Panama City, FL

Today started out with a bang.  I woke up to torrential rain, loud thunder, and brilliant lightning.  Now that in itself was not bad because I did sleep in as did the Traveling Longdogs.  In fact, I was up before they were.  Things went downhill from there as I discovered that Steve had headed out for his morning bicycle ride.  He normally rides anywhere from 25 to 50 miles.  It was obviously not raining when he headed out but by now it was going on 9:00AM and I was getting worried with the constant lightning flashes.  He didn't answer his phone and that really made me really nervous.  Although there are many cyclists in this area, the vehicle drivers are not very supportive or careful so with the reduced vision, things were not looking good.  I finally jumped in the car and headed out to look for him.  After going just a few blocks, I saw him heading towards me.  He wasn't worried about the rain but I felt like I lost 10 years off my life this morning!  You might be fast but you can't outrun lightning.

This afternoon, Steve was tied up so I decided that I was going to get out and do some sightseeing, rain or no rain.  One of the first things I saw was this neat water tower.  I was at a stop light so I couldn't get the part that said Panama City.

Then I headed to downtown Panama City which I had only seen at night during the First Friday Car Show.

It has a small town, laid back atmosphere with lots of little shops and trees along the main street.

The main street curves with more shops and then opens out to the water front after you pass the Marina Civic Center.

There are lots of boats anchored in the marina at the end of the road.

I saw a shrimp boat out in the bay.

The marina also has a little store at one side of the parking lot.

Birdie, this picture is for you.  Not an exotic species but he was posing so I just had to take his picture.

There is obviously a nautical theme to the area.

I continued my drive along the waterfront.  I love waterfronts and beaches.

As you can tell, it finally quit raining while I was touring but it was still dark.

I continued along the road towards St Andrews which is still in Panama City but another waterfront area but that will be my next post.