I love our neighbours to the south!

Three weeks ago, Ian and I headed south on a reconnaisance mission. We were looking for dog-friendly places to rent so that next year we can join the thousands of other snowbirds and escape the winter -- or at least part of it. And obviously if we're going to be absent for extended periods of time we need to find a place that will welcome Zephyr.

First we went to South Carolina. We saw live oaks:

And big old houses. This one's for sale:
We saw drowned coastlines: And regular, undrowned beaches: In our room at the B&B were a selection of magazines. This one caught my eye:

Can you imagine this being published in Canada? Harrowsmith and Hand Guns? Canadian Living with Long Guns? Imagine the shock! Imagine the outrage!

You've got to admit: it's a great title for a magazine.

Everywhere we went, people were friendly, outgoing, and helpful. Their economy is the pits but they are still thoughtfully optimistic. One woman at a gas station told me to have a 'blessed' day. I said to Ian when I returned to the car: "That's got to be better than a regular old 'good' day.

We were told that alligators can be a problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBJ-lo9AnF8

And while we were there, a man, jogging on a beach, was killed by a small airplane making a crash landing. Apparently the pilot couldn't see the man because there was oil spaying onto the plane's windshield, and the jogger didn't hear the plane because he was listening to his iPod. Is this a cautionary tale about the dangers of flying small airplanes, of jogging, or of listening to your iPod?

You just never know what's coming down the road.

After a few days, we moved on to Florida. We stayed with friends who have a place north of Tampa. We relaxed, picked grapefruit, and put in some beach time:

But this part of the world is crowded, and the only dogs we saw tended to be the type that fit into purses, so we headed northwest to the panhandle and a place called Cape San Blas.

Cape San Blas is essentially a 17 mile long sand spit with a state park at one end and vacation homes along the rest of it. Port St Joe lies 20 minutes northwest and Appalachacola 30 minutes east. Everything seems to be either for sale or for rent (in some cases, whichever comes first). It's quiet, especially in March. And it's dog friendly.

Horse friendly too.We saw brown pelicans and dolphins. We spend hours collecting shells and watching the birds. We sat through a spectacular thunderstorm while sipping wine on our deck.
We and Zephyr will be going back there for a month next year.

And the only alligator we saw was this one: