Day 182 Niceville

Conditions are a lot better here in Niceville today. The sun is bright and the winds are calmer; however, the "feels like temperature" is 28 degrees and the bay has white caps so here we stay till tomorrow. Got the courtesy car and turned to the north to see what there was to see and that was the township of Niceville, which was originally called Boggy in the early 1800's because it was "bogged up with business". There were salt works, lumber mills and turpentine stills on Boggy Bayou. This section of the country was split during the Civil War with some families having soldiers serving on both sides. In 1910, the fair ladies of the city took a boat tour of all the surrounding locations and one of the prominent citizens decided that "Boggy" gave outsiders the wrong impression of their city. The article about the boating event kept referring to this area as "nice" this and "nice" that. Not a very articulate journalist; however, the word stuck and by 1911, the town was renamed Niceville. What we discovered was that there isn't a whole lot any more in Niceville. It has the obligatory Walmart, CVS, pawn shop, bar-b-que, school, and that's about it. Returned to the marina to have a light supper devouring some gumbo and shrimp bisque from the marina cafe. Back at the boat, we had some hot chocolate and called it a day. Geez, it's only 6 o'clock but it's so cold and dark, we feel like it's time to go to bed. I hate winter. But not a bad idea since tomorrow we get up early so we can hook up with Serenity and head for Panama City Marina.