subject: Eye 95 - A Guide To Roadside Attractions On I-95 - Part V - The Panhandle Of Florida [print this page] Because there is plenty to see along the interstate if you just keep your eyes open.
As the trees wiz by, going seventy-five miles an hour on the interstate, do we ever stop to think, what is on the other side of those trees? What is down those roads behind the exit signs? Well, the phenomena of roadside attractions have been around since roads, perhaps even since cart paths. So, it is no surprise that the bigger the road - the bigger the attractions and if not bigger, the more abundant.
On the east coast, I-95 is the big daddy of highways, but who would have known that there was so much to see off of I-95's beaten path. Come along with me as I lead you down the road less traveled with some of the coolest, silliest and just plain strangest sites that there are to see when you just make a right turn onto a few of the exits of 95 in the Panhandle of Florida.
The Panhandle is mostly rural communities with more southern hospitality than freaky hotspots, but two cities along Highway 10, on the coast, are pretty eccentric. So here is a guide to those two cities - make it fun - create your own scavenger hunt or if your going to be in one of these towns, just plot your path to catch a quick peek of each of these pieces of awkward Americana.
Panama City
Just outside of Panama is the little town of Chipley, where a monument stands to commemorate a bleak time in the town's history - a time during the great depression when the whole town survived off of eating Opossum. There is a bronze plaque, there is a sense of survival and it has been said that whenever an Opossum is hit by a car, they face the direction of Chipley before they die.
Down in the heart of Panama City Beach stands a ship on the land. A restaurant made into a 200 foot replica of Sir Francis Drake's Spanish Galleon, The Golden Hind. Patrons to this stately pirate ode are encouraged to slur their speech and talk in pirate slang.
King Neptune is for sale, off of Hwy 98, there is a statue that was originally a Viking but transformed into the Emperor of the sea. Towering at three stories, this concrete monstrosity's owners have moved out and left him alone and for sale. Perfect for any garden or lawn, and your neighbors will love him.
Pensacola
Right outside of Pensacola is Gulf Breeze, the home of Shoreline Park and the UFO Mecca of the world. Bring a beach chair, some binoculars and mingle with the locals - they will clue you in on the countless sightings of strange phenomena from aliens in the woods to portals of time to men without faces. Bring a cooler and make it a night out - literally.
Pensacola also has sites of valid national history. The scaled-down Vietnam Wall Memorial and Park have everything that the Washington site has with bonuses. Beautiful grounds host the wall that list all 58,217 names of the fallen and missing soldiers in Southeast Asia. There is also an actual helicopter used in Vietnam. Stroll the park and check out the other monuments to WWII and Korean War Veterans.
Also in Pensacola is the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Here is everything and anything related to Naval Aviation. An indoor Aircraft Carrier, a replica of a WWII pacific island airbase, an IMAX exhibit that allows you to dogfight and dive bomb, a replica of "The Fatboy" nuclear bomb, a gallery of cockpits where you can sit in a dozen different hot-bird seats. Perhaps the most impressive exhibit is the actual NC-4 which was the first plane to succeed in a transatlantic flight in 1919. There is a day's worth of fun here - so get out of the Florida Sun and enjoy a part of history that is actually exciting.
