Sopchoppy Part Two

Wednesday Sonsearae worked until noon and we met her at Cabo's Island Grill for lunch.  Jim ordered a huge lunch of burrito, enchilada and beans and rice.  He took a lot of it home.  I had a portabella wrap and took half of mine home.  Sonsearae had bean tacos.  We all had water to drink.  

Our first stop was her appartment where we dropped off our leftovers and one vehicle.  Then it was off to Verizon for a quick fix on Jim's phone....Not!  It didn't take long but it wasn't a quick fix.

Then it was off to Sam's club.  Jim picked up a pair of jeans and a coffee caddy for his K-cups.  I bought food and tissues.  

Our next stops were Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, mostly because I wanted to see these new to Tallahassee stores.  I made purchases in each.  We also stopped in a Smashing Olives store...Have you ever been in one?  Dangerous place to be! Sonsearae and I tasted several oils and blends and left with 5 bottles.  I bought three:

Lemon Fused Olive Oil
"Pressing whole fresh lemons together with late harvest olives at the time of the crush produces our Whole Fruit Lemon Olive Oil. Its light, refreshing flavor is just perfect to saute shrimp or scallops, or to drizzle on chicken or fish before you bake, broil or grill. This lemon olive oil paired with just about any of our wonderful balsamic vinegars makes an exquisite salad dressing. It is also great on vegetables, in marinades, and for baking."


Raspberry
"This thick, rich, perfectly balanced Balsamic Vinegar, oozes with the natural flavor of fresh, ripe raspberries. Both sweet and tart, it’s perfect tossed with mixed salad greens and a little feta cheese. Also enjoy paired with one of our flavored oils or as a marinade or glaze for pork or chicken. Our naturally flavored balsamic condimento is aged in the traditional Solera Method and comes from Modena, Italy."

Sicilian Lemon
"Playfully tart and pleasantly sweet, our Sicilian Lemon White Balsamic from Modena, Italy has a perfectly balance acidity and a crisp, lemon flavor and aroma. Fabulous with seafood, in dressings or in mixed drinks. Perfect for salad dressings, vegetables, fish, chicken, seafood, and even in mixed drinks! This is a wonderful balsamic that pairs well with any of our Single Varietal Extra Virgin Olive Oils."

The lemon oil and raspberry vinegar tastes lovely and I'll use it on spinach salads.  The lemon vinegar will be good all by itself on salads or veggies.

Sonsearae bought a Tuscan olive oil that smells and tastes just like pizza!  More about this in the next post.

While at Whole Foods we all got coffee and it was fun strolling through the store drinking good coffee!  I needed it to keep going...I was tired of shopping.  After this we headed home.  

Stopped for only a few minutes while dropping off Sonsearae and picking up our leftovers.  It was getting late and already past Boo's dinner time

It was good to get home and relax...all this visual stimulation is more than we usually get in a week!

Sopchoppy Part One

Last Sunday we left Hudson and just headed north.  South Florida is fun but expensive!  We couldn't find any where to stay that had reasonable prices. The winter season lasts a bit longer here than in Texas.  Our drive north up Highway 19 was an easy drive, then we picked up highway 98 in Perry and drove west to Sopchoppy.  This little town has a city park on the river with 30 amp hookups for only $15 a night.  Some sites have sewer and we chose one of them because I had laundry piling up!

This area is full of state parks and preserves, not to far from the gulf and is also about an hour from Tallahassee.  Sonsearae was in Lake City and we didn't see her until Monday after she got off work.  She had made arrangements to be off everyday at 1300.

I made some red beans and rice along with a salad for our lunch Monday and when she arrived we all had a good meal and spent the afternoon making plans and catching up.  We took a stroll on the boardwalk that they've built out along the Sopchoppy River.   Sunshine and a nice breeze made the walk enjoyable.

Where the boardwalk ends we continued on into the woods just following the path

I don't know the name of these flowers but they were everywhere and quite lovely

Jim and Boo waiting for us

The Gazebo is probably used for weddings as we saw x's and other marks on the floor

All set up!  From the grounds it doesn't look like many people camp here.

Tuesday we again had the beans with rice and when the dishes were done we headed to St George Island State Park for some beach time!  We were bundled up with sweatshirts against the cool breeze coming in off the water.  Found quite a few shells while strolling.  Dolphins entertained us and the bathers who were crazy enough to be in the water.

After all this fresh air and sunshine we had worked up an appetite and Sonsearae took us into Apalachicola to a place she and Chris like.  Up the Creek Raw Bar is right on the water and we were able to secure seats looking out over the bay.  Jim had a gator burger, I had a crab cake and Sonsearae had some shrimp.  No leftovers!

Wednesday we're driving into Tallahassee for some shopping!