With oil bearing down on the remarkable white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle, we hopped a Southwest flight to the newly opened Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City Beach.

Two and a half hours after we left BWI, we pulled in to Seaside, Florida, a place many recognize as the location where The Truman Show was filmed.  In fact, Seaside is famous for another reason:  It is considered one of the best examples of New Urbanism anywhere in the world.  Time called it “the most astounding design achievement of its era and, one might hope, the most influential.”

An unspeakable tragedy is unfolding in slow-motion along the Gulf Coast, and if black tar washes up on Northwest Florida’s pristine white sand beaches, we will have done damage to a very special place.

There are more pictures of Seaside and Northwest Florida here.