About a month ago I was feeling slightly overwhelmed with life (and honestly who isn't) and texted Eric that I needed a vacation to the beach for some warmth and sunshine. Much to my surprise, he followed up with asking which beach I wanted to go to, if we were going to fly or drive, and when we should do it. Talk about a husband who prioritizes my mental health!
We decided to go over Easter weekend since I wouldn't have to take any time off from school and he would only have to take off two days. I immediately went to work searching for a place on the beach with a killer ocean view. While I wanted to stay more in the Seaside/Rosemary Beach/Aly's Beach area of 30A in Florida, I wasn't finding exactly what I was looking for. We finally settled on this adorable condo on the western end of Panama City Beach with the views and beach access I was looking for. And since we were on the western end of Panama City, we had all the benefits of being close to the city, without all the people that a condo in the middle of the city would entail.
The plan was to leave Thursday after I got off of school since we released a little early for Easter Break. Little did I know that on the way to daycare that morning, Ashley would throw up in the van. So it was back home for the three of us, and a call to work that I wouldn't be coming in that day at all. I kept the kids with me that morning, but my mom and dad were gracious enough to let me bring them over to their house for their nap (they were going to watch them after daycare that day anyways) so we could leave around 1 instead. Thanks to this, we made it all the way to Birmingham before stopping for the night.
Friday morning we were up bright and early to get a head start on our final leg of the drive. We made it to that Panama City Beach sunshine at about 12:30 Friday afternoon. We stopped for a quick lunch, and then made our way to St. Andrews State Park to catch a ferry to Shell Island, a seven mile long undeveloped island just off the coastline.
This island lived up to its name, with so many different shells to be discovered. I spent a good hour walking the shore line picking up shells, while Eric stayed up a little higher (and dryer) carrying the ones I decided to keep. Even though it was about 80 degrees, it is still April, so the water wasn't that warm. If I'd been a little braver, I would have walked out a little deeper to search for the bigger shells that others on our ferry boat ride home had found. But I'm happy with the ones I did find, and didn't have to get freezing cold, so I'd call it all a win.
We stayed here for a few hours, collecting shells as we walked, and eventually sitting down for me to read in my book and Eric to take a nap (which he took a lot of this vacation ha!). After a quick Walmart stop, we went to our condo to check in for our stay.
I wanted a view, and boy did this condo provide that! We had gorgeous ocean views from the living room/kitchen and our bedroom, and spent a lot of time out on the balcony listening to the sounds of the crashing waves and taking in the sea breeze.
That night we ate at Runaway Island and I had my favorite meal on the entire trip- a blackened grouper topped with crab meat and a lemon butter sauce- absolutely delicious.
After a yummy coffee shop stop for breakfast, we decided to battle it out in some mini golf. I wish I could say that I beat Eric, but we did tie the last nine holes, so it wasn't a complete loss on my part ha!
We ate lunch at another restaurant on the beach, then went back to the condo to get our suits on to sit by the water. I again did some reading, and Eric, again, did some napping. I was surprised by how many shells our beach had as well, though they were much smaller than the ones on Shell Island.
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After getting dressed up again for another night on the town we headed to Captain Anderson's and had another favorite from the trip- She Crab soup. This is one that we want to try to make at home some time.
Sunday morning I watched a dad hiding eggs on the beach for his children to find, and it really made me miss Brayden and Ashley (even though they were part of the reason I needed a nice and quiet vacation ha!). Luckily they were both feeling well enough to have a little egg hunt back home with my parents the day before, and mom was nice enough to send some pictures.
This day we decided to drive down 30A and check out all the cute little towns along the way. One town was even having an adorable farmer's market, but Eric and I were way too underdressed to stop and check it out. We were heading to Grayton Beach State Park for some more time in nature, and that's just what we got.
When we arrived, the park ranger said that they were expecting to be full today, so once we got a parking spot, we shouldn't leave until we were ready to go. There were minimal parking spots by the beach, but I'm glad that her version of "full" and my version were totally different. Walking just a little ways down the shore, it felt like we almost had the entire beach to ourselves. It was peaceful and quiet, the water seemed bluer and the sand seemed whiter. And there were practically no shells, which was a big change from the beach at our condo. We spent a few hours soaking up the sun, enjoying the sounds of the waves, and a nap and a nice book.
After some beach time we took a little one mile hike through the coastal sand dunes and trees that edged Grayton Beach. It was quite sunny this afternoon, despite the weather forecast that I'd checked earlier that week that said it would be overcast and probably rainy. So needless to say, after our hike we were sweaty messes. We grabbed a quick lunch then drove back to the condo for a shower and some rest.
Eric opted to stay up in the condo for a nap, but I wanted all the beach time I could get, so I went ahead and carried my stuff down to the beach. In the time it took us to drive back from Grayton Beach, eat lunch, and get ready to go outside, the sky had turned very cloudy. I opted to leave my cover-up on and almost put a towel over my legs to keep warm as well! Needless to say I didn't stay out on the beach too long, though it never did rain on me during that time. We got ready to go out on the town for our final night and headed to the marina for dinner at The Grand Marlin. This place was top notch, and so many desserts looked good that we ended up getting two instead of just one- which was an excellent choice in my opinion!
Monday morning we actually slept in the latest we had all weekend, which was kind of funny since we wanted to get an early start home, but oh well. We were out of the condo by 7:30 that morning, and by 7:30 that evening we were finally home. I knew that we missed Brady and Ashley while we were gone, but it was nice to see how much they missed us as well. Nothing beats those big smiles and hugs we got when we walked into my parent's house. And now it's back to the old grind, but with a clear and refreshed state of mind.
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