For that special birthday, hubby and I left town Thursday afternoon and headed to the beach. We’d never been to Navarre, but he’d found a decent deal on a room at a Springhill Suites in a place we’d never been. Always up for a spontaneous adventure, I agreed to come along!
It was stormy the day we left, and we were racing the rain and the red on the radar map all the way to the beach. We arrived at 9 p.m. and were told that we had $25 in credit at the food sources there to spend each day, and our first day was almost up! We unloaded our bags in a cute corner room on the third floor and hightailed it to the ice cream counter. Although the little market made Yard-style milkshakes, we opted to split a single scoop of banana pudding ice cream (it was past our bedtime after all).
The next morning was still windy and the ocean was rough, but the VIEWS were spectacular!
We decided to bundle up and go west on our little strip of land, to the tip, which ended at Fort Pickens.
In between Navarre and Fort Pickens are a few little quiet communities and miles of beautiful sand dunes. The Fort is well maintained and full of history. It’s across a channel from the lighthouse, where we’ve spent several Columbus Day weekends, compliments of my retired-navy brother-in-law.
After our trip through the fort, we turned around and headed toward Pensacola. We stopped at Starbucks for the one free drink they give members every year (a must). Then we did some trail hiking at a forest reserve nearby.
After a few miles, we’d worked up an appetite for lunch. We found CRABS on the beach, and enjoyed some amazing sushi and seafood tacos. The little “honey rolls” they brought at the end of lunch were basically sugar-and-cinnamon-coated beignets served with hot honey. YUM!
Following lunch, we braved the strong winds and paid $3.50 each to walk the pier at Pensacola. It was lovely, but oh so chilly!
We decided to head back to home base to warm up! For dinner, neither of us were super hungry, so we visited the ice cream bar again–this time for the advertised grilled cheese concoctions.
I settled on the pulled pork version, complete with goldfish crackers inside, and Daniel went safe with the mozzarella, pesto, and sun-dried tomato version.
Whoever thought up the menu names had good time doing it!
We slept for a long time that night, probably due to the fresh air and all the carbs! Hubby clocked 15K steps.
The next morning dawned bright and beautiful! We headed east for our daily adventure.
When we got to Destin, we decided to go on down to 30A. It had been a couple of years since we’d visited our once favorite part of the beach and found it overrun with Southern Living-loving tourists and too few workers. It was super busy as usual despite the time of year and the temps. We had forgotten that Mardi Gras would be in full swing this weekend!
After walking around Seaside for a while, we went back to Destin to the Aegean and ordered the Hercules! AMAZING! We split it. I think it might be intended to serve a family of 4.
A quick walk through a few stores at the Grand Boulevard at Destin, the Silver Sands Outlet mall, and then to Destin Commons, and we were done.
We meandered back to home base at the Springhill Suites and decided to take a sunset stroll to the Navarre Beach Pier.
It was a good little walk! We worked up an appetite and spent our $25 credit at the hotel’s nicer restaurant, eating healthy kale salad and a green protein bowl! We had clocked more than 18K steps!
It was difficult to leave the white sandy shores Sunday morning, especially because it was going to be a glorious beach day with temps in the 70s. Alas, we needed to return home. We got gas and coffee at Buccee’s, stopped for a twenty-minute run through World Market in Mobile, had lunch at Panda Express, and were home by 3 p.m.
It was a quick trip, but it was definitely worth a couple of days of R and R!
