I can't put it better then most of the posts, but I can say it is a place of healing. I came in 1989 for three weeks to heal from a very tragic death of my fiance. I stayed. Months of sitting on the beach in Grayton sifting sand through my fingers and walking at the water's edge, nightly dips in the phosphorus blue/green water brought me closer to my beloved.....and the comfort that he was always with me.
There was a lot of mixing my salty tears with the salty gulf waters, and nights I would drive my jeep to the beach at 2:00 in the morning as far as I could drive it, get out and just scream into the balmy air....but most of all I found family here!
There's no place like SoWal.