MUMBLINGS January 20, 2005

The whitest sand beaches in the world are in this 200 miles from Dauphin Island to Panama City and are being developed at such a speed it's almost impossible to keep up with it.

Baldwin is doing well, percentage wise, as a small part of the entire mileage. After this 200 miles, the sand is dark and unattractive. Going east from Orange Beach you come to Pensacola, Ft. Walton, Destin and Panama City. Between these Alabama Inand Florida areas there has been a huge development over the past years but if possible, it seems to be accelerating.

Recently, we decided to spend a couple of days in the panhandle of Florida and rest and see what is happening. We rested well, spent a lot of money for what we got and saw some amazing developments completed and not completed.

To give you an example, real estate agents claim that the first 11 months of last year saw property sales of south Walton County to the tune of $4.5 billion. Condos, apartments, all types of developments are under way, just as they are here in Baldwin.

One reason Baldwin has developed so rapidly is, believe it or not, land prices are cheaper than in West Florida. An appraiser told me that in general, prices of land in the Florida area are about 30% higher than in Baldwin. Recent sales would indicate that Baldwin is catching up.

About eight miles east of Destin, on Highway 98, you turn southeast on Highway 30 A and travel about ten miles to Watercolor Development, which was our destination. We checked in at a beautiful little hotel, the Watercolor Inn where we stayed .

It is only 60 rooms but joins apartments, condos, etc. They control another 100 or so but they are all pricey, very much so.

We spent two nights in this nice, restful hotel, which overlooks the Gulf of Mexico, supposedly with bargain rates, but each of the two couples had a hotel bill of over $600, room and taxes only.

The above are winter rates. In the summer, the same room that we had with king size bed, overlooking the Gulf runs $445 a night and when you add sales tax and tourist tax, it's over $500. And guess what, during the summer months they're filled to capacity.

This 500-acre development joins Seaside Village that is even bigger. It is full of apartments, condos, restaurants, small businesses and what have you. A wonderful place to have a resort if you can afford it. They said you can't touch one of the cottages for less than $1,000,000. We won't be buying any.

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Continued

"The Fish Out of Water", the restaurant at the Inn, was closed for repairs. It is reputed to be the finest restaurant in the area, with the highest prices. My grandson and his new bride spent a few days there and they said the restaurant was wonderful but you couldn't get in and out for less than $200… and that's just for the two of them.

The Inn did have a nice continental breakfast, which was included in the price.

While we were there, the hotel was almost empty as they told us the snow birds didn't stop there, they pass on through going farther east or coming west to Baldwin County. In the summer, it is overflowing.

In the summer months the roads and highways are so crowded, it's almost like one big parking lot. You can't get anywhere without taking hours to do so. It's not my desire to visit there in the summer because we have enough crowded highways on our beaches here and highways before you even get to our beaches.

The six-year-old Inn was neat and had an interesting item we had never seen before. On each floor, just before you get on the elevator, it has on the wall, in big enough type that even I could read it, famous quotations such as:

"Don't accept your dog's adoration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful" - Ann Landers

"Inspire children" - Hank Aaron

"Play is a vital part of life"- Dinah Sho

"Never follow an empty wagon; nothing falls off" - Anonymous

Frankly, we were not too impressed with the restaurants but obviously they were popular and expensive enough. We ate at the Highway 30A restaurant and the cost, without drinks, $160 for four and the food was just average, nothing compared to several places we have to eat in Baldwin and Mobile.

Some interesting names for restaurants, along with "Fish Out of Water", they had "Goat and Feathers". We didn't eat there because we lost our appetite reading the name. However, they said it was a good place, featuring seafood and in conjunction they had a fresh seafood market adjoining. We also ate at an Asian restaurant, Basemati's. The food was unusual and had very good desserts. One of my eating problems is that nearly every restaurant has good desserts.

See you again soon, I hope.