Vacationing on the Emerald Coast
October 9th we left the house at around 9:00 and loaded up the rental car to make our way to Florida. The car had 3 seats together all in the back for Keri, Justin, and I to sit in, where we very squished for the whole entire ride there and back. The car ride mainly consisted of dozing off for a bit then slowly bringing myself back to reality. We stopped at gas stations frequently for bathroom breaks and to get snacks, and we also had Taco Bell for lunch. On the road. names of cities whizzed by on those green interstate signs as we passed the borders of Tennessee, Alabama, and eventually Florida. My dad mainly listened to football games or rock stations on the Sirius radio in the car. Once we arrived in Fort Walton we checked into hotel and loaded all our luggage into the room... once we found it, of course. The parking we were supposed to use was blocked off and the map was very confusing, but we managed. The night was coming to a close, and for dinner we decided on one of my favorites as passed it on the side of the road- Mellow Mushroom! Granted, it did take a while since they forgot to make my pizza, but it was worth it. We scouted out the beach before the sun went down, and headed off to bed.
Most every morning except the last day my dad and I walked a couple miles on the beach and collected shells. Monday morning we checked out what was to the left of the hotel along the shoreline. The water was chilly at first; I was reluctant to walk near the waves. That didn't last long. The flip flops did not stay on once my feet made contact with the surprisingly cool sand. (As a side note: the shells were very small compared to the ones we had found at other beaches.) That first day consisted of driving to different shopping malls and just exploring the Destin/Fort Walto area. We went to this HUGE Bass Pro Shop, and ate lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise.
We made our way to the beach for the second time, now with the whole family! Here are some pictures from that time:
Dinner wasn't anything extravagant, just some leftovers as well as some stuff from Whataburger (which I had never had before!). It tastes like Sonic!
Tuesday was the morning we walked the furthest length we walked on the beach. While we were walking, I found a pocket knife with the initials "BDB" on it. My family that wasn't walking the beach also ended up paying like 50$ for a breakfast they thought was free but wasn't. Oops. Other than that, the next event was we went to the Gulfarium. The Gulfarium was basically a smaller and slightly lower quality SeaWorld with lots of marine and aquatic life exhibits both in and outside, only just a few steps away from our hotel! I loved getting to see all the animals and my favorite part was the dolphin show. This was the best picture I got during the show:
The show ended and we walked around a little bit more. Lines were long for food, and we had basically seen all there was to see, so we walked to a place called Angler's for lunch. The food was fine- the amount of waiting to get it and the check was not! Another chance to go to the beach came later, which is when we really tried to dig hole in the sand. That's our family tradition. We weren't very successful but we had a fun time doing it!
Wednesday we ventured out a bit from where we at and went to Panama City Beach with not many plans in mind. It was a little bit over an hour drive and we broke up the constant automobile motion by making a stop at Chick-Fil-A... YUM! We found Pier Park after a while of just driving around, and decided to give it a shot and look there. I bought a hat and shirt at Ron Jon's Surf Shop! There were numerous attractions, shops, and restaurants. It was really cool yet also pricey.
Our last dinner of the trip was at T.G.I. Friday's, which was delicious. The waiter even gave us some free ice cream! Keri and I ran out to the beach to take some last minute pictures before the sun completely set that night.
As we made our way back home, though, that's when things really start to get wild. We're driving down the road and this light comes on the car alerting us that one of the tires is low on air. Huh. Weird. We pull over, and add more air to it and keep going as far as we can until we come to a screeching halt as the tire's air decreases rapidly. We pull of to the side of the road while our dad calls the rental car company. In the meantime, a police officer comes to check on us and tells us we can either 1) move the car away from the road or 2) get it towed. The officer and another officer who showed up later ended up helping us put the spare on for us and escorted us to the nearest rental car place.
From there, we were told we would have to go down the street to get the faulty tire patched up to make the trip back home at some place that works with the rental car company. While my sister and dad handled that, we had a couple hours to kill. We walked to the Big Lots close by, along with ate at Taco Bell and walked to Wal-Mart until it was fixed. That took almost 3 hours. I was thankful to be back on the road, but the ride home felt like an eternity. The car parked in the driveway, and I plopped on the couch with no hesitation.
I had so much fun on the trip regardless, and I am so glad there's still another week left of break. It's nice to not be stressed all the time. The beach always has a relaxing, calming element that draws me back. It may have not been Orlando and Daytona Beach like we planned, but it was cool to experience new things.
Love always,
Allison
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