Annie's Restaurant
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to take a little getaway to an Old Florida island. By "Old Florida", I mean the part of Florida that many don't know about. It's definitely not Disney Florida. These images are from Cedar Key, Florida (and Atsena Otie Key) on the Florida's Gulf Coast.
We started with breakfast at this funky, colorful little place called Annie's. It's breakfast and lunch and has a funny little bar for later. They specialize in Southern (USA) food and serve lima beans all day. We'd been there before and had lima beans for breakfast (gotta ask), sounds odd, but they're so good! They now alternate limas with peas-and-snaps, so we had those. Yummy as well. We went all in and had blackened flounder, grits, sliced tomatoes, and peas for breakfast. Really good. Inside, it looks like you're in a boat...lots of wood and older men sitting around talking about fishing, of course.
Later, we went for a bike ride all over the island, see map. Lots of coves and mangroves and ins and outs. There's quite a bit of history on these islands. During the American Civil War the North took over and boiled salt water to get the salt for packing meat. I believe this was the southernmost outpost the North took over. I'll need to double check that. After the Civil War, the area became known for its cedar trees. The dominant business was to lumber the trees to make pencils.
We kayaked out to Atsena Otie island, where more cedar trees were lumbered. A small cemetery was there along with the remnants of the mill where they got the cedar logs ready for shipment (foundation, cistern, and windmill tower were still there).
I got a kick out of the signs: Cemetery or Beach, which way should we go?
Fun day.
For the best experience view this post on Liketu