Surreal North West Florida

Arrived after 8hr car drive from Orlando into north-west Florida - just west of Panama City Beach. We hired a beach bungalow - a condo with all the amenities and a private beach which we share with 10 other apartments. The place has a pool and comes with its' own private gated entrance - tres posh.
The area is basically a summer destination for middle class southerners from Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia. It's on a stretch of beach called South Walton and in the last decade various "communities" have spring up. These communities are private members clubs where you get to have your own little place in manufactured paradise. Their straight out of New England design school - 3 story wooden, pastel coloured, white picket fences, etc. The uniform of choice is Ralph polo shirts and ironed pleated shorts. All the "staff" drive around in golf buggies and I think would be shot if they didn't greet you with a "Howdy, have a nice day".
One of them, Seaside (next to Seacrest, which is next to Seagulf) was were the Trueman Show was filmed - in fact, you get the distinct impression the camera's are still here. You could play pool on the grass verges.
A couple more impressions. The Gulf waters are immaculate, indeed some of the best we've swam in. Warm, crystal blue, long stretches of golden sands. Down side is the sharks, but they hardly ever attack. The temps here are in the high 30s and of course this time of year the afternoons can see some deep depressions which have resulted in some magical electrical storms. Another thing here is the redneck fascination for pick up trucks - the larger the better. Even Hummers (huge in the UK) are small by comparison. Single person, family of 4, disabled - doesn't matter - get yourself a truck!
The boy's have been swimming all day and even Oscar has now taken to self-dependence in the water. Both of them have also developed a nice tan (we thought factor 50 meant they would stay English looking).
American food establishments are causing us problems. Menu's rarely describe accurately the ingredients and portion sizes are massive - lots of waste. Saying that, we're gradually adopting Southern fondness for ribs, corn on the cob, waffles and squirrels (!!!). Supermarket shopping is great - all the manufactured food is cheap and all the fresh stuff is expensive. Meat has minimum 10 days life and they even get salads to last 12 days. Loads of great beers (added tequila and lime) and smoothies are a thing of art over here.
Met some lovely families from Nashville and have explored the world of politics and religion. Baptist, right wingers...don't mention the dinosaurs!
Had July 4th here. Marie and the boys' caught the parade at 8am (I was trying to park the car) and they all got sweets and beads (don't know why). The the fireworks at night were along with the formal displays everyone turned up on the beaches with their ammunition. Oscar heard one bang and then went back home whilst Seba and I stayed for the duration. Great experience.
Communication, strangely, has been a problem here. All internet cafe's are merely wireless and unless you have a laptop you're stuffed. Public payphones are a thing of the past so we bought a throw-away mobile. This was needed as quite a few of the smaller hotels we're trying to stay at have no on-line booking facility - heathens! Also, getting from a-to-b via airlines is a pain. For example, the cheapest way from Houston to San Diego is 2 stops which is then almost and all day session on the planes.
All-in-all, we love this part of Florida. Very quiet, full of southern families, quirky, great food, superb beaches and a great place for the boys' to chill out.
Tomorrow we drive through Alabama, into Missisippi and then onto Louisiana were we're going to stay in Cajun country. We're heading for some swamp tours and then we then head onto Texas to stay in Houston (rodeo's, etc) and then fly to San Diego.