Rolling Ledfords: A Weekend Visit To Mexico Beach

We took the back roads north and around the corner into the panhandle to reach our next destination. That took us through a lot of National Forest land (much of it pine trees) with some peeks of the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the overcast skies and occasional drizzles, it was a beautiful drive and very few cars.

We crossed several major bridges and long causeways where we got views like this one.

Once we settled at the campground,

we headed out to find a restaurant where we could get some fresh fish for dinner. Then we checked out the beach area in a couple of spots. Hardly anyone was out. This really is a very "quiet spot" compared to much of the coastal area. But the beaches are beautiful; very wide and lots of soft white sand.

On our walk, we found a woman sitting down near the water so had her take this picture of us.

We tried twice to see a sunset but the clouds were simply to heavy to produce much color of any kind. They say they get 340 days of sunshine a year. Apparently we chose to spend four days that it doesn't get it though it was plenty warm!

On Friday, we drove up to Wewahitchka to the L.L.Lanier & Son Farm where tupelo honey is produced but sadly a new supply was not due for another couple of weeks so there was nothing to tour and no samples for tasting. We had been told that it is fascinating to check the place out when it is operating and that they offer tastes of the many varieties they produce. Tupelo is a specialty but suppose to be very very good. Remember Tim McGraw's song "Southern Girl" with the line "kisses sweeter than tupelo honey."? It comes from the green-white blossom of the white tupelo gum tree. The blossoms are very fragile and the weather must be just right to produce an abundant crop. In an good year that is only a few weeks long.

PS I've just realized we went to the wrong place. If you are interested, check this spot out. It is where we should have gone. http://www.smileyhoney.com/pages/about-us-and-raw-honey

We had to make a run to our official mailbox in Crestview so we drove through a driving rain to get our mail and then back to Florida Caverns State Park to tour the caverns there. They've had so much rain that there is still water on the paths inside and many of the trees around the area are in several inches of water. Two weeks ago they were shut down because the entry way was under water!!

Because of the rain there was only one other couple taking the tour with us which meant we could really get great views of everything and move more slowy through the caverns with our guide. It is hard to get good pictures in those conditions but I did try. One of the things that fascinated me was the proof that this use to be under the ocean as evidenced by the many shells implanted in the limestone ceilings.

There is even a sharks tooth sticking out in one spot. A little bat was hanging from the ceiling in one of the rooms.

We've been through many different caverns but this is the first time we've seen stalactites shaped like sweet potatoes. We've seen lots of sections that look like carrots or narrower and called soda straws

but these were actually short and bulbous in shape.

The were several little "lakes" inside the cave that actually look like glass because they are so still unless a drip hits it.

There were many examples of bacon. These were especially close so you could see just how thin they are.

There were several narrow passages and a few low ones that had us walking bent way over to keep from bumping our heads.

We are just a mile or so from the time line between Eastern and Central so we have to stop and think about the time if we back track at all (including going to the grocery store in St. Joseph). Since our bodies are still on Eastern time, we were up early this morning to go to the restaurant about a mile from here that sits on the beach