Sand In Our Shoes

No, it isn't snow, it is powdered sugar sand on the Emerald Coast of the Florida panhandle.

We feel like we are finally on "the trip" as we have been running away from bad weather for the past week. We left Pensacola, the home of the Blue Angels, and drove Hwy. 98 along the Gulf coast, enjoying the blue sky and emerald green water.

We stopped in Destin, FL, a place we would highly recommend for a Florida beach vacation. The beaches are beautiful and the resorts are fabulous. We ate at a darling beach bar, named "The Back Porch" that Mel wanted to move into and be a beach bum. They had great seafood and ambience. The photo is of the beach outside of the restaurant.

We continued our journey by dipping down to Hwy. 30A to see the stunning villages of Watercolor, Sea Grove and Seaside. Don't you love the names? The architecture was so unique. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get photos because we didn't stop along the way. What we didn't realize was that we were on top of Panama City Beach, our destination, and we would have been able to stop along the way. We need a better map!

So we are camped at Raccoon River Campgrounds, nestled among the Florida pines. The campsite is a children's paradise with a treehouse, heated pools, playgrounds and even a Indiana Jones-like planked bridge across the Raccoon River.

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is on ABC so I will sign off for now.