STRANGE PLACES IN THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE

The Panhandle is the part of the state that does not act like Florida. It runs on Central time at the western end, the trees are different, the accent is southern rather than transplanted, and the register's entries here reflect that.

Five of them, three free and the other two a few dollars a vehicle, and all a long way from each other. This is a driving region: two hours between stops is normal and the distances catch out people who have only ever done the peninsula. The compensation is that you will not queue for anything.

What is here is the only public cave system in the state, a spring that runs a river out of it, a monument erected in complete sincerity to the possum, and the lowest state high point in the United States, which takes about four minutes to visit and is worth the detour precisely because of that.

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