We took the coastal road along the Florida Panhandle on our way to New Orleans, stopping for a night at Apalachicola, Florida, a little shrimping port on the creek that flows into Apalachicola Bay. I’d been there before, and wanted to revisit Up the Creek, a funky seafood restaurant overlooking the shrimp-boat docks.  We had a fine meal there at twilight, watching the shrimp boats head out for their night’s work.

On the way to Apalachicola, greedy for seafood, we’d stopped for lunch at the roadside joint above.  The fried oysters my sister Anna had were not great, alas, but the fried shrimp I ordered were excellent.

Traveling with my two sisters, both of whom are excellent drivers, made for a different kind of road trip.  I’d done almost all of the driving on the way to Maine — my nephew Harry has a learner’s permit but can only drive with a licensed California driver in the car.  It was nice to lap the miles in shifts.

On my last visit to Apalachicola I’d stayed at a Best Western, but driving into town this time we decided to take a chance on the Gibson Inn, which dates from 1907, during Apalachicola’s brief history as an important lumber shipping port.  It was a fortunate choice — the place was reasonable and comfortable, with a good bar (which like almost every other drinking and eating establishment in Apalachicola closes at 9pm) and wide porches with big rocking chairs to pass the time (and smoke) in.

One reason we chose a southern route back to Las Vegas was for the great food and interesting places to stay we knew we’d find close to the highways.  We were not disappointed in the Florida Panhandle.

Click on the images to enlarge.