The Emerald Coast

Some people call it the Panhandle, others Alabama South and some The Redneck Riviera. The Emerald Coast is the most apprapos. One of our goals on our trip was to find places we wanted to go back to during the cold winter months of New England. Destin was one of those places so we made it our first month long stay. Yes, we were in St Pete for the month of January but those were under very different circumstances. We went to St Pete out of love...we went to Destin cause we loved it! The first and this, the second time.

Our Rv Park was called Destin West RV Resort and it was excellent. It was right on the Bay and across the street was the Gulf of Mexico. The RV Park had an affiliation with a resort across the street on the Gulf side. So, we were able to hang there too if we wanted. We only popped over there a couple times since our RV Park was so pretty, so private, and had such a great patio space and pad for our Coach it wasn't necessary to hang there. We never took out our carpet. One less thing to put away. Let's get into that a little bit more now.

First, let's point out the subtle differences we experienced staying for a month as opposed to a few days like we did the first time we stayed in Destin.

One, you get a better rate when you stay for an entire month. Second, you can take out all your patio furniture, grill, fire pit, prep table and leave them out all month long (except when it rains Brad packs things away) without having to pack it all back up in two or five days. As opposed to short term stays you take out your outdoor stuff only when you're going to use it. Three, you get to hang out longer with newly met fellow RVers. It gives you more opportunity to hone a new friendship cause you have more time to do so. Four, you have time to fix stuff.

We met a couple of great guys who helped Brad fix two major pieces of non-working RV equipment. We fixed our electric awning and Brad rebuilt our Vacuflush pump for our toilet system. Yep, the $hit hit the fan...again! Our toilet was out of use for two-three days. No $hit! Sorry, we couldn't avoid a little poo-poo and doo-doo humor. We were smart enough to have kept our port-a-potty when this happened one other time before. Plus, the bathroom facilities were only 150 feet from our RV spot. Yes, good forecasting, and we also got lucky at the same time. Poop-Dee-Do!

We were fortunate to time our visit with our dear friend Ron Clukey from Ct. He and three of his lovely friends were double dating in their RV's forty-five minutes away in Milton, Florida. It was awesome hanging with them for the day! We also met some wonderful new friends too. A fellow Philadelphia Eagles fan from Lancaster, Pa who helped Brad fix both the awning and toilet system ( his name is Mike and his wonderful wife Kathy) and from Wilton and Norwalk, Ct; ( believe it or not), the super-nice Brian Andronaco who led the charge on fixing the awning. Both repairs took 5 hours each but they came to a wonderful conclusions. They were fixed!

Destin has to be the most underrated town in all of Florida. Their beaches are sprawling and the sand is crystal white. It covers miles and miles of beachfront and the water on the Gulf side is almost as blue as the Caribbean. It truly is not only a splendid part of Florida but of America...a hidden jewel.

Here's a quick pictorial of the beaches we hit during our stay. First up was across the street at The Beach at the Island Hotel we mentioned earlier.

Beasley Park turned into our most frequented beach spot and was conveniently close by so we hit it a couple of times.

When we went to the town of Seaside we lounged at Grayton Beach. It was kind of empty.

Since it was in the lower 70's most everyday we took a handful of cool bike rides. Henderson State Park was the campground we stayed in the last time we were here. It was one of our top ten rv parks...and we've been to almost 120 of them. We went back with our bikes and it was so beautiful there we took our beach chairs out of the backseat and hung at the beach. We keep our beach chairs there all the time for such an occasion.

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park was an eventful visit. We took a cool bike ride through the dunes while there.

Okaloosa Area of the Gulf Island National Seashore was a short bike ride from our RV Park. It was on the same bayside as our RV park. It being on the bayside was different than the gulfside. Smaller dunes and managed by the national park system. Which brings us to the granddaddy of our bike rides. The Fort Pickens and Santa Rosa Areas of the Gulf Island National Seashore in Pensacola. The car drive to Pensacola was about 45 minutes from Destin. We stopped for a bayside lunch at Shaggy's, drove our car to Fort Pickens and then took a battery tested e-bike ride from Santa Rosa to Navarre Beach. It was a 20 mile roundtrip bike ride and we were against the wind on the ride back. Luckily, our batteries lasted just long enough to get us back safely.

On our home we passed this bar/restaurant (pics above) that must have had 200 cars in the parking lot and along the road. Kathy wanted to stop and that was a good call. Joanna's Pogodas was rated "one the ten best beach bars" in Florida. We stopped for a beer. The bar was on the water, had a sand floor, and, kids were playing volleyball on six different courts. A dude was playing live music and it was cool. Lots of action going on there.

We cook most of our meals and go out 3-4 times a week. We hit a few places for happy hour while there for the month. The couple weeks before the Super Bowl we shopped for a place to watch the game. We finally decided on a spot but since Brad's Mom passed the Friday before he decided he wanted to watch back at the RV instead.

The restaurants were okay but nothing great. Although we do have two other eventful happenings that are worth mentioning. Destin is only 3.5 hours from New Orleans so they had a pretty awesome Mardi Gras celebration down at the Harborwalk Village. After driving around for fifteen minutes looking for a parking space, we planted ourselves in front of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for the parade. They were chucking beads to the crowd from the parade floor. Brad snagged a few for Kathy. The energy was off the charts there and the entire Harborwalk was packed. After the parade we walked the pier and stopped at a couple watering holes to take in a couple libations. It was fun!

Lastly, we want to mention a short bike ride we took to Veterans Park that honored "Women Who Served". It was awesome! Throughout the park they had bronze statues featuring women who served from the Civil War through the Afghanistan War. And, with every detail put into the artistry of these amazing statues commemorating these unbelievable women was their story of heroism, gallantry and patriotism that was just earth-shaking. It was so compelling, Brad read everyone of the tributes and didn't take one picture. It was that moving. We went back another time to feed the turtles.

Since we're mentioning amazing women, we want to close by commemorating the passing of Brad's Mom and Kathy's wonderful Mother-In-Law Florence Axelrod. She passed on Friday February 10th while we were in Destin. Kathy drove the 8-9 hours up and back each way to St. Petersburg where we picked up and dropped off our daughter Chelsie at the airport. That night we met Brad's sister Marci and brother-in-law J. Flo/Gam/Mom/Florence was buried with her husband at the Sarasota Military Cemetary and we had services for her there on the Tuesday following her death. The same Rabbi that married us conducted the ceremony. It was personal and heartfelt. Brad's sister Donna and her family made it too. Along with Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy and twenty, twenty-five additional family members and friends celebrating her.

Brad's sister Marci was his Mom's primary caretaker and earth Angel. Between Gam, Kathy and all the wonderful and amazing women in our lives we are thankful to have had the love of his Mom for all these years. This blog is dedicated to Florence Axelrod and all the supportive, loving, caring women in our lives. We are truly blessed! We are truly grateful!

With Love, Kathy and Brad