Our Stay at Fountain, Florida

Florida Panhandle Fun Facts:

• The city of Pensacola and surrounding area is home to a rich military history that can still be found at Fort Pickens, Fort Barrancas and Fort McRee.
• One of the panhandle's calling cards is its white sandy beaches.
• The waters are know as the Emerald Coast due to the emerald hue that often stretches past the first few sandbars. 
• The beaches may be the panhandle's biggest attraction, but the forests of Northwest Florida make up the majority of this stretch of land.
• The panhandle is home to the state's largest national forest, the Apalachicola National Forest located southwest of Tallahassee.
• Falling Waters State Park has Florida's tallest waterfall.  
• Northwest Florida is also home to a number of natural springs.  

Strange little RV park and town.  Its like the land where time stood still.  As Tom said he never was anyplace where you had to drive 50 miles round trip for a pizza.  We are approximately 31 miles from Panama City.

I asked the clerk at the RV Park office where the grocery store was.  She said  2. 8 miles down the road was a Piggly Wiggly, for your meats and vegetables, a gas station and a restaurant.  Here is the entrance of the Piggly Wiggly, with the gas station in front.  

Nice church close to the RV park, paster and members were really friendly.

This RV was in the storage area, check out the back patio.  Reminds us of a train car.

RV Park

This copper head snake appears to be dead, we think he was run over by a lawn mower earlier in the day.

At Saint Andrews Bay in Panama City, Ellen from the Publishing Museum gave us a wonderful walking tour of the Bay.

 She told us how Panama Cit became an important port, and was used for building ships during World War II.  And how Clark Gable was there during that time and went to the local restaurants.

This sign is what is left from a fancy hotel on the water.

Oak Tree carved with pelicans and dolphins on the trunk, by the marina

 Four headed palm tree, but it seems to be dying

 This pot was used to boil sea water to produce salt.

Very old oak tree

This is the historic Governor Stone Schooner,  it survived several hurricane and has been sunk three times.  It worked as a freighter and an oyster buy boat, a WWII sail trainer, and a sponge boat.  

RV out back behind a restaurant in town.  

The marina

Couldn't leave without a trip to Panama Beach.  There had been a storm and the waves were rough

The beach was beautiful, just a nice day

Tom may take up surfing again !!

Brewski sounds good

Couldn't miss shopping at the beach.

Alabama here we come !!

Pine Lake RV Park

Fountain, Fl

***This is an older park, that has not been updated.  Paved roads, sand and grassy level sites.  Bathrooms are cleaned daily, grass is kept cut.  Has laundry and exercise room.  Short on amenities, no shopping for 30 miles.  AT&T phone and satellite were good, surprisingly enough had working Wifi.  

Our Last Two Stops in Familiar Terrority

Next stop Topics RV Resort in Spring Hill, Florida.

We took it easy, enjoyed our few weeks there taking walks, and chatting with neighbors.

 They had an end of the season pool party, with live music and eats.

Pic of our site

 Did a lot of cooking

And discovered Ugli Fruit.  It is a Jamaican form of a tangelo, it was created by hybridizing a grapefruit,  orange and a tangerine.  Tasted great.

Topics RV Resort
Spring Hill, FL

****We give this park a 4 out of 5.  It is a nice clean well kept park, consisting mostly of park models and mobile homes.  The daily RV sites are gravel and grass.   All paved roads,  older bath houses, but well kept and clean.  New washer and dryers in the laundry room and priced very reasonable.   Mostly an adult park.  Amenities are a pool, shuffle board, bocce ball and club house.  Almost all activities are run by the members.  The park location is convenient to shopping, everything you want or need is nearby.  Even found a good bagel store.  

Next stop Three Flags in Wildwood, Fl

We have been to this park many times last year, and made good friends

When we were setting up, this fella came over to check us out.  Good thing not poisonous.  

On our walk we bumped into this guy,  definitely gross looking!!!

We met our friends from PA, they liked florida so much they stayed.  By the way really good food at this restaurant, located in Inverness, Fl.  

 Met up with our Ohio friends for a night out at the villages, ice cream for all.  

Pam enjoying line dancing.  

When close we don't want to miss a trip to Ikea.  

 Found these funky vegetables in Tampa

  Had a fantastic dinner with them.  

Something we did different this trip was visit Honeymoon Island State Park.  The island received its name in 1939 when a NY developer purchased the island and, together with LIFE magazine, held a contest for newly married couples.  The winners of the contest would stay in thatched bungalows for a two week honeymoon, giving the island its name. 

The beaches were beautiful,  they even have a dog beach.

Nice hiking trails, excellent for bird watchers.  We saw Osprey and a Bald Eagle duking it out in the air.  

Someone else was hiking the trail too.