Bridges and Beaches

My husband and I were in our twenties when we first moved to Florida from Chicago. We settled in a nice central location. We lived 50 miles from the gulf beaches and about 65 miles from the infamous theme parks. Being so young at the time, we frequented them all.

Of course, you can’t live in Florida without adventuring to its many other fabulous places to explore. One year we took the eight-hour drive south to Key West.

Old scanned photo from the days of film

Another year we took an eight-hour drive in the opposite direction, north to the panhandle’s majestic beaches in Destin and Panama City.

My very favorite place in all of Florida is the historical town of St. Augustine . . . the oldest town in the U.S. We took the three-and-a-half-hour drive to visit there once or twice a year.

St. George Street in St. Augustine, Florida (more old, scanned photos)

Castillo de San Marcos Fort (built 1672-95) guarding the city of St. Augustine.

We even went to Cape Canaveral to see a shuttle launch.

By the time we turned forty, the novelty wore off. We’d taken many adventures in our new home state, and it didn’t seem as interesting anymore. Just knowing we could choose to go if we wanted was good enough.

Now, that we’re moving away, it’s a bummer to realize these adventures won’t be easily accessible anymore. But, I’m grateful for having had the experiences. We’ll find different places to explore in our new (original) home.

Still, we wanted to experience the beach again before leaving and went a couple of times in the past few weeks. In order to get to the gulf beaches, we have a choice to drive over one of four bridges, so we took the most scenic one.

Skyway Bridge (I breathe a sigh of relief once we get across)

These newer pictures were difficult to take from a cell phone in a moving car, but you get the idea.

Headed for the sky

Coming around the other side.

On the first of our two visits across the bridge, we took Max and went to the dog beach.

If you click on the photo, you can see the sparkling shades of color in the water, and that Max is carrying a tennis ball.

The second time we went, it was a dog-free day. The clear, sea-green waters and white sand soothed our souls in advance of our stressful move.

After the beach, we went to a little shack of a restaurant. It’s the place where we watched the sunset for the last time in the 20th century. In other words, it’s where we partied on New Year’s Eve like it was 1999 . . . because it was. We haven’t been there in years, but the place hasn’t changed a bit.

Oh sure, I’m going to miss this beautiful scenery, but it’s not like we could walk out our back door and relax over daiquiris all day. Just like anyone else who doesn’t live here, we needed to take vacation days in order to enjoy these places. As responsible adults, it wasn’t always easy to get a weekend free either, even just to go to the beach which was 50 miles away.

Thanks for joining me on my goodbye-beach tour.

Have you ever been both happy and sad to make a big change in your life?