The state of Florida is one big coastline, and every inch of it is designated with a name describing the special features or geography of the area.

On the east coast of the state there’s the First Coast in the northeast, the Space Coast in the central region, the Treasure Coast just below the Space Coast and the Gold Coast starting in Palm Beach. On the west coast there’s the Forgotten Coast near Apalachicola at the beginning of the panhandle, the Nature Coast in the northwest, the Sun Coast where we live and the Cultural Coast assigned to Sarasota. There are a few lesser known regions I haven’t mentioned and, of course, the Florida Keys, but the one I want to talk about today is the Emerald Coast.

I recently took a trip to the Florida Panhandle exploring the area from Rosemary Beach in the east to Fort Walton Beach further west, approximately 50 miles. This 100 miles of coastline has been designated the Emerald Coast because of the emerald green color of the northern Gulf of Mexico along the coastal beaches. In a less politically correct time, the Emerald Cost was called the Redneck Riviera, but trust me there is absolutely nothing redneck about it today.

If you’re driving along the main road route 98 running east and west through the area, you would have no idea there are magnificent beaches a quarter mile away. There are new housing communities and lovely shopping areas and restaurants, but no hint of a beach. If you drop down to scenic route 30-A,you start to get a taste of the beach, but it’s pretty hard to see between the multi-million dollar homes and condos.

I was especially interested to see the master planned communities of WaterColor, Seaside and Rosemary Beach, all built about 25 years ago. These communities are beachfront with single family homes, condos, retail shops and restaurants, a totally integrated and stand alone town. Again, although everything is beautifully maintained and the beach is magnificent, I couldn’t help feeling like one of the Stepford Wives was going to answer the door. In fact a movie was filmed in Seaside, “The Truman Show,” which you might remember has the main character living his life on what was essentially a TV set . Get the picture?

Bradenton is going to be facing its own master-planned community not too many years down the road called Lake Flores. We haven’t head much about it recently unless you happen to notice the signs along Cortez Road and down 75 Street. This 1,300 acres of farmland is being developed as a mixed use community with 6,500 homes and 278 million square feet of commercial space plus two hotels, all incorporated into what will really be a brand new town within a town. The jury is still out as to how this will impact traffic, especially going out to the Island over our already ancient bridges.

I don’t mean to be too hard on the Emerald Coast. There are plenty of people who would never agree with me. There are still some cottages left near the water that looks a little like Anna Maria, but they are few and far between and I’m sure won’t last too long. As I said the Gulf beach is beautiful and the sand like powder. The problem is you have no clue it’s there until you’re on it.

I’ll take the Sun Coast and some of the less planned areas of Anna Maria Island, Cortez and the barrier islands south of us. I think I like my beach communities a little gritty. I want to see the water while driving along Gulf Drive and like getting my reality check every time I drive by Annie’s in Cortez, but that’s just me.