Panama City Beach Memories

We did some more touring around the Panama City Beach area. This is a picture taken off the balcony of the condo where we stayed. You can tell where you are along the beach because each entrance is numbered and has a walkway down to the beach so there is plenty of public access.

The water was yellow flagged the whole time we were there.

But there were still people enjoying the beach even early. It is popular for early morning runners.

Definitely white.

I could see ships out a ways. This is grainy as I had to enlarge it quite a bit.

Most of the shells were small or broken.

I'm not much for sunrise pictures but here are some sunset ones. The sun seems to fall early and fast here so close to the eastern time zone.

We drove across the bay to Lynnhaven to see how Steve and Helen's old house looked. The pines in the front have really grown. And the back yard is fenced now.....looks good.

We had lunch at a restaurant along the beach.

There were lots of boats at the nearby marina.

These were some of the beach décor in the condo we stayed in. The bedrooms were on the first floor and the living room, dining area, and kitchen upstairs so the dachsies got lots of carry's as we don't let them do stairs if we can help it. This was a real shell but not from this beach. Harley was posing so you could see the size.

On the way back to San Antonio, we stopped overnight in New Orleans. Of course, this was taken at the famous Café DuMonde. We had an interesting experience as I don't think the waitress could speak or understand English. We asked for 2 Café Au Lait, 1 decaf Café Au Lait, all in "to go" cups, and one order of beignets. After two tries of her bringing completely different things, we flagged down another waitress who immediately brought us the correct order. Anyway, we really enjoyed it when it finally arrived.  We walked around the French Quarter for a while and then headed back to the motel where the canine crew awaited us. It was really too hot for them in the afternoon and the little "Hoover" machines would have gone crazy over things on the ground. I begged out of dinner on the town as I was worn out plus I knew Helen and Steve had some favorites here that not have been my favorites. I got a Subway from nextdoor and watched TV with the three furkids.

Just so you know how the longdogs and Angus travel, here are a couple shots.

Harley had the bed just behind me on the luggage and Willy and Harley had the rest of the back seat with me. As you can see, they are all seasoned travelers. No "are we there yet?" coming from them. They are relaxed and ready to roll....just as long as you make sure Willy can't smell any food left unattended, lol.

 

The end of a great trip even if we weren't  RVing.

Strolling Rosemary Beach and Seaside Florida

The day after the Triathlon, we decided to get some sightseeing in so we headed up the coast towards Rosemary Beach. They were having a market day so we parked and got out for a walk. The Traveling Longdogs were with me while I was taking pictures so they don't show up in the pictures too often.

It was a beautiful day and the market was interesting.....everything from vegetables to crafts. Lots of people out enjoying the day as well.

Rosemary Beach is a beach community with lots of holiday homes. Bikes are popular for transportation. There is a small square with shops and restaurants.

Our next stop on the road was Seaside, another holiday community with lots of condos.

More shops here.....definitely a prosperous place.

We enjoyed walking around and so did the dogs.

We walked down to the beach access area. Dogs are welcome pretty much anywhere except on the beach. That's true of most of Florida. You can usually find a restaurant with an outside patio area where well-behaved dogs can join you.

Unique beach entrance don't you think?

 

The sand on the beaches along the Florida Gulf coast is really white. I can't say about the other coastal beaches because I haven't been there.....yet. This area is beautiful and I especially like the Forgotten Coast as it is much less populated and natural.

It is interesting to note the different colors in the water. The lighter greenish area further out is due to a sandbar and shallower water.

Up north, this type of fence is used to keep snow from drifting across the roads but here it to keep the sand from blowing.

Walking between the shops next to the beach area.

Airstream trailers are popular food places here. There is a whole row of them.

You can tell dogs are welcome because they have water bowls for them in the food area.

These trailers stay here and don't move other places so they are pretty well set up.

Definitely a fun place to visit and spend a little time.

Panama City Beach Half Triathlon

Saturday was the big day......the real reason we were in Panama City Beach. Helen was competing in the Half Triathlon. Steve and Helen left the condo at 5AM so that she could be in place for the race. The plan was for Steve to come and get me right after the swim portion. Unfortunately, the each was under red flag warnings and they finally had to cancel the swim portion because it was just too dangerous to swim several miles under those conditions so they moved right on to the bike portion.  Due to the change, Steve was unable to come and get me because he would have been unable to get us back to the course. I was able to get some good photos from Steve and his friends and I was checking Helen's numbers online.

See this big smile?  This is Helen's trademark......almost every photo taken of her during any race catches her with a big smile on her face....not the norm, that is for sure.

The spectators really get into too. You may recognize the guy on the left. I won't admit any more than that other than to say that he usually has a lot less hair....a lot less.

 

Photo with triathlete friends.

On the winners podium.

Helen and Coach Karen, her mentor and coach. Coach Karen also competed and placed in her age group.

The ceremony was held at the Edgewater Resort.

Helen earned a place to compete at the World event.

Just one more photo of some of the winners who will be going to World's. 

The resort where the race was headquartered was pretty nice.

Even hours later there were white caps and riptides on the Gulf.

 

Congratulations to Helen and all the other competitors and winners.