January 4, 2012

I forgot to note that in Ft Myers, at the corner of McGregor and John Morris, is a great little fruit stand where we got our first taste of Honeybells.  Honeybells are a Florida specialty, a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit.  They are as sweet as Navel Oranges but they are also amazingly juicy; every bite fills your mouth with sweet fruit juice.  They are only in season during January, so we hit it just right, and got as many as we thought we could eat.

We left Lake City today and drove to Gulf Shores, Alabama, where we parked in a very modestly-priced RV park called Gulf Coast.  It's a little rough around the edges but it's also affordable, quiet at night, and about 7 miles from the beach.  We discovered that there is a Lambert's Cafe in town, so we went there for dinner.  Lambert's Cafe is justifiably famous for their "throwed rolls" - big fluffy yeast rolls that a skilled server can toss across clear the room to customers in the farthest corner of the restaurant.  The rolls can be topped with butter, honey, apple butter or Sourgum molasses, and a couple of them make a full meal.  But the dinners they offer are also really good, and very generously portioned.  And if that's not enough, servers walk around offering customers "pass arounds".  Pass Arounds are side dishes (in addition to the side dishes that come with the dinners), such as white beans, macaroni and tomatoes, fried potatoes and onions, black-eyed peas and fried okra.  We left very happy and very, very full.  To close the day, we drove a few miles out to look at the beach.  Although it was full dark, we can tell that the beaches here have sugar-white sand - can't wait to see that in daylight!