Friday, 13 May 2022
Another good night of rest. Last night I had the hamburger steak smothered in onions and gravy. Of all the meals I had at the restaurant at Wakulla Springs Lodge, this was the best. It reminded me of the same meal served at the Gulf Cafe in Morton, MS when I was working there and since I worked there, it was free! . It was my go-to meal. At the Gulf Cafe they served it over rice. I had to ask for the rice at the Lodge. The actual steak, onions, and gravy were just as good as I remembered from the Gulf Cafe. Kudos to the chef!
I was on the road by 7:30 am. I forwent the breakfast to get an early start. I wasn’t looking forward to the 8+ hour drive and I needed to get to Clayton in enough time to dine at Julep Kitchen at 6:30 pm.
Again, Cassandra tried to get me to turn onto dirt roads. I refused twice and then she tricked me the third time with a road that started out paved and then turned to dirt. However, she was at least nice enough to route me immediately to another paved road.
One road mistake was not her fault. I was stopped with a massive fallen tree across one of the roads she sent me on. Road crews were busy at work trying to remove the tree but Cassandra re-routed me quickly. I arrived at Beechwood Inn at 4 pm. The trip took 8 hours and 30 minutes but most of the over time was due to bathroom breaks.
The hosts are Eli (pronounced Ellie) and Marlon who recently purchased the Inn in December of last year. They were corporate types in Miami and decided they wanted to do something different after the pandemic craziness in the corporate world.
Eli said the house was built in 1916. The husband died and the wife turned it into a bed and breakfast in 1922 to support her and her three daughters. It has pretty much operated as a bed and breakfast for 100 years.
My room is the Savannah room and Eli thinks this was the original master bedroom. It has a dressing room attached to the room. My room is massive. There is a gas fireplace by the bed, a sitting area in the bedroom, and a huge walk-in shower.
Eli showed me a feature throughout the house that confused them at first. There seemed to be a huge number of coat pegs in every room. It was explained to her that instead of having candles or kerosene lamps in every room, a device was made to hold the candle/lamp that had a hole at the top. You simply carried the lamp from room to room and hung it on the “coat” pegs.
Dinner tonight was at Julep Kitchen, the restaurant associated with Julep Farm. It’s very touristy. I had the duck. It was just OK. They substituted asparagus for green beans. The highlight was the cheesecake. I have to say it was the best I’ve ever eaten.
Just a bit of nostalgia. Behind my bathroom door at Wakulla Springs was something that I remember from childhood. My parents would often travel from military bases back to Morton, MS and my grandmother Ruby would take me all over the place – the Smokeys, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Michigan, etc. We would often stay at these mom and pop motels along the way or what were sometimes called travel courts. Invariably, attached to the bathroom door was something similar to what is shown below.
If you guessed a bottle opener, you’re correct. Of course, they were provided for people to open Coca Colas. You’d never use it to open beer bottles. Ahem.
Tomorrow there is 69% chance of rain and Sunday, it is 68%. I may or may not get a hike or two in. I’d be just as satisfied to curl up in the king size bed and read and nap all day.
Stay tuned!
