Panama City Beach

First a note here, this is not to be confused with Panama City, which is across the bay.  It was the promise of a ten star rv resort which brought us here- which we needed after the last park we stayed in.  Lovely as this place is, however, there is not much to do here.  Well, this city and Panama City, are on the gulf, so it is all about fishing and swimming in the ocean.  We did spend one afternoon on the beach.  This time of the year it is quite warm so, unless you keep your feet in the ocean,  you could get a bit uncomfortable.  Fortunately Hurricane Irma cooled things down a little bit for a day or two.

Speaking of that hurricane, it did not hit the building above.  We walked about 5 miles down the main drag of the city Wednesday evening and took in the usual attractions of a beach town.  Pictured above is an amusement house, Wonder Works.  Across from it is Ripley's Believe It or Not, and near our park is a small zoo.  There are also many miniature golf parks.   We had to look elsewhere for entertainment.

Pictured above is a Cracker Turpentine Still, located in St.Andrews State Park.  The park is a pristine barrier island on the Gulf  of Mexico.  Near the still is the Grand Lagoon, a salt water marsh with oyster reefs.

John found the still a bit more interesting than I did.  Well, I did discover why certain pines are called slash pines.  Those pines with high amount of resin in them are slashed for production of turpentine.   There are interpretive signs around the still describing the whole process.  I will try to distill it down for you.  The still was in operation from the 1900s until the mid 1930s.   After the rosin is tapped from the trees it is placed in separating barrels where the turpentine rises to the top.  It is then siphoned, and strained to removed debris.  The barrels are pictured below.

A hot fire is required during the entire distilling process.  In the sill an oven is kept burning with wood.  It flows hot air in a cavity around kettles of rosin.  Rosin quality is determined by the shade of the final product- the lighter the shade the higher the grade of turpentine.  Do not hold me to the accuracy of my interpretation of the whole process.  That was our excitement in St.Andrews Park.  Too hot to walk the pine flatwood trails and dunes of the park.

  

On Thursday we visited Eden Gardens State Park and home of the Wesley House/Maxon Museum.  It is located about 25 miles west of Panama City Beach and proved to be a very worthwhile trip.  More on that in my next posting.