After the longest day in existence yesterday, we slept in and had a lovely snuggly morning. We packed up the car, and Hubby asked where my backpack was; whoops! I'd left it in back in the room, so I had to go get it. And thank God he noticed! My backpack is where all of my electronics are - my laptop, my GoPro, my DSLR, and all the various accessories... I would have lost them all.

Our view from the hotel room before we checked out in the morning

We grabbed gas and soda, then some donuts from a place called Fantasy Donuts. I made a note that they were good, but I honestly have no recollection of them as I type this!

Before heading over to Ft. Walton Beach, we took a few minutes to stick our feet in the Gulf again (now I've done that in Florida, Mississippi, and Texas... still have to do it in Louisiana and Alabama)

Mississippi Gulf Coast

Near Mobile, we diverted to US-90 so that we'd avoid driving over Mobile Bay... which was stupid. When I originally laid out our route, I was stoked about going over the bay and driving through a tunnel and all that jazz, but I always take Hubby's fear of bridges into account. So, for some reason, I got it in my head that we already drove this route on the way to Mississippi, so we didn't have to drive it again on the way home, and instead took Interstate 65 all the way around the bay area (it only added about 45 minutes worth of drive, but still... oops).

Alabama State Line

But since we were in the area, we were able to check out a small local franchise called Foosackly's. They are based in Alabama, and only have about 15 locations. They are similar to a Zaxby's or Raisin' Cane's, I'd estimate. When we got there, it was right around lunch time, and it was a zoo! Lots of folks going through the drive through and just as many inside. We each got a snack meal (3 chicken fingers, fries, toast, and 1 sauce) and a drink.

Toast, Chicken Fingers, Fries

To be honest... I think Zaxby's is better. In the photo above, they look amazing, but there wasn't anything to write home about. The fries were nice and crispy. The chicken was juicy and breaded well, but not overly crunchy. The toast was toast. But the star of this place? Their honey mustard. I'm not sure what go me to choose it over ranch (I'm a Ranch + Fries gal), but holy shit the honey mustard was amazing. You can see it in the photo below, it's the yellow one with mustard seeds in it. It was sweet, and tangy, but not too much of either, and not harsh or acidic in any way... I wanted to get more chicken solely to eat more of the honey mustard sauce. Hubs and I agreed that this was the winning sauce.

Photo courtesy of Yelp

With full bellies, we headed through Alabama, and soon, we made it to Florida along US-29. It kind of snuck up on us, like Bam! Florida! We pulled over near a liquor store to take a photo of the Welcome to Florida sign, then headed out again, looking for a place called Wild Willy's Adventure Zone, in Ft. Walton Beach. We were hoping to enjoy another Ropes Course, but, well...

Driving toward Florida

Welcome Home!

It looked janky as hell! We ended up just avoiding Wild Willy's altogether and kept heading east on US-98.

I've seen sturdier scaffolding

Ft. Walton was a bust, but the drive along the coast was beautiful, with much of it being hidden by sand dunes and greenery.

This is beautiful

Our next stop was one that helped drive this entire road trip, and one that I'd kept secret for a while... Goofy Golf. In the 1930s, Lee Koplin was an ironworker on the Hoover Dam. After World War 2, in 1948, Lee's older brother invited him to help build concrete dinosaurs and other fantastic creatures on his mini-golf course in California. After that, and managing the Pee Wee Golf course for three years, Lee continued to build on his own courses in several states, including a Goofy Golf in Biloxi. But his true Magnum Opus was in Panama City Beach. As the story goes, Lee suffered from vivid nightmares, and his coping mechanism was to bring his nightmare characters to life and turn them into a fun part of the game! He began construction on PCBs course in the late 1950s and opened in the summer of 1959. Over the next few years, he would add more oversized creatures like the Tiki Head and a life-size brontosaurus. Nestled among the fun, nightmare creatures is a house that Lee and his family lived in until he passed away in 1988. Today, that house is used for storage. (For those of you wondering, it's behind the big purple brontosaurus). Today, Goofy Golf PCB courses are still owned by Lee's daughter Michele. Much of this info was taken from A Couple of Putts online, so go check them out for even more info about this place... it's a great read, and I learned a lot!

Goofy Golf! The best kind of Mini-Golf

Both courses were open, so we played the first one, which was great, then took a break. We both needed to potty, so we went in search of the bathroom, and well, that was an experience. Either there was no Ladies' Room or we couldn't find it, so I just said fuck it, and went into the men's room with Hubby. Once in there, there was only one stall and a urinal. So, of course, I took the stall. But then I realized, there was do DOOR on the stall! So what we ended up doing was him peeing, then standing guard at the entrance (again, no door to the bathroom), while I peed. And to top it off, there was no toilet paper, nor any paper towels! Good thing I only needed to tinkle! Back on the course, we played the second side, which was also fun, as the sun was setting and the humidity was ramping up in the Florida summer. We both had a lot of fun with this course. Sure, it's a little worse for wear. It's almost 65 years old... you'd look a little rough, too. But it had all the things I want in a true goofy golf course - obstacles, windmills, loop-de-loops, all that good stuff. An added bonus is that you can climb to the top of the Tiki Head! It's as slippery and unsafe as you'd imagine, but it was fun to act like a kid again, and the view was glorious!

Looking toward the Gulf of Mexico

Hope he doesn't sneeze

Looking West

You can also climb into the belly of the brontosaurus (I'd wager many kids get drunk and smoke in there...) and into mouth of the big fish near the entrance! I climbed into both, but the bronto was a little too claustrophobic for me to bear.

Help! I'm stuck in a fish!

Eventually, we made our way to the hotel for the night and just relaxed a bit before deciding on dinner. At check-in, a funny little thing happened. Today's shirt (as you'll see below) was my Greendale Paintball Club shirt (riffing off of the paintball episodes of the TV show Community). The entire time the clerk - Garrett - was checking us in, he was trying to sneak peeks at my shirt and finally just asked about my shirt. I told him it was a riff on the show, and he immediately began to geek out about the show, and we all ended up having a 20-minute conversation about a show that hasn't been on TV for almost a decade. Up in our room, I told Hubs that I almost lost my shit because the clerk's name was Garrett, who is a supporting character on the show, and one of my favorite scenes is during the Model United Nations episode where it kept screaming "Crisis Alert!" And all I could think of was the hotel clerk saying that phrase and it gave me barely contained church giggles.

For dinner, I wanted to do something local, and hopefully seafood, so I opted for Sandbar Seafood & BBQ Joint... Oh, my goodness, she was definitely a dive! The gravel parking lot was actually a broken oyster shell parking lot (smart, though unsafe for tipsy people in flip-flops). There was lots of outdoor seating, most of it empty, and inside was about 3/4 full, and loud. There was a huge group of dudes there cheering for some sport team, and they were a bit tipsy... okay, a LOT tipsy. Most other tables were adults out for beer and junk food. Hubs got a grilled chicken sandwich, and I got a fried shrimp basket. Both were good but nowhere near spectacular. Service was great, about what you would expect from a beach bar (sassy waitress, lots of cheering for sports, etc). Pleasant meal, but nothing to write home about.

Fried Shrimp with Fries

"Garlic Bread," Hush Puppies, Ranch and Tartar Sauce

Back at the hotel, I soaked in a hot bath for a while, thinking about everything we've done in the past 10 days. Tomorrow was our last day, which I was sad about, yet looking forward to, too. 3000+ miles is a lot of miles, and I felt like I was running out of steam.

Maybe I just need some sleep.