Steinhatchee, Old Hickory, and lots of signs

Since Matt and I can never go too long without seeing the water, we headed to the Gulf of Mexico again this past weekend.  This time, we headed North to Steinhatchee.  They say Key West is a fishing town with a drinking problem, but I'd say Steinhatchee is a fishing town, with a fishing problem.  Since they are on the Gulf and on the Steinhatchee River - there is no shortage of places to head out on the docks or to fish by boat.  You can even dine at the Hungry Howies without even really leaving your boat.  However, there is no real grocery store, movie theater, shopping, and they just recently got cell phone service.

For lunch we tried Roy's Retaurant - a Steinhatchee landmark right on the Gulf.   The views were fantastic.  We continued our exploration after lunch and drove along Riverside Drive.  We had one interesting experience and made some observations.  Steinhatchee has lots and lots of signs (see picture and this is just one example), lots of beautiful vacation homes, and some very delicious (according to Matt) smoked mullet and smoked shrimp dip at a tiny little business called Old Hickory on the main road in Steinhatachee.

I love that we continue to find real Old Florida places.  While I do enjoy my cell phone, the various Publix Super Markets within a few minutes of the house and the fact that we have a mall within five minutes  (admittedly, I've only been there once, although I have been to Ann Taylor Loft a number of times), I still love the charm these old cities provide.

Update: I've been told by people in the know (thank you, Dean!) - that next time we are Steinhatchee we'll have to check out Steinhatchee Landing Resort, a 35 acre community with vacation guest cottages and recreation aplenty.  They even take dogs, so maybe we can even look at taking Clark with us next time!