ride changed my mind. Mile after mile of perfect white sand beach a hundred yards wide Gulf-side and old large mansions set back from the shore-side of the six lane road. It was Thursday mid-day and the weather was balmy with a light breeze. Yet there were no people on the beach. There were plenty of empty parking lots and it was seemingly a perfect beach day. The beaches must not be popular; there were no beach buildings at all… no rest rooms, no fresh water or maintenance shacks. We drove by twenty to thirty miles of this beach and saw no more than three people. Very curious situation.

We stopped outside Mobile for lunch. I had grilled catfish, GG had a shrimpburger, an odd combination of a regular hamburger with the usual trimmings and an additional four deep fried shrimp on top. Must be a local thing.

Overnight was Destin, Florida. The sleepy Gulf-front village I expected turned out to be hotels and waterparks and traffic that made turns difficult.  But we did find Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House, a delightful and popular waterfront watering hole.

We sat at the bar for dinner. I finally had a dozen raw oysters as appetizers, something I’d been looking forward to since I started planning this trip. We grew up going to clambakes and developed a taste for most mollusks. Then Lady Anna added to the urge; she could put away two to three dozen at a sitting and I learned to keep up.

A brief aside since I was asked by one of our gentle readers. Yes, for dinner, and sometimes lunch, we choose to eschew the tables and sit at the bar to eat for a couple of reasons. First there are almost always seats available immediately. Boshamps, for example, had an hour wait for tables when we got there, but immediate seating at the bar. Secondly, but more important, we learn more at the bar. It is a social scene where we can chat with other locals or travellers. And bartenders tend to be more loquacious than table wait staff.

We awoke to thunder, lightning and heavy rain. Up until this time we have encountered only a few brief showers. Not today. The wipers were on all day. After a few hours of it we stopped in Panama City Beach for lunch and respite from the storm. Panama Beach is a heavy duty resort town with huge beachfront condominium buildings… narrow but huge…. like thirty stories high and promising “all Gulf-front rooms.”

Sharky’s on the water was our chosen refuge for lunch and rest. We sat in the tiki bar on the deck with the storm curtains dropped in place for protection. Of course all the conversation was weather and the storm. The bartender pulled up the weathermap on his phone.

Sigh. Eye of the storm and more coming. Nothing to do but head onward toward Crawfordville, our next stop.

-Geezer