I have always wanted to road trip with no specific destination in mind. The kids were on Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, my husband had to work, so my mom and I decided to load up the car and take the kids on a road trip to no where! We only had four days so we couldn’t go TOO far, but we made the most of it and saw lots of fun stuff along the way. We were only on an interstate for 1 hour the entire 4 days, the rest of the trip was all back roads and old State Roads etc. You will find along this road trip that I am slightly obsessed with Abandoned Buildings and I actually have an Instagram Abandoned_in_America and an Abandoned in America Facebook page because of it, but Ill show you some beauties in this post as well.
We started out on A1A in Daytona Beach Shores, and headed north. The plan was to go as far as A1A Would take us, then figure it out from there.
Our First Stop was Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. There are 2 sides to this park, we went only to the beach side (Rock Beach) Since its a state park, the other side has a fee to enter, the beach side had a sign for a fee, but there was no where to pay, and there was some remodeling going on for the walkway. It was Chilly and windy, but we loved climbing all over the rocks!
After Rock Beach we continued on A1A north towards St. Augustine. We figured we could eat lunch there but it was mobbed due to spring break, so we just drove through, caught a few sites we had not really seen before, and saw but didn’t catch a close up pic, of the tallest cross thats listed in Weird Florida. 
Back on A1A north, we were headed towards Jacksonville, Florida and on the lookout for another Weird Florida sighting I knew was on the trail, Castle Otttis (Yes 3 T’s) (Page 140 in the Weird Florida Book) The castle was built in the 1980’s believe it or not, without any plans, and rumor has it, without a permit. Years ago my husband and I discovered this beauty just driving down A1A and you could walk up to it, and the bushes were not as high as they are today so you could see it really well. Not sure if ownership has changed or what the deal is but now there are do not enter signs (Although I entered a little just down the path 😛 ) and the bushes are really high so the view is hindered, which is a shame.
Onward on A1A North, where we literally were stopped at Mayport, Boarding the St. Johns River Ferry is the only way to get across, it connects the north and south ends of A1A. All my life in Florida, I had no idea thats how A1A went! So cool, and my kids nor I had ever been on a car ferry before. It was 850 yards across the water. Along the way we spotted a Carnival Cruise Ship going by, and the Atlantis 2; Owned by Robert Ballard, it was the first boat that discovered and took pictures of the sunken Titanic. My kids sincerely thought we were nuts for doing this but they absolutely loved it!
We continue down A1A and ran into some nice abandoned buildings. An old motel that Im sure was fabulous in its hay day (we ran into a lot of those on our backroads tour) This motel and souvenir shop should be in the Weird Florida book! There was a Welcome to Florida sign less than a mile from it, just like the one in the Weird Florida Book but I am pretty sure it wasn’t the same place.
We took A1A to SR17 and decided to go towards Savannah, Georgia, which we didn’t intend, but thats how it ended up, thats how a road trip to no where rolls! Along our backroads to Savannah, we saw quite a few abandoned buildings, but this one we actually got around and walked into.. Ive also saw a Spirit.. I took the picture on the left side of the inside of the building, then took another picture in that same area and there was a spirit! I took a couple other pictures, it was still there, then it disappeared in my last couple of pictures.. Check it out yourself.. The kids naturally flipped out lol My oldest son thought I was fool of crap and played with the lighting somehow. I didn’t, but it was weird none the less! (The pictures of the spirit I took with my phone from the preview on the camera, so sorry they aren’t the best, once I upload the originals Ill post those) Tell me what you think!
It took us 11 hours from Daytona Beach, Florida to Savannah, Georgia with all our fun stops! (Normally thats about a 3 1/2-4 hour drive on the interstate) We settled into Savannah for the night, and the next day ate at The Old Pink House. If your ever in the area, it seriously has some of the best food in Savannah! We love Savannah, its like our second home, So while I love to be there, I didn’t want to spend too much time so we could continue our adventure of things we had not experienced. However, I wanna give you a little food porn 😉
Their Fred Green Tomato Salad is famous, and for good reason, absolutely delicious! I had the shrimp and grits which was amazing and different than anything Ive had before.. presentation included. The Fried Chicken I would ALMOST, ALMOST.. say was better than mine! YUM!
We headed out of Savannah on 17 south towards Midway and then hit US 84 West to Valdosta. We weren’t far out of the main area of Savannah when we spotted this hot chick! Her tag read “I Love Fleas” Guess you can’t miss driving by Kellers FleaMarket with her at the helm.
We saw lots of abandoned buildings along the way on 17 and 84 which turns into 221 at Valdosta, beautiful barns, farm land, etc. We turned the corner at one point and ran right into this beauty, wow. It was like the angels sang. I would love to know the history of this house. The property was big and just beautiful. The steps were missing leading up to the house, it was just stunning.
More abandonment along the way. Im always curious how places get to this point, every so often you’ll find one with a For Sale Sign, but for the most part theres not, its just a piece of land with a building thats rotting away, totally forgotten, left behind, and withered. I don’t get it.
This one place we actually walked around looked like an Old Gas Station and Store, it had an abandoned Hairline 500 in the back, I bet someone was proud to own that car back in the day!
We continued on our journey taking the scenic route all the way to Tallahassee, Florida where we finally stopped for the night to catch some ZzZZz’s
The next morning we woke up and headed to Panama City! My intent was much like we did on A1A up the East Coast, we could go back down the West Coast along the beach, I kinda screwed up, but hey, who cares? Its a road trip to nowhere right? We took 20 from Tallahassee into Panama. Trailing down 20 we spotted this metal sign that said Cemetery, well my mom and I are a little weird so we headed down this dirt road in search of the cemetery! We found it, back in the woods, all by itself, nothing else around.. It was fairly well taken care of, had some weird markers in the ground, maybe someone can tell me what they are for or why they are there. We found some information on the cemetery on the internet but nothing about the wooden markers.
Once We reached Panama City, We had lunch at Dusty’s Oyster Bar. The food was good, and the place was pretty cool with dollar bills hanging everywhere! I had grilled crab claws which were delicious, but the butter they used was kind of weird.. it had good flavor but it was really thick, cold, and just.. weird lol. Our waitress was awesome and very aware of my moms lemon allergy and took every precaution to make sure she was safe. Eating in a seafood restaurant is tough with a lemon allergy!
After Dusty’s we discovered the Pier Park, with restaurants, shopping etc. so we walked through their and went in a couple of shops, my son found Marble Slab so we had to get some! We intended to go on the pier, but it costs $3.00 per person to go out on the pier and we weren’t going to be there long enough to make it worth wild. So, we went down to play on the beach for a little bit. The water was FREEZING, but it was so beautiful!
After Panama City, we headed back towards Tallahassee and stayed in a different area for the night so the next morning we could start out on 19 towards home.
We went through several small towns including Perry, Florida where we spotted some campaign signs for someone we used to know. More abandoned stuff too along the way!
We stopped in Cedar Key and had lunch at Carlins Steak House & Waterfront Pub The food was pretty good, the service was awful. Remember my moms lemon allergy? Ya, they put lemon on every single plate, including plates she was eating from despite us telling the waitress several times of her allergy.
We drove around this cute little beach town and took in the sites, saw beautiful Homes AND abandoned houses, and just took our time strolling through.
After Cedar Key it was 19 to Mount Dora where we FINALLY Spotted a Starbucks to grab coffee for the rest of the way home down 44 through Ocala!
We discovered something on this road trip, well.. we discovered a lot, but other than seeing things we had never seen, going places we had never been, and not really caring where we ended up.. we realized that every back road has a Zaxbys and a Dollar General. I guess everyone needs some fried chicken and junk eh?
The World Through Me 