Happy 2026, everyone! This morning Travalon and I packed and put all our stuff in the car right away, since we couldn't get back into our room once we left it, then we went down to the breakfast buffet. It was lovely, with lots of fresh fruit for me, and chicken and waffles for Travalon, but the guy right before us got the last chocolate and cream cheese muffin, and they never replenished them. When we checked out, the woman at the front desk was shocked that they didn't just give us a different room last night, which would have allowed us to go to the party, but our room was pretty great. Here are photos of the old State Capitol from our window.
And here are photos from my phone that didn't load to my computer last night, of Christmas lights and the sunset on Cedar Key, although the first two are a church we saw further north up the road - they loaded in the wrong order.
Back to today: we went to Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More, which had lovely stained glass windows.
After Mass we hit the road, heading for Grayton Beach State Park. Our first stop was a wayside on Ochlockonee Bay. Here are some photos.
(I am not the artist, just a fan.)
As we drove along, Travalon spotted an armadillo by the side of the road. We had never seen one in the wild before!
Yesterday he spotted a little spotted pig by the side of the road, and it was posing so nicely for us, looking at us with its mouth open as if in surprise... and then a guy drove by really fast and scared it off just as Travalon was about to take a photo. We aren't sure if it was a wild pig or someone's pet, since it was in front of a small farm.
In Apalachicola we had lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking the Gulf. I loved this painting.
We saw brown pelicans and buffleheads.
We stopped for iced coffee at this cute place.
Then we took a walk on Mexico Beach.
We got to Grayton Beach State Park just in time for sunset, and what a glorious sunset it was!
We were the last ones to leave the park (it closed at sunset), then we went to a nearby souvenir shop because Travalon wanted to buy a Grayton Beach T-shirt, but despite the fact that it had not one, not two, but three "Open" signs lit up, it was not open. We drove to Destin and had dinner at the Shrimp Basket, then Travalon decided that instead of going all the way to Pensacola, we should stop for the night in Navarre. Our hotel is right on Navarre Bay. Check out the view!
The pool is heated, so we did swim in it despite the cool weather. It was lovely while we were in it but very chilly when we got out! Now we are waiting for our load of laundry to get done drying. We have no idea how long the machine runs, but it's not done yet. That's our adulting for today.
Famous Hat
