Happy New Year - Loop Trip - Days 28 - 43

Our trip home to Atlanta was basically uneventful, after we managed to get our rental car.  Seems the Enterprise location where I reserved didn't see the need to mention that they would be closed when I wanted to pick up!  At least Enterprise had another location nearby and our Uber driver knew where it was.  On December 17, when we left Panama City it was sunny and 70 degrees.  Arriving in Atlanta, it was cloudy, gray and 45 degrees - for the whole time we were there!!

There was much to do during our time back home.  I went to Knoxville for three days to visit my Mom.  Regina had a couple of appointments and a shopping/lunch day at Neiman's.  There were a couple more planned dinners with friends and we both got much needed haircuts.  And of course, there was Christmas.  This turned into a two day event as we had people coming to visit that we hadn't seen in about 25 years!  Visiting, catching up and really getting reacquainted made for an absolutely wonderful Christmas Eve.  The day itself was spent with Brittany and her husband Jonathon.  Santa was good to all, our traditional afternoon movie was excellent and then we topped it off with a fabulous chicken pot pie dinner.

December 27 was Brittany's birthday which was spent packing to make the return trip until she got off from work.  Part of her birthday always includes dinner at the Melting Pot.  This year that became a 3 hour event!  We left stuffed like little pigs, but managed to make it back home for Britt to open her presents.

On the 28th, it was time to head back to Panama City.  The drive is about 5 hours so we left at 9 AM.  Brittany got up early and made a Krispy Kreme donut run and brought back some hot, fresh ones for us!!  We got back to the boat just as it quit raining so the 50 trips of carrying stuff back on board was at least completed without getting soaked.  That night we went to The Place for dinner and met Kevin and Aaron who run the Smoky Barrel BBQ.  Needless to say, this was the dinner location for the last night (12/29) in town.  Pulled pork and pulled chicken were amazing and I had a double helping of baked beans!!  Wow, so good!!  Got to tell you that if you're ever in Panama City - you cannot go wrong with either one!

Regina with Keith and Oliver the pig

Winds were forecast to pick up on the 30th so we got up early to work out of our slip.  Normally not too hard a thing to do, but this marina has square, concrete pilings which do not allow your lines to slide off easily.  Our boat neighbor John, from Minneapolis, and his cat Tippy gave us a hand getting free.  The ride from there to Apalachicola was smooth.  The day started a bit chilly at about 44, but warmed up quickly.  We saw a only few dolphin but lots of fisherman - probably because its Saturday.  Along part of the route, we saw many sunken boats and damaged homes which we figured was the result of  the hurricanes which hit the area.  Sad to see either just abandoned in place.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/924638

John and Tippy

On New Year's Eve, we ventured into town to see where our dinner reservation would take us.  The Gibson Inn is a historic hotel two blocks from the marina where we are docked.  I found that they were doing a NYE special so I signed us up!  Regina played with Salem the cat while we checked the place out before continuing the stroll through town.  Appalachia is a small, old town originally founded around a port to ship cotton.  In those days, they also collected sea sponges and all of these were shipped to locations far and wide and you can still see the remnants of those activities in town.  There are lots of shops, art galleries and quite a few restaurants.  We found the Oyster City Brewery when the aroma of popcorn caught our attention.  The weather turned bad while there so we had to run back to the boat in the rain.  Unfortunately, it continued to rain and the winds picked up, so the trip back to the hotel for NYE dinner was a really wet one!  I even had to readjust the lines just so we could get onto the dock!!  Dinner was great and best of all the walk back was dry!

Gibson Inn

Salem the Inn cat

Oyster art

The Inn and the Courthouse are the largest buildings in town

Italian greyhounds at the Oyster City Brewery - yes, they are full grown!!

We will likely be here a few days to wait out the front that hit yesterday.  After that, the weather will dictate our next move.  The forecast has some pretty high winds which would make crossing the Gulf uncomfortable to say the least.  Just have to see what happens.  Maybe we'll go to Carabelle.  To all our friends - have a safe, prosperous and Happy Year Year!!