As we drive into Destin we stop for groceries. There are restaurants! It’s a beautiful day! We’ve just spent 4 days in the woods and we’re excited about the possibility of eating out. We arrive just after sunset, get set up and hop on our bikes to explore the park. The weather is perfect. The humidity is low – only 85%!
THE BACK PORCH RESTAURANT
We’d both hoped to have dinner out at a place recommended by Carolyn called The Back Porch. Terry’s been wanting Gulf Fried Shrimp for months. Those California prawns have no taste. Although it was dark, we decided to try going down the sidewalk about 1.7 miles on our bikes to get to the restaurant and it worked! It was great seafood and what a wonderful splurge.
Top row: On our way to Destin, FL we stopped at a small diner for lunch. We played checkers and were treated to a short concert as we ate our lunches.
Bottom row: Florida and Delaware have the best roads, except for bike lanes. (This shoulder died at the driveway.). Dinner at The Back Porch. Terry with his Gulf Fried Shrimp. Peggy with grilled Amberjack, a mild fish.
MAIL DELIVERIES
Receiving mail has been difficult when we have no specific address. With no immediate stops to visit family or friends, we’ve had to try to get mail delivered using GENERAL DELIVERY. UPS does not recognize GENERAL DELIVERY addresses. Amazon sent a GENERAL DELIVERY package via UPS and they would not deliver it! We ended up re-routing it to the local UPS Store.
Terry on the phone being ping pinged between Amazon and UPS because we tried to use a GENERAL DELIVERY address. Success, his beloved socks will be re-routed to the UPS Store in Destin, instead of a town 10 miles away! Package received, after a 4-mile bike ride.
THE DONUT HOLE BAKERY AND CAFE
We had to pick up a UPS shipment and it happened to be near the Donut Hole so we had brunch here. It was a 4-mile bike ride from Henderson Beach State Park, all on the sidewalk, but worth every bit of the trip! We had brunch then got doughnuts to-go for later.
Exloring Destin...We enjoyed walking on the beach so much we ended up walking over 8 miles one day! On another day, we rode our bikes to the Donut Hole for brunch and of course doughnuts!
HENDERSON BEACH
Henderson Beach is spectacular! It's part of what is called the "Emerald Coast". It consists of fine white sand and emerald blue-green clear water. On warm days, we’ve watched the Manta Rays jump completely out of the water then splash back into the water with a loud SPLAT.
Terry watching for Manta Rays. When the weather got cold, they stopped jumping.
WEATHER AND PLANNING
Weather and fires have played a big role in our planning. We’ve extended our stay in Destin, again, to 8 days because they are predicting snow this coming Friday down to the middle of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Here in Destin the temperature dropped to 26 degrees F which is pretty cold when the showers are not heated! It’s gradually warming up each day.
Top left: Our inside/outside thermometer at 6:39 am (top number), read 59.3 degrees F inside (middle number) and 26.6 degrees F outside (bottom number). This was the coldest temperature we've encountered so far on our Year-Long-Trip and it was in Destin, FL!!!
Top right: There must have been a school of fish because the gulls were catching them everywhere.
Bottom: For a moment it looked like we were on snow but that's the very white sands of Destin, FL! We were both dressed for snow, except for the crocs with hiking socks on.
We’re on our way to Texas, via Vicksburg, MS because we want to learn about the history there. We use the iPhone Weather app to plug in future towns along our route then we monitor the weather predictions for those towns and adjust our plans accordingly.
This state park and the Destin area are wonderful places to hang out for 8 days!
A gorgeous sunset on the beach to end a wonderful 8 days in Destin, FL.
Camping: Henderson Beach State Park, Destin, FL
Electricity, water, showers, dump station, recycling, Verizon 3 LTE