Ever drive all day and not leave the state? How bout driving from West Palm Beach to Pensacola. We are talking almost 10 hours of driving and the state does not change much until you are up in the panhandle. 
In April, I spent the weekend in Pensacola and found it much different than when I used to frequent it as a child. When living in Alabama, these beaches were my families play zone. Miles of long, white, sandy beaches with no condos or encumbrances, and remarkably, much has not changed.
Thanks to Hurricane Ivan, I think it was, most of this area was pounded pretty hard and a lot of the beach houses did not survive. Although they rebuilt many of them, it should be a matter of time before they get hit again. If you continue to drive east, it becomes a vast moon type landscape just white sand dunes and beach. Quite surreal but definately interesting.
Two great spots I hit while I was there was a pub named McGuires in the Seville Quarter, where there was over $500,000 worth of dollar bills hanging from the ceiling which patrons signed and stapled; of course I could not resist leaving one of my own. See if you can find it (look over the bar). They had an awesome smoked prime bone-in ribeye that was then blackened and served with horseradish that was pretty tasty and their homebrewed Irish red ale was also pretty good too.Another place I went was the Atlas Oyster House. Now I have heard of shrimp and grits, but have not ever had them until now, and man are they outrageous. I had to come home and recreate this dish, which I did with great success.
After that I was on my way back home with another 10 hour drive, but I have to admit that Florida is quite different from one side to the next. It has to be, but you have to get out there to see it...
