Southwest Airlines offers discount flights all the time even a non-stop to Baltimore
Delta and Southwest are the only carriers right now
The line through security was very light.
Auto traffic at the airport was mild - wide open traffic patterns
Walking from short term parking into terminal
I felt like Hoke "Driving Miss Lulu" to the Piggly Wiggly
To be correct we have to call it the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport - but at any name it is something really new and exciting on the Panhandle. It is the first international airport built in the USA since 9/11. To make it even more interesting - Southwest Airlines has chosen to fly there - offering some very inexpensive non-stop flights to our neck of the woods.
The airport is very nice - reminds me of some of the island airports we saw in Hawaii. It is not extravagant - but it has an airy soaring atmosphere about it.
We left the beach at about 11 AM. The airport is 12 miles inland on the other side of the Bay. It was built on ground donated by the St. Joe's Paper and Land Development Company. The gamble was to make the entire Emerald Coast a destination location. This plan was pre-depression housing bust and pre-oil scare away tourist bust. Right now the roll of the dice looks a bit scarey.
It took about two hours of driving to get home from the airport if you do not include the stops at the Blountstown Piggly Wiggly and the Lake Talquin State Park. The highway was two lanes most of the way - but it was wide open and had very little traffic on it. It was hot and humid all the way home - that prevented us from getting the bikes out and pedaling a spell. There is a really nice view of Lake Talquin at the boating ramp at the state park - but we did not see one boat in sight for the miles up and down the lake. Lake Talquin is a hydroelectric dam run by the city - very similar to Lake Wallenpaupack in Pennsylvania both in size and height. It produces about 3% of our electricity.
Blountstown is the seat of Calhoun County. It is the only town along Route 20 large enough to offer highway services - McDonald's - Burger King - etc. We got a good dose of local cracker flavor at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store there. We went shopping and filled our cart with cases of Coca Cola. Cans were on sale for 20 cents each - and I stocked up on 7 cases.
Before we knew it - we were home. We didn't even have the Honda van unloaded and were having a late lunch - when a silver BMW pulled into the driveway blowing its horn. It was Bob Proechel - our old neighbor from Orlando in 1980. He was in town on business and we were lucky to be home to touch base with him.
So Lulu had her three days on the beach - and now we were home in time for a new school year and Seminole football and volleyball seasons. We got to see Panama City Beach before the oil got there.
