Camping on the Beach

Let the sun be the energy that welcomes each day…

Camping on the beach for a month in February?  Why not?  On the way back from our last January’s Key West and coastal Florida run/extended camping trip, we stopped off in Destin, Florida for a night or two.  We liked it so much, we booked a month on the beach at Camp Gulf which has only 10 or so spots which are directly beach front- not a common thing in Florida.

After spending an evening in NOLA with my parents and experiencing Shaya Restaurant ( highly recommend) we headed to Destin Florida.  The first few days were beautiful but a bit overcast.

When we arrived to the RV park, 50 rigs were checking out and another 50 were checking in.  It is a very popular spot because of its beachside location and amenities like indoor heated pool & jacuzzi. They even have Kundalini Yoga once a week!

The Gulf Coast has been my happy place for most of my life so the sunrises and sunsets did not disappoint…

Notice our little campervan is the smallest RV on the beach but also the cutest!

Super Bowl Sunday we had char-grilled oysters at Acme Oyster House where they were showing respect for the ‘Who Dat Nation’.

Some of the best we’ve had, and we’ve been to three or four Acme’s before. Sometimes the cook/chef does matter.

This first week we made commitments to do a sunrise walk on the beach, visit the gym each day in Ft. Walton, and jump in the 65 degree gulf around 3 p.m. every day followed by a dip in the hot tub.  It’s pretty darn cold this time of year so our bodies are getting free cryotherapy!

I had to observe a chair yoga class for one of my homework assignments so we went to the Destin Community Center where around 60 people showed up for Sr. chair yoga!  Then had a lovely lunch at Dewey Destin’s on the harbor. 

Dewey’s great, great grandfather, Leonard Destin, founded the town in 1835. Leonard, his father George, and his brother William set out from New London, Connecticut with three ships and ran into a hurricane near Cape Canaveral, Florida and got ship wrecked on the area that is now Destin and decided to stay and start a small fishing village. Of course we’re not really sure how a Hurricane in the Atlantic on one side of Florida caused a ship to wreck on the other Gulf of Mexico side of Florida, but we’ll leave that to history buffs. Destin remained undiscovered and pretty much an island unto itself until the mid-1930’s when the Marler Bridge was built and people began visiting the Emerald Coast. Today it is full of high rises and condos and the home of thousands of snowbirds in the winter.

Our goal this week is just to relax and get acclimated to living in such a small space with a ton of sand everywhere! 

Lots of folks have these crazy little huts they set-up to protect themselves from??? I guess the wind-

Oh, and somedays you find a heart shaped strawberry…

and a trio serenading you three rigs down…

https://youtu.be/leV-J2YEqbk