Chapter Two Apr 28, 2001 Friday Tallahassee, Florida to Mobile, Alabama Lyn's  Working On It We got an early start (for us) on Friday morning leaving Tallahassee with a Burger King croissant in one hand and a jug of chocolate milk in the other. We had decided to take the scenic state Route 98 along the gulf coast rather than the overland fast freeway of Interstate 10. The whole point of the trip was to sight see and get a feel for the states we were traveling through and a freeway in one state looks pretty much like any other state, so the gulf coast Florida panhandle was best seen by way of Route 98. A little longer (about an hour with stops) but oh did we get a feel for Florida's panhandle beach towns. We finally woke up enough to stretch our legs in Carrabelle.  There is a little rest stop type park just before you enter the town and we stopped long enough to smell the ocean air and a pic of Jesse before heading on. The town of Carrabelle and Carrabelle Beach are dotted with a few cute little gift stores that have some interesting post cards of the "famous" Carrabelle Bridge and homemade crafts from locals trying to attract tourist dollars. I was a little disappointed to see that between Carrabelle and pretty much on to Pensacola, the water front property being developed as personal lots and rental properties instead of public parks and beaches. I keep hoping that Florida is going to wake up some day and realize that you can only keep the tourist trade alive if there are places that tourists can go to. (sigh) More coastline gone.   We could tell that we were entering Apalachicola when the oyster processing plants and old fishing boats started to appear on the scene. Apalachicola is worth any tourists stop if only to be able to say the name and have some fried oysters. There is an old historic hotel/ restaurant in town and a bevy of seafood restaurants and tourist shops. We stopped on the beach just before Panama City and enjoyed viewing the "Emerald Beach" area. The water truly had an aquamarine green luster to it that looked magical. The white sands were perfect draped against the clear blue skies and emerald waters. Tourist season had just ended so the many rides and attractions in the area were closed but the place looked like a real Coney Island of the south. Once we had gotten through The Panama Beach area we realized that we had made too many stops at gift store looking for post cards and key chains. If we were going to make it to Mobile in time to see the Minor league baseball game tonight we were going to have to step on it. We talked ourselves out of the Blue Angels Squad Museum and cut up on road 87 to get us on to interstate freeway 10. From there it was about an hour to get to Mobile and find Dad waiting for us at the hotel. Dave had arrived very early in the day on a read eye from San Francisco took a cab to the hotel and caught some Z's before we all joined together. Once we we were together, Dave took control of the car and gave us a quick overview of Mobile, then surprised us with an authentic Alabama BBQ that had come highly recommended from his cabbie earlier in the day. The dinner was a big hit with everyone and we all agreed that "Saucy Q's"  was the best BBQ we ever ate (and we've eaten A LOT of BBQ) and the place we will stop whenever we come close to Mobile again. Before heading over to the Ballgame we stopped by and took a view from afar of the battleship Alabama docked in port and available for tours to the public. There is a nice hotel right across from the ship if you are into that sort of thing. But we had a hankering for a ball game. It was a breezy summer night and the Bay Bears were playing at the new Hank Aaron Stadium. We do so enjoy minor league games. The players seem to try harder, as do the mascots and even the vendors. Everyone is always friendly and ready to talk or take a picture. We made sure that Dave got his picture taken with the team mascot's for his collection, that Jesse got his coke and hot dog and that Mom got her souvenirs. A grand night was had by all. Original Web Upload May 2001 Last Update: June 7, 2004