EMERALD COAST

by | Nov 18, 2023 | Beach, Travel

October 3-6, 2023 Karen and I drove to Florida to visit our good friends from Texas sailing days Steve and Janet to attend the MountainFilm On Tour Festival in WaterColor, Florida.

The sold-out documentary film festival first-come-first-seated line was long and festive.
Waiting for the movies to begin, we walked out on the bridge over Weston Lake which is considered one of the most picturesque of the rare coastal dune lakes in the area.
The two-day movie festival playlist featured 23 original and thought-provoking documentaries.
The Emerald Coast spans roughly 100 miles from Pensacola Beach to Panama City Beach along the Gulf of Mexico. Steve gave us a car tour of the opulently planned communities south of of their home in Rosemary Beach and we rode eBikes north to explore Seaside.
The famous sugar sand dunes are natural hurricane barriers and protected. We got a great view of these wonders at the Henderson Beach State Park.
Our Sunday eBike ride ended in Seaside where the Truman Show was filmed spotlighting the town’s famous late-20th-century New Urbanist architecture.
Having lived many years in south Florida we were surprised to learn the peak tourist season on the Emerald Coast is the hot summer months, not winter.
The bleached white sand of the 30A corridor is almost 100% quartz, which is rare in Florida. Centuries ago, erosion and natural forces carried the quartz from the Appalachian Mountains to these beaches.
Many thanks to our wonderful hosts Steve and Janet for welcoming us into their lovely home and sharing their slice of paradise.
On our drive home we stopped at the Air Force Armament Museum near Eglin Air Force Base. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to Air Force weaponry and aircraft for delivery.
My favorite plane was the Sr-71A Blackbird that holds all of the world records for air speed and altitude. On July 27/28, 1976 the SR-71 set the Altitude in Horizontal Flight record of 85,068.997 feet and on the same day the Speed over a Straight Course record of 2,193.167 mph. Wowzah!