Sunset at the pier

I was so focused on posting the last blog about our relaxing day that I forgot about going to the pier for sunset!  But then, the pier has been such a major factor of our time here, I think it is only right for sunset at the pier to have its very own post!

Unfortunately, the sunsets towards the end of our trip were not as spectacular as at the beginning.  But, in this setting, they are all amazing!

Here are the photos I took on our last evening visit to the pier.

Had to post at least one surfer photo!

Sea Turtle sightings were fantastic this year.
Maybe only one a day, but I feel lucky to
see one a trip!

First padlock I have seen on the pier.
It will be interesting to see how
many more there will be the
next time we are over!

Harbour Walk in the glow of sunset

Another first!
The first time I have seen anyone use the
beach volleyball nets!

 

To me the sea is a continual miracle; The fishes that swim–the rocks–the motion of the waves–the ships, with men in them, What stranger miracles are there? 
Walt Whitman

our first attempt at relaxing and doing nothing!

After so many days of visiting people and being here there and everywhere, Alan and I decided to try doing virtually nothing, with no plans and no need to look at our watches or meet any deadlines.  I feel we did fairly well.  The first thing we had to do in order to accomplish this was to change our plans for Monday!

We intended to take a dolphin cruise and then drop in at our friends, John and Louanne's house.  But we didn't do this!  Sadly, it meant we will have to wait until our next trip to this area to be able to visit the famous balcony where John posts his "beach reports".   But I hope they understood we just needed some only us time.

Looking across the Bay, there is Harbour Walk, Destin!

Monday we went under Brooks Bridge on the Fort Walton Beach side.  The sunrise was gorgeous and it is such a positive way to use the fact that we continue to waken up too early.  I guess you could say we are still a bit on Scottish time!

What can I say about how beautiful this is?

After sunrise,  it was too early to start shopping but we also needed to find the recycling place for all our bottles, cans and paper collected during our stay.  After so many years of serious recycling in Scotland, we just could not force ourselves to simply put them in the trash.  It was difficult to find these bins and no one we asked knew where they would be either. So we had to resort to going to McDonalds for a second breakfast just to use their internet!  Turned out, the place we were looking for was in the Landing Park, virtually next to where we were staying!

Once we did our "civic duty" we took a long time to just smell the roses. Well, no roses were near this park, but we sat on a bench on a dock and watched the water roll by, along with various types of boats and the people in them.  It was wonderful.  Why didn't we do this more often?  Why wait til almost the last day to find this peace?  Story of our lives, but maybe when I read this before returning to Fort Walton, I will remember and we will start as we mean to continue! Here are a few photos from then:

Looked like he just rowed in for a paper and a coffee!

A different view of Steamboat Landing from the Landing!
The white buildings...

Did I mention watching the dogs too?
They were having so much fun!

After this peaceful start to the day, we headed off the Silver Sands Premium Outlets. We have been so busy this trip we have not really shopped at all.  Not like us but we have been too busy having fun and catching up with friends so compressed shopping time is a small price to pay!

Loaded Potato Skins

Since shopping is serious business, we had to have an unexpected lunch break at Cheeseburger in Paradise, another of Jimmy Buffet's restaurants, or at least it used to be.  According to our server, he sold the chain a while ago, but it still feels authentically Jimmy Buffet and the menu is fabulous!  One of our favourite places (again). This is beginning to feel like a Buffet family tribute eating tour!  We didn't mean to fill ourselves up and only ordered an appetiser called Loaded Potato Chips. These were really fantastic potato chips (or crisps if you are British - similar to Kettle Crisps), with sour cream, green onions, tomatoes, melted cheese and chopped bacon.  Thank goodness we split an order because it filled us up so much, we could not eat any more for dinner later!

On the way back to Steamboat, we stopped at the harbour and had great timing!  Some charter fishing boats had arrived and it was really interesting to see the fish they brought in!

4 Amberjack and 1 Barracuda

Then it was time to stop at Margaritaville to refresh ourselves with a non-alcoholic daiquiri sitting  at our "local" on our regular seats and watching the boat traffic again.  Such a peaceful and beautiful place to recharge our batteries.

"On the beach, you can live in bliss."

 Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys

Morgan's Birthday - Day 3!

Pelicans at Destin Harbour

As usual for Alan and me, the day started with a walk on the pier.  There wasn't much activity on the pier this morning so we didn't spend much time there.

Morgan taking a picture of one on the pier herons.

On the way to Harbour Walk in Destin, we stopped on the Okaloosa Island side of the bridge. This is a lovely place to sunbathe or relax.  A quiet beach right before you get to the busy holiday destination of Destin!

Looking out from this beach and under the bridge, you can get a different view of Crab Island.  Whether you see it while crossing the bridge or looking under the bridge, the impression this place gives is just fun!  There are almost always people there, either in boats or appearing to stand in the water.  At one time, Crab Island was a real island, but drifting sands caused this to essentially disappear and it is now an underwater sandbar.  Adults can stand in water about shoulder height.

It is odd to see the little shops, bars, and even a soft play area for kids. These appear to be permanent structures, but are basically floating on top of the sandbar.  I imagine they are anchored somehow.

I have never had the pleasure of going to Crab Island since I don't know anyone who owns a boat there and would be hesitant to rent one!  But it is fun to see all the activity whenever I cross the bridge from Okaloosa Island to Destin.

Then is was down to Harbour Walk in Destin to have a look at the charter boats and shops there.

This is such a different Florida feel but it is just as valid as the Scenic Highway we did yesterday.  Something for everyone in this area!

Just having fun!

Sitting at what was to become our regular seats on
the corner of the Landshark Lookout,
third floor balcony of Margaritaville! 

Before going back to Steamboat Landing, we stopped at Margaritaville and had a drink on the Landshark Lookout. What a fabulous place to sit and watch the boat traffic - and there was a lot of that!

I think a person could really sit there all day!  In fact, on our last night, Alan and I went back there twice in the days after Morgan left!  She introduced me to non-alcoholic daiquiris!  Since I love the taste and don't care about the alcohol, this was the perfect thing to sit and drink at the Lookout!  Thanks, Morgan!

Then it was time to bid farewell to Morgan.  It was nice to have her back for a while and I hope she enjoyed her visit as much as we did.

Crab Island on the other side of the bridge

However, the fun does not stop when one person leaves.......we had plans to meet one of my sorority sisters for dinner!  I had not seen her since I graduated from FSU in 1976!  Joni has only recently moved to the area and it was very lucky that we could get together and catch up with so many years!  I hope both our husbands did not feel too left out!

Joni had very kindly offered us a place to stay our first night since we would not be able to check into Steamboat until Friday.  However, with the chaos of getting stuck in Texas this did not happen.  We were very grateful for the offer and also the various phone calls she made when we needed to contact people then.

Joni, Brent and me after dinner

We decided to try again to get together and our original plans were to meet at the Hightide Restaurant, which we could walk to from Steamboat Landing.  Of course, it is over Brooks Bridge and at 5pm this was still a very hot part of the day. So you can imagine how my heart sank when we realised it was not open on Sundays!  This disappointment did not last long though, Joni and Brent drove up and we went to Harbour Docks in Destin instead!  Alan and I had never eaten there before and it is always fun to go to new places!  Not only was the food delicious, the company was fabulous too.  And then I was able to invite them over to our place for birthday cake!

Another perfect day in the land of the most beautiful beaches.  Does it get any better than this?




"Don’t grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach." Michelle Held

Morgan's birthday - day 2!

At LuLu's Destin

When Morgan informed us she was bringing a camera for the weekend with us, I felt we had to do something special.  It didn't take much time until I decided we would do Florida's Scenic Highway 30a.  This is one of my favourite parts of Florida and, if I had my way, I would love for all of the Northwest Panhandle area to look like this and not be so built up and over developed!

But first, the daily visit to Okaloosa Pier!  This is the first time I have been fortunate enough to see a Sea Turtle almost every time we have visited the pier!  I don't think it is the same one either since sometimes there are marks on their faces through fishing accidents or other things.

I love how the dolphins swim on their backs to try
to catch fish off the fishing lines!  I do believe
they are playing a game!

Then we went directly to Highway 30a and were able to show off this gorgeous part of Florida to a Florida girl who had never been to this sort of beach resort. The houses are all different, soft colours and the beaches are that stunning white with shades of blue and turquoise water.

My favourite town is Grayton Beach, and it is one of my earliest memories of being in Florida.  When I was 5 years old, we visited my Aunt and Uncle who were based at Eglin AFB.  They took us to this empty and beautiful beach.  In my 5 year old memory, there was one house that looked like the beach was slowly taking it over.   However, whenever I visit Grayton Beach, it still does not look like there are many houses there!  When you look closely, there are quite a few small houses and some tastefully done modern and larger houses that obviously cater to tourists. The beach is a huge expanse of empty, white sand and is very inviting.  However, the sun was so bright when we were there, I could not get a decent photo!

Coastal Lake at Grayton Beach

Although I had heard of coastal dune lakes, I really didn't understand the concept until two women appeared after apparently having lunch in Grayton Beach.  I had noticed the two kayaks sitting at the lake's edge and when they came to begin their return to Grayton Beach State Park, they explained how these lakes actually are fresh water, but are located within feet of the Gulf of Mexico, separated by a natural "berm" of sand.  This might be only a few feet wide. These berms can be breached during times of bad weather or other conditions and the fresh water will flow into the Gulf, while salt water takes the place of the fresh water.  This happens periodically and the water will then remain brackish until the natural process of filling the lake with fresh water, mainly by springs, will return the lake to its original make up.

Looking back at my photos, I noticed I had never gone to the shore and even looked at the berm, to get an idea just what is separating the Gulf from this lake!  But I will be back here again and will make a point to do that then.   If you look at the top of the photo with the kayaks, that would be the berm.  But like I said, I never thought to have a look up there...

There is a lovely gift shop in Grayton Beach, there are probably many others, but this is the only one I have been too and I would not miss a chance to visit it anytime I was nearby.  It is called the Zoo Gallery.  In finding the link, I learned that there is also one in Destin!

Door to the Red Bar 

We stopped by the the Red Bar.  Lucky for us, we needed a snack and it was the perfect place to sit down, cool off and share some loaded pizza bread before heading off to Eden Gardens State Park!

Selfie in the Red Bar

I wonder why they cal it the
Red Bar?

This is another special place with a gorgeous antebellum looking mansion.  The legend behind this is that it was built after the Civil War to replicate a mansion that the owner had sheltered in while travelling home when the war ended.  All of us had difficulty getting decent shots of the house because first there was a couple having their engagement portraits taken, and then there was an outdoor wedding.

Personally, I don't see how they can cope with being outdoor for extended periods of time like that.  But folks from this area must be used to this.  The reception dinner tables were already set and waiting for the guests, yes, this was outside too!  But before that, the entire wedding group had to have photos taken in front of the house.  Patience is a virtue when you are toting a camera around!

Our next destination was a new restaurant in Destin that my friend, John, had told us about when we saw him earlier in the week.  It is the second restaurant opened by Jimmy Buffet's sister and is called LuLu's.  This restaurant opened in June and the original one is in Gulf Shores, so I decided this would be a great place to take Morgan for her belated by 24 hours birthday dinner!

This was a fabulous and colourful restaurant.  I even hesitate to use the term restaurant to describe it. The building is so colourful and feels as if there are no walls.  As you look over the rooms, you are looking directly at water and white sand.  There are loads of activities for kids to do so they would never get bored.  There is also a boat shuttle, so if you pass by on your boat and decide you are hungry or need a drink, it will come out to get you.  Oh, and the food was tremendous!  Alan got Crazy Sista Burger and has raved about the grilled onions ever since.  Morgan and I shared a shrimp salad and a fried shrimp basket. It was the perfect mix for dinner and we enjoyed every bite.  I also had my first ever Fried Green Tomatoes and they are as delicious as I have always been told they are!

So ended the second day of celebrating Morgan's 20th birthday!  So glad she came up for this weekend causing me to think of different things instead of the same old stuff Alan and I always do.

"At 20 if you have not figured out what to do with the rest of your life, you’re on the right track! Enjoy!"

taken from - wishes.listofbest.info