Gus, Weezie and Capers on Cape San Blas Beach.
The dogs promise to obey leash law in the future!

CAPE SAN BLAS - We travelled southwest out of Savannah down to Waycross and Valdosta, GA, crossing the northern reaches of the Okefenokee along the way. There was a joke in Cece's family that her father must have had a girlfriend in Valdosta, so often did he visit. But Charles was in the lumber business, and that part of Georgia was and still is Georgia-Pacific country. The land is flat, the soils sandy, and the pines march endlessly across it.

The scenery changes when you cross the Withlacoochee River into Florida. The land opens up into rolling hills and pastures, horses and Woody Jackson cows. There are spots that look almost like Vermont. Almost.

Eventually, we made it across the Panhandle and hit the Gulf Coast at St. Marks Natural Wildlife Refuge. From there it is a beautiful drive along the coast and into Apalachicola and then on to Cape San Blas where we found Paula's lovely cottage on the bay side. We have everything we have been hoping for right here in this area, and we know we'll be sad to leave when the week is up.

Slightly further up the cape is St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, part of it protected wilderness. The beaches are amazingly beautiful. They could be mistaken for white coral beaches in the Caribbean, but actually the special geology of the area has ground the quartzite down to almost a powder and filtered out everything else.

Sunrise at Paula's cottage looking at Pig Island in St. Joseph Bay.