Aug 18 – FL/AL
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005Day 17 – Heading west and aiming for Alabama, so that we can make to Austin, Tx in the next few days. We went through Panama City and continued along to the coast. While driving along the coastal road, we came across a town that look very familiar. And to my surprise it was Seaside, FL. For all of you architecture buffs, this is the one we read about in school. At first I thought we had entered Disney Land but after getting past the “town square” we realized that it had more to offer than first expected. For those who didn’t study Architecture or Planning, Seaside is a new urbanist community that based its town planning on Mixed-Use buildings (retail shops and offices on the lower floors and apartments on the upper floors) and pedestrian streets and neighborhoods. (there are books written on the city, but that is the $.02 explanation). In theory, the city is like a utopia, and in many ways the reality is as well. But for me, the city has been homogenized more then a gallon of milk. Every house look like the one before and the Volvo parked next to the BMW that was next to the Audi and so on, showed the city had very little economic diversity. In fact, most of the homes had signs with the owners names and original location to prove that this community was only a beach resort full of vacation homes for the ultra rich. For me, Seaside was an ideal theory, but put into unrealistic practice. I really did love the streets and the density of the housing, but when you over refine and homogenize the buildings, the landscape and the people you start to get a bit boring… well that is just my opinion. – Jason
Seaside, FL
Grayton Beach white sand dunes
We reach Alabama today and as if someone took a hammer to the landscape there were hills. I knew Florida was flat and had water seeping out of it like a spong, but not until we crossed the Perdido Creek into Alabama did I realize how accustomed I had become to non-changing elevations.
We camped that at the Gulf State Park in Alabama, and I have to say that it was one of the least enjoyable state parks we have been to. The facities were clean and decent, but it felt more like a public campground area than a state park that is trying to preserve and care for the natural surroundings. In the morning they drove around all the campsites with a de-bugging fog machine, which is very unpleasant thing to wake up to especially while your jogging and they drive right by you. My thought is that it’s a state park and bugs are part of the environment and ecosystem we live in, I might not enjoy them all the time but it’s just how it is, so seemed a bit backwards for a state park. They were still rebuilding from the hurricane that hit them last year, so there wasn’t much natural foliage or trees around making the park feel very bare and cleared off. Over all the park seemed not as geared toward the natural surroundings as all the other parks we’ve been to, it was very disappointing.
On the topic of state parks one thing I noticed about the past few days, and I am not sure if it is because of the area’s that we are in or the change in how people camp now, but the last few parks we’ve been to they didn’t have the choice of just plain tent sites. They are all RV sites with water and electricity hook-ups which creates the price of camping go up about $5 a night. It made me sad, and my wallet more empty, to see the RV’s taking over the simple style campsites that are more economical and use no services. I wonder when our lifestyle will become simpler again, and not always have the need to bring our home comforts with us everywhere we go.
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