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As we made our way out of Miramar Beach, we decided to pay a visit to Baghdad – not Iraq, and not quite spelled the same, we paid a visit to Bagdad Florida. We had been to Bagdad Arizona before, and although small, it was actually quite large compared to Bagdad Florida. But there was one claim to fame here that it didn’t share with its counterpart in Arizona – it was the home of famed PGA golfer Bubba Watson!

Of course, it had to happen. The Woman celebrate National Pizza Day when it came around on February 9. God forbid that the Woman not pay homage to National Margarita Day, just two days before my birthday on February 22. Somehow, I missed National Hangover Day, appropriately falling on January 1. But when we learned that McDonalds had named March 2 as National Egg McMuffin Day, the results were all but certain.

Since we didn’t know how many dry or warm days we might see here, we headed out our first day to walk the Biloxi Bay Bridge. Just short of 2 miles long, the bridge has a nice, wide dedicated walking/biking lane with a great view of the shore lines as well as the navigation channels. Kona joined us, and was dismayed at our roughly 3-mile round trip on concrete without a single tree or bush in sight. We had fun when we got to the top of the bridge and found all kinds of locks declaring someone’s love.

At the end of the bridge entering Ocean Springs Mississippi we got a bonus. Crooked Feather was the 17^th Whispering Giant carved by Hungarian artist Peter Wolf Toth. It turns out that we had passed Crooked Feather on our way to Gulf Beach RV Resort, but we just hadn’t spotted it by the side of the road. With this find we now have seen exactly half of his carvings that still exist.

On our way I was amused by a restaurant we passed somewhere in southern Alabama. I always appreciate a clever marketing mind.

Talk to you soon. 

Ghost town

Apparently, there is a mass exodus on the eve of Spring Break. When we got here the first of February, every single site was filled – now it seems more like a ghost town. While all the snow birds want to winter here, they don’t have no stomach for the hordes of young’uns. All week we have been hearing about the ban of alcohol on the beach which starts March 1, and all the locals bemoaning the adverse impact on their revenues. When we planned to head out on March 1, we didn’t know we would be leaving with the masses. There are 30 RV’s leaving on 3/1, and there is even a local traffic officer that will hope to make it a bit more orderly.

We took the last chance with some nice weather to enjoy the Miramar Beach area. We headed over to Pompano Joes, a seafood restaurant, to actually get some real Gulf fish – not just fish dip. The food was really good, and our stroll along the boardwalk while waiting for our text that our table was ready was even better. While I know it’s a bit hard to tell from this picture, this kite surfer came off a wave and caught more than 30 feet of air, doing a flip on his way down. He stuck the landing BTW.

Also, as we walked along the beach awaiting our table, we took in all the sites that the beach had to offer. I imagine folk felt cooped up by the cold and wet, so even though it is not bikini weather, it is sunny so everyone was on the sand. This was probably the most impressive structure we saw today.

The more we strolled around today, taking advantage of the sun and getting our last looks in before we leave, we came to the understanding that pretty much nobody lives full time anywhere near the water. Every building we saw was a vacation rental, some single-family dwellings and some multi-family condos. I am sure it is part of the marketing positioning, but it seems like each unit has a catchy name – and all of them are nautical in nature. While I can’t say this was the best name we found, it certainly is in the running.

The Woman has officially begun to freak. All you hear about on the news or on the internet is the outbreak of the Corona Virus and the cases of Covid 19 in the US. So, she made me go to the local grocery store so that she could stock up on canned soup and chili, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I thought she was nuts – the stores here looked the same as they had all month. But then our daughter, Karen, sent us some pics of what the huge, big box grocery stores look like in Seattle. I guess I stand corrected.

Talk to you soon.

Moving on

We will be heading on to Biloxi for the month of March. As we have passed Fat Tuesday, the die hard snow birds who go over the top to decorate their sites have moved on to the next holiday. While it is several weeks away, we are seeing all kinds of St. Patrick’s Day decorations, and we welcome the changed look of many of the coaches we walk by each day.

So, before we leave Miramar Beach, we decided to head back to one of our favorite lunches. The Grayton Beach Brewery has a line up of locally crafted beers that is compelling. But, the combination of the smoked snapper dip with the overnight smoked chicken wings can’t be beat – it leaves me wondering if I have died and gone to heaven!

Talk to you soon.

Another National Holiday!

Thank goodness when we were in Flagler Beach, we took some time and explored a bit of the Dixie Highway, an historic Florida State Highway. Had we not, we never would have had the opportunity. In today’s climate of political correctness, those responsible for state highway naming have decided that from now on, it will be called the Harriet Tubman Highway. Maybe some day we will get to explore that a bit as well. In the meantime, we will just have to settle for the Mardi Gras decorations that are everywhere in February in this part of the US.

Since we carved out some time to pay homage to National Pizza Day, we felt obliged – well, at least the Woman felt obliged – to make the same sacrifice to honor National Margarita Day. We had to find the finest beach bar on the powdered sugar sands of Miramar Beach, but the Woman said it was worth it. I settled for the crab and artichoke dip, which I have to say was fabulous!

The pooch, Kona, has become a regular fashion icon. We were used to seeing him in his nifty sweater, and were always excited to see him sporting his Las Vegas Golden Knights NHL jersey. But when he got his new Las Vegas Raiders NFL hat, he couldn’t help but show it off. What a ham!

As we are wrapping up our time in Miramar Beach, we are trying to catch as many sunsets as possible. When we get to Biloxi, we don’t expect to get the really nice sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico to the west, as we will be starting to head a bit down the eastern coast. It’s been really cloudy and rainy as we near our departure date, but we did get one last nice sunset. When we moseyed out to the beach, the sun dipped behind a thick cloud bank. But soon, it emerged below that bank, and we actually got to experience a really nice one – bonus!

Talk to you soon.

RV park bling

Getting my steps in around the RV park since it is supposed to be a wash out today – at least later in the morning. There are at least half a dozen RV sites that are heavily decked out for Mardi Gras. The very familiar bright purple and lime green theme is everywhere!

I know I said that the RV park is very, very old and very, very white. I also learned recently as I was perusing all of the Trump paraphernalia in all the gift shops that Florida is a red state. I thought it was all here for the snow birds, but it turns out they love him here! Well, it seems that everyone loves him, except for maybe these folk – and yes, both old and white! And, they are almost right next door to the coach with the bright red MAGA banner.

I find it fun to walk around and trying to figure out what all the vanity license plates on cars and coaches mean. Some are very easy to understand – like ours – Colectiva’s plate says “PASS US” and the Equinox plate says “IM TRYIN”. I’m pretty confident I have this one figured out.

Talk to you soon.

Low country boil

Sitting around the campfire, our neighbors Peggy and Steve asked if we were here for the month. We said we were, and they invited us to their event they planned for Valentine’s Day. Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and their two pots – one with cob corn, potatoes, veggies, andouille sausage and shell fish, the other with the same but fish – boiled away and smelled awesome. We brought our chairs for the circle – it totally reminded us of wintering in Port Aransas Texas many years ago.

After dinner, the sky remained crystal clear – not a cloud in sight. So, we assumed we would have a nice sunset, and headed out to the beach to see if we could take it in. We were really pleased with the quality of the sunset, and were quite surprised to catch the bonus. For the second time in my life (the Woman claims to have seen more), I saw a green flash. And while I didn’t get to snap the most intense part of the flash, I did catch it as it faded out – cool!

Every now and then you see a sentiment that seems to match your view on life perfectly. While we can’t say we have totally achieved this, we certainly try our best as often as we can.

Talk to you soon. 

Exploring the Emerald Coast

Other than the fabulous sand and the very occasional sunset, there really is not a lot to do in the Miramar Beach area, known locally as the Emerald Coast. However, even though they are a bit isolated here, they have heard about the latest trends in camping – that being Glamping. So, we have been watching them build some permanent tents on raised decks, complete with nice cots, to capitalize on this current trend. Frankly, Colectiva II is good enough for us.

Roaming around in Camp Gulf RV Resort we have seen quite a few interesting RV’s, some that we think would work for us and others that we think would not. As you can see, the Woman’s head would bump the ceiling in this coach – even if she were standing outside on the pad. It’s hard to imaging how much she would have to crouch if she actually stepped up the foot or so to get in!

We have been on the Gulf Coast in the winter many times, sometimes in Texas near Corpus Christie or down on South Padre Island. Other times we have been on the Florida west coast. Still others we have nestled in Louisiana, Alabama or Mississippi. But I had completely forgotten what it was like staying in a Gulf shore RV Resort in the winter – the population in all of them is very, very old, and very, very white.

We spent a part of a day exploring Fort Walton Beach. The town was originally a Confederate military base known as Camp Walton, but it was also the site of indigenous populations for thousands of years. Fort Walton Temple Mound is a native burial mound that is believed to date back to as far as 500 BC. We climbed the mound (using the supplied boardwalk to protect it), and scoured the museum for all the local artifacts on display. On site, they also had to old school house, the post office, and a civil war barrack with displays as well, all interesting.

Before we toured the Landmark, we grabbed lunch at the Magnolia Grill. Although we knew that Sears and Montgomery Ward used to sell complete homes out of their catalogs, we had never actually been in one, at least that we knew. In 1910, Dr. G. G. French ordered a catalog house when he proceeded to assemble. It was interesting that 110 years later the solid workmanship still showed through, although converted to a trendy restaurant. We enjoyed a nice lunch, and marveled at the quality of what you could buy in a catalog in 1910.

As we headed back to Colectiva II we were tempted to stop at Fokker’s Pub for a bit of refreshment. I, in particular, wanted to try their signature drink – they referred to themselves as “The home of the Motherfokker!”

Talk to you soon.