Sand and sun in Apalachicola, Florida

My next stop was in Apalachicola, Florida.  

This town is along the Gulf Coast.  I was greeted by a fantastic sunset as I approached. 

 

After I checked in, I searched out a restaurant.......I found the Owl Cafe was open.  Across the street was a bar that was also open judging from the lights and music, but I was looking for something a little quieter.

The hotel let me store my bike in the laundry room, as it was one of those with no elevators up to the second floor.

In the morning I drove to the downtown area, which was filled with quaint shops and widecstreets that were very walkable.  In fact, I think I saw more foot traffic than cars. 

I parked on the diagonal in front of a bank, and took my bike off the rack. I rode a block out of downtown 

and ended up at what seemed to be a municipal park right on the water.

There was a path and a dock along the way for a short while.

As I rode around town,  I followed another woman on a bike.  She was not wearing a helmet, which seemed to speak of the slow pace of the town. I eventually came to the Gibson hotel/resort where she deposited her bike in front into what looked like a bank of bikes provided by the hotel. 

Continuing my ride, I stopped to take a photo of the Spanish moss hanging from an oak tree, when a dog came out of a house and started barking at me.   Two middle-aged, stocky, bearded men also came out and were watching me.  I apologized to them for upsetting their dog and moved along. 

Next I came to what might be the bike shop in Apalachicola.   There were bikes every where.  In the yard, on the fence, in the tree.

When I got to the corner I saw that the place also appeared to be an antique and curiosity shop. 

A few blocks later I came back into the downtown.  I stopped at a coffee shop. (They also had chocolate, but it was too early in the morning for that.  

I drank my coffee and headed for the bookstore which according to their website was also a yarn shop.  I thought I would be killing two birds with one stone.   

I explored the store,  looking for the yarn.  All I found was a cat!

But it turned out that the bookstore had been sold recently and the yarn shop was now in the art gallery next door. So I headed for the art gallery.

They had a space dedicated to yarn, including a lot of cotton yarns, not surprising in Florida.  I tend to knit more with wool.  I ended up buying a sale book on knitted fabrics by Jean Frost.  

I asked the clerk where ight be the best place in town for lunch, and she suggested I ride my bike out to the marina across from the state park, where was a restaurant with a patio overlooking the water. 

I never had oysters before, so I scratched off a bucket-list item.

After lunch I rode back to the bank, loaded my bike onto my car, and headed for the next destination, Clearwater, Florida, where my sister-in-law lives.