March 4 – 7, 2015

Our drive to Destin along  the coastal Hwy 98 was rather interesting as for a lot of the drive, it looked like we were surrounded by snow. In reality it was all sand but when you see the pictures below you will see what I mean. We much prefer the sand! It had also been very misty for several days and that day was no exception which just added to the illusion.

We arrived in Destin  in the late morning and found a spot to park in the downtown area close to HarborWalk Village which is located right at the foot of the Destin Bridge so it was the first thing we saw as we entered Destin. We took Jazz out for a stroll along the boardwalk. It was a beautiful sunny  and warm day and it was really nice strolling along the water.
HarborWalk Village offers adventures for all to enjoy.   You can book tours there for fishing and dolphin cruises. They have water sport rentals, shopping, nightlife, weekly fireworks, seasonal festivals, live entertainment, and an array of restaurants including  Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville!!  Now you know the real reason we went there!!

Once Jazz had enough exercise, we took her back to the RV and Rob and I went to Margaritaville for lunch of course. (See pics) We had a fun lunch and enjoyed seeing this Margaritaville. For those who have never been to any Margaritavilles , each one is different so it is interesting to compare them to others. I liked this one in Destin.

After lunch, we returned to the RV and headed to our next RV Park which was located in the east end of Destin actually in an area called Miramar Beach. We found Destin to be very big and VERY commercial. Every store and restaurant chain imaginable can be found there.  Miramar Beach was a little less commercial  but we determined this really wasn’t the kind of place we enjoy. We prefer smaller towns with some personality

When we woke up Thursday morning it was very humid and was already 75 degrees. Rob went out for a nice bike ride at about 7:45 am and he checked out the area and found where the Outlet Mall was located. We had read that the largest Outlet Mall in Florida  was only 1 mile away from our park and sure enough, it was.  After Rob returned to the RV and we had breakfast the 3 of us set off for a walk along the beach. The beach was beautiful white soft sand just as it had been in Pensacola Beach. Unfortunately, our walk was cut short as it began to rain and by the time we got back to the RV it was raining very hard so all 3 of us were soaked. At least Rob and I could put on dry clothes but poor Jazz was not as lucky. She was damp for a good part of the day as with all the humidity, things did not dry quickly. The rain continued pretty well the entire day and the temperature began to drop drastically. At one point in the morning it was up to 79 degrees F. By 5 pm, the temperature was down to 40 degrees F. Unbelievable! Needless to say, we were inside the RV the rest of the day.

Friday morning was still cold outside but it was sunny so we walked over to the Outlet Mall for some browsing and shopping. We didn’t buy very much but it was a nice day for a walk anyway.

Saturday morning, we packed up the RV and were on the road by 9:30 am. We stopped on the way for groceries and by 10:45 am we had arrived at Panama City Beach. Yes, it is another “beach town” very similar to Destin. One of the main attractions in PCB is Pier Park which is right across the road from the beach. It is a mecca for entertainment, shopping,  fine dining, and fabulous fun in the sun.  They claim to have over 1 million visitors a year and to be well-known as one of the best places to visit along Florida’s West Coast.  Take a guess what one of the Restaurants in Pier Park was. You guessed it – Margaritaville!!  After wandering around Pier Park to see what it was all about we  returned Jazz to the RV and yes, we went to Margaritaville for lunch. We were able to sit out on the patio and it was a hot sunny day so that was great. But I have to admit, of all the Margaritavilles we have been to so far, this one in PCB was my least favorite. The food and drink prices in both Margaritavilles in Destin and PCB were quite high and this one in PCB just didn’t have that ‘fun” atmosphere that others have. But, we did have to check it out and now we know what it’s like.

Instead of staying in Panama City Beach, we decided to leave the commercial beaches behind and we headed further down the coast to what is called the Forgotten Coast – Mexico Beach. We arrived at Rustic Sands RV Resort on Saturday afternoon.

Stay tuned for more droppings about our time in Mexico Beach!

 

March 1 – 4, 2015

We left Gulf Shores Sunday morning and after stopping to get groceries on the way, we arrived in Pensacola Beach Florida in the early afternoon. Pensacola Beach is another beach town and at this time of year it is very quiet with mainly snowbirds staying there. All this will change next week though when Spring Break begins for the U.S. colleges and we were told by many store and restaurant workers that they were gearing up for a very busy next 4-5 weeks of Spring Breakers taking over the town and the beach. Glad we won’t be there!! The beaches in Pensacola Beach are beautiful. This is the Emerald Coast and the beaches have beautiful white sand.

Pensacola Beach is located on Santa Rosa Island, one of the longest barrier islands in the world, Pensacola Beach has an old Florida feel with natural beaches, local hang-outs, first-rate fishing and historic Fort Pickens. Pensacola Beach has been named among the nation’s top 10 beaches by TripAdvisor.

The Pensacola Beach Pier is one of the longest in the Gulf of Mexico at 1,471 feet. Portofino Boardwalk features open-air bars and restaurants, shops, piers and shallow water for kids along Santa Rosa Sound. Visitors can access Gulf Islands National Seashore, the nation’s longest stretch of protected seashore, on both sides of Pensacola Beach, making it an ideal spot for biking, snorkeling or kayaking in the summer months.

Instead of biking, we did a lot of walking there. One of our missions while in Pensacola Beach was to visit Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Beach Hotel which we did. I have a goal to visit all the Margaritavilles  in places we drive through on this trip so the hotel was naturally on the list. (See pics). It really was a beautiful hotel. Unfortunately the Landshark Bar there is only open during the warmer weather so we were not able to get into it but we did have a drink at Frank & Lola Love Pensacola Bar and Restaurant in the hotel. It would have been great to have been able to spend a night in the hotel but guess that is just a good excuse to come back to PB someday without a RV!

On Monday evening, we stopped at a couple of bars before going out for dinner at a great restaurant called Hemingways. One of the bars was a restaurant called Red Fish Blue Fish. We entered into this open air restaurant through the side and just went directly to the Bar. As we walked across the patio, there was a group of people standing out there and we saw them look at us kind of funny but we didn’t think anything of it. At the bar, we ordered 2 beer. As one bartender poured our beers, another came up and asked us for our tickets. We said we didn’t have any tickets and we thought he must be referring to discount coupons or something. As it turned out, we had crashed a private event which had taken over the whole restaurant for the evening. When we realized this, it was too late. The Bartender said no problem, he wouldn’t kick us out. So we paid for our beers and went out onto their sand beach area and enjoyed our beers as we sat by their wonderful gas fireplace in lounge chairs. In hindsight, we should have went along with the guy who asked us for our tickets as he was all prepared to go and get us tickets from the reception person. Guess we are just too honest. (BTW – people continued to look at us strangely the entire time we sat there but we didn’t rush as it was so nice enjoying the fire – lol) We ended up returning to Red Fish Blue Fish the next night for dinner. That night it was open to the public.

Also while we were there we stopped at another local restaurant for lunch one day called Peg Leg Pete’s. Of course we had to try out their Seafood Gumbo and we shared a delicious Grouper sandwich. The great food just goes on and on……

On Wednesday morning, we packed up and headed down the road approximately 40 miles to our next stop,  Destin Florida, which is another Beach town – more of the same basically as we experienced in Pensacola Beach but Destin is much bigger in comparison. And yes, in case you are wondering, there is a Margaritaville in Destin! Whoo Hoo!

Will squawk in another day or two about our time in Destin.

 

 

 

Feb 26-Mar 1/2015

Our drive from Biloxi Mississippi to Gulf Shores Alabama took us through Mobile, Alabama where Jimmy Buffett was born and raised. I had wanted to stop in Mobile and go to the Carnival Museum as Mobile is where the first Mardi Gras was ever held and the Museum is apparently really interesting. Unfortunately, the museum is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and it was Thursday that we were driving through. So, we decided not to bother going into downtown Mobile and just drove through it and onto Gulf Shores instead. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon so after setting up we spent the evening just relaxing at the RV.

Friday morning Jazz received her weekly beauty salon treatment  and we researched how we could walk to the famous  LuLu’s at Homeport Marina which was about 2 miles from our RV Park. LuLu is Lucy Buffett – yes, Jimmy’s Sister!! We figured out how to get there and headed there at 3 pm to spend the afternoon and evening enjoying the live entertainment she has every afternoon.

LuLu’s first began as a restaurant with a tiny gift shop, a little sand for kids to play in, and a great view of the Intracoastal Waterway in Gulf Shores. Now, a few years later, the view is still unbeatable, but the restaurant is more than just that—it has become a true family entertainment destination.

LuLu’s apparently serves 4000 people a day during the summer season.  Imagine!!!  They have different areas in addition to the huge main restaurant like the BAMA BREEZE bar to wet your whistle, the SUNSET GRILL overlooking the marina, the FOUNTAIN FOR YOUTH to cool off the kids, the MOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, a  three-story rope climbing apparatus for the adventurous kids.  In addition to the live music daily they also have a huge retail store, and a large sandy beach area equipped with pails, shovels etc that Rob really enjoyed playing in!

LuLu’s is also well known for her great food and her Crazy Sista specialties.  Rob and I enjoyed her famous Seafood Gumbo and then we shared a plate of Shrimp and Grits which was absolutely delicious. It was a bowl full of what I would call Shrimp Etoufee with cheese grits in the centre. I never thought I would call Grits delicious but the way she made these cheese ones, they were. After dinner we called a taxi to take us home as it was dark out by then and we didn’t want to be walking along a highway in the dark. It was a very fun evening out! (See lots of pics)

The next morning, we headed out on our bikes and biked right down into downtown Gulf Shores which is a beach community. The beach was very nice but it was a breezy cool day so we couldn’t spend much time on the beach. We stopped at The Pink Pony Pub which was right on the beach for a couple of beer and sat and watched the waves for a while. We then headed back toward the RV Park but stopped on the way at Hog Wild BBQ for lunch. We shared a BBQ Plate of ribs and chicken which came with homemade potato salad and coleslaw. Everything was delicious. We sure are experiencing a lot of delicious food here in the south!

The rest of the afternoon and evening we relaxed and got ready to head out the next morning to our next destination – Pensacola Beach Florida. Stay tuned.