Travel Blog: Panama City and Grayton Beach Florida
Dothan Alabama and Panama City, Florida
The second leg of our trip was to Dothan Alabama and Panama City Florida. Unfortunately, I did not record any of the Alabama part of the trip in photos, but only the part of this trip when all the family took a little road trip to PC Beach, one hour South of where I grew up. (This is only fitting however, because the main thing to do in Dothan Alabama is to go to the beach)
This photo shows my father, my partner, my sister Jan, and my brother in law, David on the beach in Panama City around January 9, 2005. It was incredibly warm that day, but with spotty heavy fog as shown in the photograph.
Panama City is a place that I have fond memories of as my family would go there several times each summer when I was growing up. We would always just go down for the day and go to the Miracle Strip Amusement Park and play on the beach all day and take a picnic lunch.
That Panama City doesn’t really exist anymore, as The Miracle Strip is now being bulldozed along with of the properties along the gulf to make way for multi-million dollar condos that are stacked on top of one another for as far as the eye can see.
For us, it was a sad sight to see, for the original property owners, it is a financial fantasy come true.
Group of young kids with surf boards in the fog.
The best meal we had on this leg of the trip was at a place called the Red Bar in Grayton Beach, West of Panama City. The place is not one that really can be put into words, you gotta see this place. I can only say that a run-down place has never looked as funky as this place does. The Red Bar is a trip back to 1969, with The Doors Blinds on the windows, opera and Broadway Show posters plastered all over the ceiling, a representative of every type of chair ever made sitting around tables (half of them being held together with silver duct tape, pictures of Jesus and tacky 60′s Italian mirrors, and French newspapers covering all the walls in the men’s bathroom.
My father shocked us all that night and ordered the seafood stuffed eggplant and loved it, while I ordered a classic “big ole piece of meat” which was done very well and was a damn good steak for it’s price. The atmosphere is the star here however and if you are within an hour of this place, you just gotta go!
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GENE’S PO-BOYS LOCATED IN THE FAMOUS PINK BUILDING NOW HAS A WEB SITE “GENESPOBOYS.COM”
I can’t believe this! I, too, spent time browsing before the Dali exhibit and became fascinated by the same artist and Season series. I have been trying unsuccessfully to locate the prints online to buy and came across your info. And, I live in Ringoes!!!! What a small world we live in!
Dear Anonymous,What is even stranger, is when I was looking at these pieces in the museum, I was thinking that it was absurd that I had never seen prints of these, as I think that they would make incredible home decor pieces, and when I got home, I did a search to find who was selling prints of these incredible images. Unfortunately, I did not find any!!!Frenchtowner.com
I too went to see the Dali exibit and got taken in the the paintings by Leon Frederic. Good News! The prints are available at the the gift shop in the museum. They are 11×14 prints and cost 12.95 for the set of 4. I bought 3 sets
Nice ! My gf found your site , we have stayed at the Parkview 3 times over the past year or so . As you probably know it is impossible to capture the feeling down there , to try and explain it . Yours is the nicest I’ve seen so far online , to try and capture the details in the city , the style they have . It’s overwhelming down there and we love it . I just had my second show of photos from down there , I’m shooting poloroids ! I’d have to recommend to everyone November or December for a visit . Thanks , we enjoyed your pics .
Anonymous,I want to see your polaroids!I also can’t wait to go back!Frenchtowner.com
For someone who claims to be an experienced diner, your failure to comprehend a simple menu is rather mind-boggling. I guess you need someone to point out where the bathrooms are too, eh?Bayona is a national treasure, if you would have just practiced some common sense and participated in your dining experience, perhaps you would have enjoyed it rather than just sat there and judged it. Perhaps your server did not offer their assistance, but, you still could have offered to put yourself in their care and enjoyed it. Give it another chance with a better attitude next time.
Dear Anonymous,I welcome you to disagree with me, but I do not expect you to make your point by insulting my intelligence.I stick with my original criticism of Bayona’s illogical menu setup. Yes it is a novel idea, but in my opinion it is still silly.Anonymous, I was fully prepared to go to Bayona and enjoy it. From all of the reviews that I had read, I was fully expecting a dining experience of a lifetime. On that night, Bayona simply did not deliver, that is my judgment. Bayona, like any other restaurant that is “a national treasure” has a lot of work to do to maintain that reputation. In my review of them, I did strive to be fair. I was very kind in my compliments to the chef. I said she was a genius. When I get back to New Orleans I do plan to give Bayona another chance, but I stand by my original review.I am a diner that enjoys and judges. If the restaurant at this level of high-end “experience dining” does not execute, I can not enjoy my experience. I can not and will not fell guilty about that.
Cooking with wine plus drinking wine while eating is something I’ve discovered recently. I like your blog!Kathy
As a native St. Augustinian I gotta say you got my hometown right on. My family’s been going to Gypsy since it opened over 15 years ago. Next time you go, you have to get the bean and cheese burrito, it’s to die for. And if you’re downtown don’t miss The Way We Were on Charlotte Street. The owner is super nice and she has the best selection of antique and vintage clothing. And she’s always willing to cut you a deal.
Kaveri,It is great to hear a local finds Gypsy as wonderful as we did. When we get down to St. Augustine again we will certainly go and visit “The Way We Were”. Thanks for the tip!
Too bad it was so foggy when you went to the beach! ANd it’s always sad to see places with a lot of childhood memories lost to development.
I started this web site after spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to eat one day. Surfing the Internet looking for menus is an ordeal. You have to know the restaurant you’re looking for and so few have websites. Then when you find a menu, it’s usually a part of the web page so when you print it, it looks terrible.So I started collecting menus in PDF format and built http://www.TodaysMenuOnline.com. I already have a couple of hundred menus and I’m adding more every day. It’s quick and easy to search and the menu is right there.Check it out,www.TodaysMenuOnline.com