Mark Turner dot Net

We got back to Raleigh at 5:30 PM: eleven and a half hours after leaving Panama City Beach. There was more traffic on I-95 than last week but it wasn’t unmanageable. We hit slowdowns through the construction zone near Brunswick, Georgia but they were thankfully short-lived.

The problem with vacations is that they end. I need to find a way to make my vacations last a bit longer somehow. Hmm.

Today was our last full day of our Thanksgiving vacation at Panama City Beach. It’s sad to find how quickly time has passed.

We were greeted this morning with clear, sunny skies and a moderate wind from the west, though not as strong as yesterday’s wind. The temperature was a bit chilly, especially in the shade, but the brilliant sun quickly warmed things up to the mid-60s. Breakfast was at my parents’ condo, courtesy of my dad. Jeff’s family, my family, and Wil joined my parents for a breakfast of grits, eggs, biscuits, and ham while the kids paraded through the room acting out silly dances. As usual with our gatherings, one had to shout to be heard!

After this great breakfast we hit the beach for our morning walk. Kelly and I have become familiar with the bottoms of our kids’ feet this week as all we’ve seen of them is them disappearing in a cloud of sand ahead of us! We figure our family bike rides have been way too short, judging by the energy our kids expended on the beach! At one point Hallie was actually running circles around Kelly and me. No kidding.
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Thanksgiving Day began with the clearest sky we’ve had yet here at Panama City Beach. The humidity level dropped tremendously, making the horizon look razor sharp. The wind had also picked up, however, and was blowing quite strongly all day long. These conditions lasted throughout the day.

We began our day with a family walk on the beach, and like before, we stopped along the way to write whimsical messages in the sand. Hallie led the charge on this but soon we all participated. Being Thanksgiving, our messages took a decidedly holiday theme, with a turkey emerging as the main subject. Future walkers would find these messages along with turkey-like tracks dotting the white sandy beach.
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Day 4 of our Thanksgiving reunion/beach vacation began a bit tamer than the previous ones. We had a leisurely breakfast and marveled at the glassy Gulf: the calmest we’ve seen it yet. The smooth water allowed us a perfect view of the passing marine life and while we watched from the balcony we saw a couple schools of stingrays and one small pod of dolphins amble by.
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I got up early this morning to tag along with our family friend Carl for a day at his office. Carl’s company has the contract at Tyndall Air Force Base to recover the drones used by fighter planes for target practice. The drones, known as BQM-167s, are rocket-launched, turbofan-powered, unmanned aircraft about 20 feet long with an 11 foot wingspan. His crew clears the launch range and stands by to recover the drone, if needed.

After Carl picked me up at the hotel we picked up Jim, one of Carl’s workers. Together we drove to a diner near the base where we had breakfast. Then Carl gave me a tour of his office and the boats, both located a short distance from the end of the Tyndall runway.
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Our second day of vacation here was not as much fun as the first.

We finished up our first full day in Panama City Beach, Florida today. So far its been a fun trip.

Yesterday we got up well before daybreak and made the long drive from Raleigh. The sun was just rising as we passed South of the Border and into South Carolina. We made good time all the way until just north of Florida, when we took a detour to Folkston, Georgia, to see the Folkston Funnel.

The Folkston Funnel is one of the busiest stretches of train track in the country, with up to 60 trains passing through each day. Being a family of railroad fans we looked forward to seeing it in person. Three freight trains went roaring through this stretch of track while we had lunch on the viewing platform. It was a good distraction from the day of driving.
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