Gulf Coast Drive - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 1088

a freshwater lake, marshes teeming with herons and alligators, and a nature trail that
snakesthroughafascinatingvarietyofwildlifehabitats.AnglerswhocometoSt.Andrews,
whether for surf casting or fishing from the jetty, will be rewarded with an abundance of
bluefish, bonito, redfish, dorado, flounder, perch, and Spanish mackerel.
For an escape even farther into the languid life of the Gulf Coast, visitors can travel
by boat to nearby Shell Island. Awash with seashells—and refreshingly free of develop-
ment—thisbarrierisland,somesevenmilesofwhitesandandscrubforest,isasereneoasis
where gentle breezes rustle the tawny-topped sea oats that anchor the shifting sands of the
ever-shifting sand dunes.
2. St. Joseph Peninsula State Park
Return to Panama City and then head southeast on Rte. 98 to Rte. 30E and the St. Joseph
Peninsula. Civilization seems to run out as the road crooks north from Cape San Blas to-
ward St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. Some two-thirds of this sanctuary is preserved as a
wilderness area, where the brown pelicans swoop seaward and the beach belongs to horse-
shoe crabs and nesting sea turtles.
To the south and east of the peninsula, you'll find St. Vincent Island (accessible by
private boat), a fine place for savoring the music of windblown cabbage palms or viewing
the great gangling wood storks that visit in summer.
3. Apalachicola
Returning to Rte. 98, the drive tools east into Apalachicola, where the law dictates that
no building can be higher than three stories, making for a pleasantly human-scale town.
Thecottonbusinessoncereignedsupremehere,andapairofpartially restoredwarehouses
fromthaterastillstand.Numerousotherbuildingshavealreadybeenrestoredandnowhost
antique shops and seafood restaurants serving the day's catch from the bay. The town's life
today centers around its harbor, where oystermen haul in enormous harvests from the rich
beds out in the bay. Along the old streets behind the waterfront, handsome Greek Reviv-
al homes eloquently recall prosperous Antebellum days. Some are now bed-and-breakfast
inns, spots where visitors can stay.
Also here is the John Gorrie State Museum, where exhibits tell of a young doctor who,
trying to keep yellow fever patients cool in the 1840s, invented the first mechanical ice-
maker and so laid the foundation for artificial cooling of the air. The air conditioner, of
course, is now a Florida icon.