The Gulf coast of Florida, also known as the Emerald Coast is our next stop. We will explore Panama City, Destin, and Pensacola to complete our 2 1/2 months in the state of Florida!
We only stayed a few days in Panama City and our campsite was right on the bay. It was really cool to see the bridge over the bay light up at night in red, white and blue! We explored a local kids science museum that was pretty cool.
Current leg: 135
Total miles: 4,674 Miles
Next up was Destin. We used to go there a lot when my dad was in the Air Force so we were excited to go back! It was a supposed to be a week of beach and warm weather but winter weather found us and some days it was in the 20s over night. However, they did have a heated outdoor pool that we definitely took advantage of.
The coolest part of this spot was that a friend from Vermont happened to be driving through and we got to see him and his family. We met up at their hotel and played at the pool and in the lobby. Sadly, we could only spend one evening with them but in Texas next month, we will spend a of couple days with them! It was so nice to see him, and we got pizza and played board games ♟️.
We also did our first escape room! This is basically a room that they lock you in (not actually, because of safety reasons) and you get 1 hour to escape by solving a series of puzzles to either find a code out or a key to get out. Ours was themed the lost city and we had travel deep into the temple to find the code by working together. It was difficult but in the end we escaped with 5 minutes to spare. I definitely would like to do more of these rooms!
Current leg: 51
Total miles: 4,725 miles
Next stop was Pensacola where we did the naval air museum and Light house, Gulf Shores NP (the Florida part), and Peg Leg Pete’s, where we ate dinner.
The naval museum was my favorite thing we did here, because of all the planes. It was based on the Blue Angels (the stunt team for the Navy) and their training of how they got so good with flying. There were over 300 planes and two stories of exhibits. The lighthouse was next and we got to walk up to the top. It was 177 steps to the top! The view was amazing. We could see the naval base including the runway very well and the Gulf shore national park where we check out the following day.
Next up was Gulf shore NP and fort where we drove down a peninsula where it was just huge sand dunes and at the end was Fort Pickens. It is a cool fort because of all the small tunnels that we could walk through. The other forts we’ve seen on this trip are at Dry Tortugas and Fort Pulaski in Savannah but this one was my favorite. After the fort, we went to eat at Peg leg Pete’s oyster bar, where I got chicken tenders and they were great. I also tried grouper nuggets and they were delicious 🤤.
Current leg: 62
Total miles: 4787 miles
