The Emerald Coast
From the Gulf Shores of Alabama, our next stop was Destin, Florida. Alex’s friend from high school moved to the area from Camas Washington about a year ago and absolutely loves it! He suggested that we stay at the Camp Golf RV park. One of the main selling features of this campground is, it is right on the beach! The drive from Alabama was not bad at all. It was scenic and rather short, especially when compared to our past drives in between campgrounds. As we came through the $12 toll and over the bridge, we had arrived in Miramar Beach. It is a beautiful place for sure. We decided to stop at a Publix grocery store before heading to our campground. After being on the road now for nine weeks, I have found very few grocery stores that I love. Publix is one of the few that made it to my “road-trip love list.” They made fresh sandwiches with Boar’s Head meat and even sold Noah’s favorite Acai juice that we can normally only find at Costco in the larger bottles.
We quickly found that Miramar Beach has several of our favorite things. As we drove the last few miles to the Camp Golf campground, we passed a Whole Foods market and a hot yoga studio. With the sun shining bright that day, we detached and headed straight down to the water. Our campsite was not right on the beach, but there were several rigs lucky enough to be able to open their door and be right on the sand. I cannot imagine how incredible that must be to fall asleep to the sound of the waves! Even though our spot was a bit farther up from the beach, it too was amazing.
We were pleasantly surprised to find why they call this stretch of beach, “the Emerald Coast.” The water really is the color of emeralds. As we played on the beach that afternoon, I could not help but be fascinated by the color of the surf. Noah joined a group of beach boys who were on a mission to dig the biggest hole. There were about eight boys ranging in age from four or five up to age nine or ten. He did take breaks from digging to enjoy dips in the water with Alex and me.
As the sun set lower in the sky we decided to dry off and head back to the RV. We had made dinner plans with Alex’s friend, Marc and his lovely wife, Rebecca. We met them at the Acme Oyster House that was just a couple miles from us. We ate grilled and raw oysters, both of which were out of this world! It was hands down, the best food we have had on our RV adventure. We had such a great time that night and made plans to spend time with them the next day.
The next morning, I decided to try a hot yoga class at Hot Yoga Destin. While in class sweating my butt off, I realized how much I miss my daily yoga classes at Lifetime Green Valley. Noah and I really loved that place and all the people we met while being members there. My class in Destin was a great reminder of how much I love being in a hot and sweaty room doing one of my favorite things….YOGA!
After Yoga class, I headed back to the RV to get ready for our day on the water with my crew and Alex’s friend, Marc. Marc has a super cute boat and is an expert fisherman. We met up with him at his house and launched the boat at a nearby ramp. Rebecca had to work so we met up with her later that day for dinner. Even though Marc was having some mechanical issues with the boat, we had a blast. Alex got a quick fly-fishing lesson from Marc and we were pleasantly surprised to see dolphins swimming everywhere!
After enjoying some time out on the water, we made our way home to get ready for an Italian dinner at Amici’s Italian Kitchen with Marc and Rebecca. We decided to take a slight detour on the way and drive through Seaside. My friend, Robin told me about this cute little coastal town. It was featured in the Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey. We stopped just long enough to snap a few pictures and grab a Cuban coffee for Alex.
Dinner at Amici’s was wonderful and the company was even better! That night we decided that we would be staying in the panhandle of Florida through Friday and spend Thanksgiving with Marc and Rebecca:) The next morning, Noah and I spent some time on the beach before heading to our next campground. Thankfully it was only a quick 45 minute trip up the road in Panama City Beach.
