The Emerald Coast

I’m just going to start right in and say that these are the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen! (sorry Tom and Amy in Bermuda-you get a close second!) We almost didn’t even come here. We’re only here to say “hi” to some friends we know from Ottertail Lake. And from here we’re headed back to Texas. But man am I happy to see this place in person!

We had originally wanted to go out to eat last night after we settled in to the state park, but we were all exhausted and huffy after a stressful setup. I’m especially happy for new days-aren’t you?! Anywho, we had lunch at Pompano Joe’s, a fun seafood joint on the beach-we wouldn’t have even seen the view last night! God works in mysterious ways! We all had amazing seafood and Andy had oysters for the first time. You guessed it, he loved them!

Afterwards, we went out to the smooth sugar sand beach with Gunner. He could just run free and he was so happy-that made all of us happy too! He didn’t care for the salt water but loved running and digging. Even dogs love to feel the sand between their toes!

For the rest of the afternoon, we hung out at our friends Peg and Clancy’s house where the boys could pick oranges and grapefruits right off the trees in their back yard. Peg had a great juicer so we had tons of fresh juice! We visited with another couple from OTL, Nancy and RC, and it was just a blast hanging out. We ate 2 more King Cakes and Andy and RC were declared Kings for the night!(and have to buy the cakes next year!)

The weather was in the 50’s but sunny today so it felt good in my jeans and sweatshirt. 70 degrees would be perfect but I don’t think that’s gonna happen for us. One thing I know for sure though, I’ll be looking at Destin and the surrounding area for my next tropical vacation destination!(MT)

I forgot to say that Woody became a Floridian Junior Park Ranger today. He now has a challenge to be a junior ranger at as many parks as he can this year. All involve doing some research, filling out a packet of questions about the park, and some have him taking an oath.