On our way to Florida, we saw a pig on the roof of a car, in front of a BBQ place in Mississippi. It looked like something we needed to check out, and we were glad we did. We enjoyed a yummy lunch, then had stop again to check out a fabulous shark adorned gift shop. There was a wait for campsites in Florida’s State parks, so stayed in a great camping spot in Alabama’s Gulf State Park for a few days.
Alabama has this restaurant called Lamberts, which had billboards claiming it was the “home of the throwed rolls”. Sounded fun, so we made sure to have a meal there. The food was yummy, but the rolls were awesome! They were huge and fluffy. Sure enough, the servers came out of the kitchen with a tray of piping hot rolls, which they throw at any customer who wants one. It was a great environment, yummy food, and an experience we won’t soon forget.
We finally made it to Florida! We were so excited to be in the sunshine. We had reservations at Big Lagoon State Park, and shortly after settling in, Mother Nature showed up. She brought some rain. OK, a lot of rain. On the one hand, we joked that it was nice of Florida to help us feel at home with the Seattle-ish weather. On the other hand, we felt we should be wearing our shorts and flip flops by now. After all, we were in the sunshine state, right?
We ended up staying in that area for a few weeks, bouncing between Alabama and Florida state parks. This gave us plenty of time to get to know the Flora-Bama. As the name implies, it is located at the state line between Alabama and Florida. Their website boasts live music and good times since 1964. They have definitely perfected their craft over the years. It is so much more than a beach bar, or a road house. We returned often to hear Neil Dover perform, rang in the year with the Flora-Bama “bamily”, and even joined in on some polar bear plunge silliness. We look forward to returning to this colorful place soon.
While we like to say “No Bad Days”, sometimes our resolve is tested. Like when the truck broke down in the middle of nowhere. Truthfully, what could’ve been a bad day, really wasn’t. There were so many people who stopped to make sure we were OK or if they could call someone for us. At a time when you see so much negativity and nastiness in the world, it was wonderful to encounter so many fabulous people willing to help strangers. The warm feeling continued when we were at the Ford dealership, where the employees juggled their schedule to get us back on the road as soon as possible the next morning, which happened to be Christmas Eve. Everyone from the mechanics at the shop, to the uber driver who took us to the rental car place, and the rental car staff were amazingly awesome. They all made a potentially stressful situation pretty easy.
The weather still wasn’t playing nice, so we thought it was the perfect time to check out the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. This was another awesome museum filled with amazing planes. If you are ever in the Pensacola area, we strongly recommend checking this one out.
As we said goodbye to 2018, we reflected on our wonderful, amazing, blessed, and crazy travels. We were (and are) grateful to be on this adventure together, and were ready to explore warmer parts of Florida. So we packed up the palace and continued journey south.
Traveling Team Fischer 