Saturday December 29, 2007

We left Crystal River and headed north staying on the smaller roads as we are not in any hurry to get anywhere. We crossed into the panhandle of Florida and actually found a few hills! They weren't big, but they were there - the rest of Florida is extremely flat. We have seen a huge fluctuation in gas prices today - from 2.95 to 3.19! We stopped for lunch in a small cafe. The young woman who runs it is from Germany. She met her husband there and he brought her back to the states where she really loves the weather. She was not happy with the cold winters near Frankfort. We drove on enjoying the scenery and stopped at a state park on the Gulf of Mexico to take a walk break on the beach. The water was fairly warm (about 70), but most people were not in the water as they thought it was too cold. There were a few people surfing with wet suits on. We saw lots of small gulls, terns, and plovers, but no shells as the surf was quite strong. We got back in the car and have stopped for the night in Milton, FL (about 30 miles short of the border). We got a surprise as we checked in - we thought it was 4:30, but it is only 3:30 here - we crossed a time zone and weren't aware of it! I figured now was a good time to blog as it is too early to go to dinner.