Short Trip To Destin

WHEN? Tuesday-Friday · Oct 26 ~ 29

WHERE? Destin, Florida



We were very excited about the opportunity to stay right on the beach at Sun Destin Beach Resort and Hotel located at 1040 Highway 98 East (Emerald Isle Parkway) in Destin, Florida.

We did not go over exactly the route we had planned because we made a wrong turn somewhere and wound up on I-10 and traveled even further on it than we realized, and this had us arriving in the parking lot of Sun Destin about the same time as our host friend, who drove all the way from Jackson, Mississippi.

Once checked in, we immediately went to the beach balcony side of the condo and soaked up beautiful beach and the waves rolling in. It's not hard to see why they call it the Emerald Isle. The water is a beautiful green hue. Rather than trying to describe this beach resort hotel, the video below will give you a very good idea of what it is like.


While we were there, the weather was pleasantly warm with a good bit of sunshine with lower temperatures and high wind only arriving the night before we were checking out.

We visited with a few snowbirds in the condo bar and sort of envied them being there for several weeks or months rather than a few days, but we really were happy to head on back to Lower Alabama anyway because we still enjoy the many friends we have made there.

There's a great outlet mall there that we visited and even made it back over to Fort Walton on Thursday to check out a special Halloween Costumes shop. Can you believe this? Some of the costumes there cost $150! We wound up at Wal-Mart for our costumes :)

We had shrimp twice in one day. First we had Shrimp Po-Boys at Joe's Crab Shack for lunch and then we purchased fresh shrimp at Sexton's for delish Shrimp Pasta cooked in the condo.

We looked up the Fisherman's Wharf for an early lunch on Thursday. It's a place we visited many, many years ago when we had small children and have visited one other time when we were on one of our Orange Beach vacations. We had the special for that day priced around $8 for two steak patties smothered in onions and gravy and mashed potatoes and gravy. A soft drink was included.

Our photos from the trip may be seen on Flickr at: Trip to SunDestin in Destin, Florida. It is possible more will be added as we had two disposable cameras we were snapping pictures with as well, which we'll pick up at Wal-Mart on Thursday.

On our way back to Alabama on Friday, we got lost in Pensacola. This has happened to us more than once there. This time we wound up going through the Penscola Naval Air Station and on via Pedido Key and the Perdido Sun (a condo we stayed in many years ago).

Probably no one has had a love affair like we have with the beaches and areas on the Coast. We've camped in a tent on Dauphin Island as well as stayed in the Holiday Inn there before it was blown away by some hurricane. We've also stay in cabins right on the beach on Santa Rosa Island. Somewhere along the way we discovered Orange Beach and came there many times -- sometimes in groups or with family staying at Seaside Beach and Rachet Club and other times at Sunswept when there was just the two of us. Sunswept has the distinction of having its on traffic light.

You didn't know you were going to get a commercial for the entire Gulf Coast, did you? Actually, the Mississippi Gulf Coast attracts many people as well -- partly because of the gambling casinos, but events like Cruising the Coast bring many people there to see and be seen in their vintage vehicles. We've enjoyed that a couple of times. I must admit that I missed out on the "gambling gene," but we've still enjoyed a trip with a group of friends on a Halloween weekend.