St George Island 4: A Journey to Port St Joe & More Sunsets!

September 13, 2016 - With our family and various beach paraphernalia both loaded in the truck, we headed to Port St. Joe.

(We didn't take the route marked by the red line.)

On the way, we needed to run an errand in East Point and pick up a couple of things at the local Dollar General. 

We did a "divide and conquer" but I accomplished my mission well ahead of time and took a seat out front near the Redbox while I waited for the truck to return and pick me up.

And in that short period of time, for some reason unknown to me, 3 strangers asked me for help with the Redbox kiosk.  One person wasn't even renting or returning a DVD - they just asked me to walk them through the process for when they did!

 Obliging guy that I am, I was glad to be of help, but it's all pretty self explanatory.  Basically you just use the screen and this clearly marked slot (below) to pick up and return DVDs.

If YOU experience any difficulty, you can contact Redbox directly at: (866) 733-2693

We were greeted at Port St. Joe State Park by fruit flies that seemed to be refitted with the ability to bite like a vicious and experienced mosquito.  Yet, despite their predatory appetites, they lacked the reflexes of a mosquito and many of them lost their lives on this beach.

Nigel the pelican returns

Its wasn't too long before a storm that, though little, was fierce and broke in upon us:

But the storm blew over as quickly as it'd come...

...and not before it'd left its mark in the sky.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky. 

Are also on the faces of people passing by. 

Noah and the rainbow

When the lights go down in the city. 

And the sun shines on the bay. 

 - "Lights" by Journey

After we'd had enough of "adventure" and of the flies at Port St. Joe we drove back home to St George Island and back across the bay.

Shots from the beach - during my "sunset walk":

You can easily look across the entire island to where the sun is setting on the bay.

Shall I speak of the sea, which itself is so grand a spectacle, when it arrays itself as it were in vestures of various colors, now running through every shade of green, and again becoming purple or blue? 

- Augustine, City of God XXII 

 #greaterlighttoruletheday 

#lessertorulethenight 

#whatabeautifulsuccesion

The "Harvest Moon"

Our little beach community at night.

I'm scratching non-existent bug bites remembering what I went through while taking these photos - despite all of my clothing.

 This blog obviously doesn't have a very strict editorial policy concerning what photos are or are not posted. :)

Moon shining on the palm trees

This pool looks inviting - or so I thought when I finished one of my runs.

So I had a celebratory plunge (and a shake) after I posted my best 5k time.

Shine on, shine on harvest moon - up in the sky! 🎶

St George Island 1: The Drive, Crabs, and Sunset

Note: The videos in this post aren't currently functional, but will be soon.

To start off this trip, I'll let the dubious duo of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope have the opening act:

That's right!  We're on our way to Apalachicola, Fla!

No one packed long underwear [that I know of], we didn't stop for grits or drive through Tallahassee.  However, thanks to that song, it wasn't long before we learned the language of the natives and didn't sound like the GPS when we said "Apalachicola."

As the song says, the Apalachicola Bay is down south on the panhandle of Florida, and we stayed "along the Apalachicola Bay" on St. George Island - accessible only by a 4 mile bridge from Eastpoint.  Oh, and by water.  And by air too.

Benjamin picked up a cover for his truck which made packing immensely easier.

As you can see, we took cues from UPS and carefully set and arranged everything in the back of the truck.

Every good thing starts with a visit to Saint Louis Bread Co.

And I think nearly every morning you'll find this man in our local Bread Co with his newspaper or laptop.  Today was no exception.

Looks like he's working on a crossword puzzle. 

What's an 11 letter that would describe the windshield of Ben's truck?

Starts with "B" ends with "R."

The answer is BUGSPLATTER.

Early-ish morning fog in the farm fields of our valley.

This billboard.  The scariest thing we encountered on the trip.

The last leg of the trip took us through the 632,000+ acres of the Apalachicola National Forest.

Mostly straightaways and no speed limits, but it still seemed to take forever.

But we finally arrived and it didn't actually take forever.  

It wasn't long before we were unpacked and heading to bed.

And it wasn't long before I'd geeked out my room.

I hooked up my laptop to the TV, plugged in my external hard drive, laid back on the bed, and started posting on this blog with my wireless mouse.

With my wireless mouse, remote for the TV, remote for the fan and lights, and my books, it may have been tempting to stay in bed during the whole trip.

It was more than tempting for this little creature:

My first view of the beach the next morning.

Click here to see the full panorama.

Each day I ran along on the beach - rocking out to Chariots of Fire -and audiobooks.

On the first day I started at a good pace, but when it was time for me to head home, I found that I was battling a small gale that was blowing in from offshore.  I clawed my way through the wind and got back before the storm hit.

#windblown

I ended up running at least a 5k every day.  By the end of the trip, I'd accumulated enough distance that I could have easily run the entire length of St George Island.

On some days there were pleasant discoveries like this...

...and possibly horrific discoveries like this.

And there was the dodging through all of this while running barefoot...

...and working your way through the obstacle course of debris and seaweed that hurricane Hermine washed in.

I even had to dodge a couple of these guys:

I was impressed by this crab's footwork - he belongs in the octagon!

He always kept his potential attacker in front of him - where he could see me and could defend himself with his claws.  

I'm thinking that I should use him as an example for the students at martial arts.

This is paradise for me.

I mean, I ended up boiling in the sun because I couldn't set this book down, but before I started burning and peeling it was heavenly.

Your first exposure to the many sunset photos I'll be posting.

God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas...

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. Psalm 65:5, 8

Besides the beautiful sunsets on the beach, in the words of Air Supply, "even the nights are better."

It was a "beautiful night for a moon dance."

And with those views of the sun and the moon the first night came to a close.