Fort Walton Beach Area

Thursday - April 26

We left St Andrews State Park around noon and took 98 along the coast.  What a beautiful drive.  We passed Rosemary Beach, Sea Side and Miramar Beach.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the scenic drive.  Not sure what happened, if I  erased them in error or the camera was having a moment (which it has been doing). 

To get to Fred Gannon State Park, we took the “Danny Wuerffel Memorial Parkway (Proud Gator Moment).

As you come across the Mid-Way Bridge, there is the Wyland Wall #88, which covers 5 acres. The mural is done by the world famous artist  Robert Wyland who has done over 100 mammal murals across the world.

On this one he added a little something extra to the roof.

We got to Gulf Shores about 2:00 and hooked up. More on this awesome park that after we have had time to check everything out.

Friday - April 27

I booked this trip in January and as it turns out, Delaney now lives in Ft Walton, which is only about 20 minutes away.  We went to see her new house and then to breakfast at a great little place she found.

Although my order caused us to have to wait a while, it was worth it.  The best Eggs Benedict I have ever had and that is what I always order if it is on the menu.  We took Delaney back home, so she could get to a hair appointment. She is getting ready for John to return on Sunday from deployment.

Next stop, of course, was the Harley Dealer in Fort Walton and more shirts.

After that we took a ride to Fort Walton Beach and followed 399 to Pensacola Beach. Our first stop was Navarre Beach.  

Unfortunately, I didn't get the best picture coming across the bridge.I am now the pilot when we are in the car and the navigator is not always in the “ready position” for photo ops.  But on one side of the bridge is in undisturbed shore and the other development.  

The road dead ends into a parking lot in front of the beach with walkways out. That is the dividing line between the two areas, pristine beach is on one sid.

And condo/hotel row on the other.

We  finished up by going through Santa Rosa Island.

  This route included 7 miles through the Gulf Island National Sea Shore.  So very pretty.

 We ended our coastal ride at Pensacola Beach.

 We then turned and took scenic highway 90 back to the campground for the evening.

 We saw some beautiful country today

Saturday - April 28

We  spent the day in Destin.  What a cute place that is!  There is still a lot of old Florida here.

Our first stop was at Boathouse Oyster House. 

 I had heard about it on some show on the Travel Channel and it was very neat. We chose to sit in a little bar overlooking the bay.  
 

Not much on the day menu (there was a great dinner menu) so I just had a beer and Big Bob had monster size oysters (from Louisiana). He said they were very good.
 

We drove around for a little while, across the Destin Bridge and was surprised by what we saw from the bridge - a party island!  Its name is Crab Island and was thought to originally be part of the peninsula that broke off during a hurricane.  It looked like a hoot.


 

We continued through Okaloosa Island, part of the Gulf Island Natural Sea Shore.  Love the dunes!

Next, we went the Fishing Museum.  What a classy job they did with this place.  Lots of fish mounts from only fish that had been caught in Destin, as well as the history of the Fishing Rodeo held for the last 48 years (longest continuous fishing tournament).  

The old Post Office is on property there, having been moved to that location and was interesting to see the old structure.

I talked to the curator of the Museum about where to eat and she recommended Dewey Destin's Seafood Restaurant Harborside. There are two, but we went to the original restaurant.  It sits at the edge of the water with tables on their piers. 



 You place your order in the old house, they cook it up in a trailer behind the house.

You find a table and they bring the food out to you, while you enjoy the view of the water that overlooks Crab Island.
 
 

As we were leaving, we heard a lot of noise and looked up to see a momma Heron feeding her baby in the nest in the tree.  You have to look carefully to see the baby, but he is there.  He was as noisy as momma.

Destin is a place to put on our list to return to another time. Not enough this time to see and enjoy it all.

Sunday - April 29

Today it was another ride down the coast – this time into Pensacola to the Harley Store.  More shirts!  

We spend quite a bit of time there and then we came back to Niceville and spent some time at American Legion Post 229.

Our timing was perfect - it was pot luck Sunday. Again, another wonderful experience with friendly veterans.  

We had to go to Publix and pick up a few things and then back to the campground to get ready to pull out tomorrow.

 Next Destination:  Gulf State Park in Alabama