On our last day in Tallahassee we had reached the halfway point of our epic road trip across the USA. We left early in the morning, stopping by the Rusted Ford Trucks and headed out to St George Island to see the lighthouse. We had to drive over a huge long bridge across the ocean to get there, something I had never seen before in Australia! We then drove right along the Gulf of Mexico towards Panama Beach and stopped at the highly rated A’more Donuts to get some delicious treats.

We made it to Navarre Beach by late afternoon and gained an hour moving our clocks back to Central Time. We had a dip in the outdoor pool which was lovely and warm due to the hot weather. An older couple at the pool struck up a conversation just asking where we are from what we have been doing and giving us suggestions for dinner, which is something we found happened frequently as Americans are so friendly.

We stopped at Winn Dixie’s for some supplies and felt like we had gone into the twilight zone as everything looked suspiciously like Coles back home. After some research it turns out they were started by the same person which was a fun fact to learn. We then drove out to Juana’s Pagodas for dinner where we had the best chili tots and watched the sun set. Afterwards we drove around looking at all the beach houses built along the water. Late into the evening it was still so warm so we enjoyed walking around the beachy grounds of the hotel.

The following day we ate our complementary breakfast at the hotel which included blueberry bagels, my favourite, and headed out on our way to New Orleans. We drove through Alabama to a town called Fairhope which has lots of cute little shops and the streets are lined with flowerbeds. We visited their museum which was very informative and had lunch at Panini Pete’s in their version of a small French Quarter. We were tempted to try their beignets but decided to save ourselves for the real deal in New Orleans. Then we carried on through Mississippi to Louisiana, stopping at the visitor centre before arriving in New Orleans by 4pm.