For most of the busy season here in Panama City, FL my weekend is on Tuesday and Wednesday. Saturday and Sunday are busy at the resort so I work those days and take my weekend during the week. This works out great for exploring. Where ever we go on a Tuesday or Wednesday is less crowded and restaurants have their weekday lunch specials.

This week we drove over to Apalachicola for Lunch at the Owl Cafe, one of my favorite restaurants on the Gulf Coast. Their Linguine with spinach & shrimp is delicious! Rob had a grouper dish and said it was really good too. The town had a little foot traffic but nothing too busy. We stopped in a couple of shops to get a cap for Rob, he left his at home and decided he needed one for the rest of our trip. We were traveling in the jeep with the freedom tops off.

You can't go to Apalachicola whithout parking by the River and looking out at the shrimp boats and looking for dolphins or other wildlife.

We left Apalach and headed over the bridge toward Tate's Hell. The other side of the bridge from Apalachicola is East Point, the true oyster town of the area. Here is where you get on the bridge to go over to St George Island also. We have traveled this way many many times and have noticed this Reserve but it seems to always be closed when we are over this way. So being a weekday we decided to see if it was open and finally get a chance to check it out.

Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve is a neat place to visit if you are ever in the area. They have a short easy nature walk along a boardwalk with a plant guide. There is another short walk out to the Bay where you can see St George Island. The building houses a small theater room with a short film of the area, several aquariums filled with various fish, turtles and other marine life. There are several exhibits with the history of the area as well as the wildlife that inhabits the bay and gulf. We walked along the boardwalks and explored the center. I am looking forward to taking my granddaughters there this summer.

One of the boardwalks through the woods, They had a plant guide that you could take with you and see what the different bushes and trees were.

A very friedly squirrel!

One of the quotes that were placed throughout the walk. This was my favorite! I love to lay on the ground and watch the trees sway in the breeze or look at the figures in the clouds.

The view from the end of the Bay View boardwalk at the reserve.

We left the reserve and headed on our way to go see the dwarf cypress forest. We have been to Tate's Hell several times and have always driven along the roads and to the cypress overlook. At the parking area and on the walk to the boardwalk there are two creeks/streams/bodies of water. I really don't know what you would call it because the water is pretty still but it does lead out ot more water., so....... Anyway, there are lots of lily pads and flowers and I was looking for tad poles and gators. We have seen both of these things on previous trips. As I was taking pictures of a water lily Rob called me over to his side to see a snake, little did we know that was just one of at least 10!

SNAKE ALERT! If you do not like seeing pictures of snakes, turn back now!

Ok, I know a lot of you are freaking out over all the snakes and our safety, I promise that both of us have a healthy fear of snakes, even if we do like them. They are beautiful creatures and part of our great big world and I for one think they are cool!

Here are some pretty flowers to balance out the snake pictures.

The Dwarf Cypress trees are so cool to me. In the Fall they turn orange and are beautiful, but there is nothing like a beautiful spring green!

This last one forgot it was a dwarf.

From here after photographing the snakes and enjoying the cool breeze from the top of the boardwalk we headed to go for a hike through Tate's Hell. We stopped by the first hiking trail and decided that there wasn't enough shade and that maybe the other trail would be a little more comfortable. A few days before I stayed out in the pool too long and got sunburned. Hiking in the sun was not a good idea, and definitely not comfortable. The 2nd trail was about a mile shorter too.

The walk started out on a skinny trail and I thought ok this is cool, I love Florida landscape. A few feet out and it opened up to a dirt (actually a sand) road. Well that was disappointing, We could have seen this from the comfort of the jeep! This was a closed road for hiking only, although there were tire tracks all along the way, I guess from forestry trucks......

No shade! This had me a little ill, but I kept going and tried not to complain too much. Not too long after we started on the road Rob stopped me, right in front of us was a little tiny rattle snake! We know that this guy is a very dangerous snake. From far away I took a couple of quick zoomed shots and we got out of there! He was really cool and my first pygmy rattler.

The sandy road lasted for about 2 miles or so before the landscape started to change a little. We came up on a power line road and water. After the power lines the road took a turn. Right after the road turned we came up on a thicket with a narrow trail through it. After seeing so many snakes this was a little nerve wracking. We kept our eyes open and kept going. The trail changed a couple more times, all in all it was 4 miles of flat hiking on a warm mostly sunny day. And I loved it! Spending the day out in nature, breathing fresh air, seeing cool landscape, snakes and spending time together. What more could you ask for?

We made it out of Hell. The name Tate's Hell came from an old story (legend, folk tale). It goes that Mr Tate went hunting for a panther that was eating his livestock. While out in the woods he got lost and bitten by a snake. He finally made it out and said "I'm Cebe Tate and I came from Hell" right after he died. See more information on the forest and maps here.

On the way home we stopped in Port St Joe and picked up pizza from Joe Mama's Pizza (an unfortunate name). The pizza is not cheap but it is so worth it! By far the best pizza we have found south of Vincent's in Kennesaw, GA. We took it and parked at the marina, we got there just in time to watch the sunset. What a beautiful end to a great day!

I LOVE FLORIDA!!