Live Trip Report, 6/16-7/2

[BeachbumAggie]

Another beautiful day! Up and to the gym then back to condo for a quick bite and to get hubs up and going and we took off for Grayton Beach for a while. The water was really pretty but really rough again; hubs got nuked by one wave! The dune lake was low and no water was coming in or out and there was at least 25 yards of sand separating the lake and gulf-we've never been there when they looked so far apart. We still walked around in the dune lake but it had some funk in the bottom so I wasn't getting into it! We walked up and down the beach and relaxed in our chairs a while where we saw a couple of dolphins playing in the big waves-what a delight it always is to see dolphins at play!
We headed towards Destin for our two part lunch plan, hubs loooooves egg rolls from Dynasty chinese so we went there for egg rolls and then planned to go to the Back Porch for a sandwich and view. Egg rolls were tasty and traffic was terrible so we gave up on Back Porch idea and rolled up the beach road by Crystal Beach and stopped at Blue Mountain Creamery for the rest of our lunch, I had fresh made strawberry and hubs had a chocolate peanut butter cup hershey ice cream. Back to our townhouse where we each had a slice of our fabulous key lime pie from Kat-yes, we had double dessert for lunch but all we had were a couple of egg rolls for our lunch so it's justified!!!! Hubs headed up for a nap and I hit the pool for a while then headed up for a nap. Finally got ready to go to dinner a little after 8 and headed to Shoo Mama's on Hwy 98, hugs was feeling anti seafood so he had a chicken fried ribeye and I had the black and blue ribeye, blackened with blue cheese; both tasty; really nice folks at this place and I plan to be back next week.
We called it a night and headed back to the townhouse; ahhhh, vacation happiness!

 

[BeachbumAggie]

What a great day! It was supposed to rain today but it didn't, it did cloud up a bit and cool off a bit and that was nice!! Up and to a circuit training class at Grayton Fitness, can we say sore muscles now!? Back to change for the beach and we hit the beachside park in Seagrove, strolled almost to Seaside and back, played in the waves, water was clear and blue but waves were still quite rough. I fell asleep in my beach chair and then we hit Seagrove Market cafe: grill shrimp poboy for me, fried shrimp basket for hubs. On to Grayton to Big Mama's Hula Gallery-what cool art and stuff, lots of repurposed art, cool jewelry and paintings, as well as furniture and just all round interesting objects d'Art and super nice folks. We were in there year before last and they remembered us-always nice. On to Seaside to the bookstore and Central Records to talk music nerd shop (hubs and guys in record store, I mostly nodded) but did share a friend from Austin, TX's band as well as an friend of a friend's vinyl record jewelry-hopefully future profits for all parties! Next to 30A Art and Junk where we visited with the lovely and friendly owner and admired lots of cool jewelry and stuff. Back to townhouse to clean up for dinner. We had reservations at Cafe Tango but changed our minds and decided to go to Christiano's Ristorante-so glad we decided on Christiano's! Wow, to start, bread was AMAZING and the spicy herbed olive oil was out of this world! Next hubs had the chicken and sausage gumbo, good and a little different but hubs really liked it. I had Badabing shrimp, about 8 large shrimp in a wine, butter cream sauce with sundried tomato and green onions-wow, wow, wow, I would swim in this sauce! I had shrimp special of capallini with shrimp, wine/butter/garlic sauce, so good, at least 10 large shrimp, the sauce was rich but light. Hubs had sausage and peppers penne with pomodoro sauce-wholly crap was this good stuff. The pomodoro sauce was perfection! Got a chocolate amaretto cake slice to go, too full to eat it at the time. Our service was smooth, timely and professional, the chef-Chris-came out to visit the tables, he's a Steelers Fan but we didn't hold it against him since his food was so fabulous! Chris was very friendly and I will be back next week if all goes as planned I called my mom to brag about the fabulous food! Back to townhouse to call it a night, c ya'll tomorrow!

 

[DuneLaker]

Add Aggie Owned George's At Alys Beach

BeachBum Aggie, I've been offline for a bit, but now I'm back. Missed your trip reports. Fun to read. Have you been to Aggie owned George's at Alys Beach? Spouse, Class of '73, enjoyed lunch there today.

 

[BeachbumAggie]

Friday, mine and hubby's last full day at the beach together. I'm up and to the gym then back to get ready for the beach. Hands down our best water day, the gulf waters were very calm and very clear and blue this morning. I walked the beach and stopped to speak to several folks that I've visited with throughout the week-I love meeting folks!!! Relaxed in my chair and just chilled. Hubs drove around a bit and then picked me up for lunch at Flip Flops-they were super busy, we waited a long time for our burgers that were so not special-we really liked our food a couple of years ago, this year it was cold buns, pre-fab burgers and forgotten bacon with the yuck part of the lettuce thrown on-I guess I'm done with them. We drove to the new mini Super Walmart (sounds weird I know but that's what it is!) and picked up a tshirt for my little cousin, hoped to find a couple of tanks for my stepdad's yard work but no luck! Across the street to the Donut Hole-wow, first time to get donuts there in years and I'd forgotten what
I was missing!!! Hubs and I split a red velvet (fabulous), a glazed, a choc topped and powdered sugar with a diet coke-evens it out right!?! Got a choc cake with choc top and a cream puff to go for our later. Got cleaned up and hit the beach for our traditional sunset trip to the beach with a bottle of Tattinger's champagne and Donut Hole treats, took lots of pics, met some really nice folks who loved our final night sunset tradition and kept wanting to take our picture! Headed to Ciao Bella pizza for hubs' last hurrah dinner-I know odd choice but he really likes it! I was a bit tipsy and wolfed it down like I'd never had pizza before! Back to pack up our townhouse for the 10am check out. I drop hubs at the airport tomorrow at 3:45pm and check into a new house with friends at 4pm. I'm sad hubs has to fly home but am looking forward to a week with my girlfriends!

 

[BeachbumAggie]

DuneLaker, I had no idea that George's was Aggie owned but now I must go!!!!!

 

[Beach Runner]

Love, love, love your trip reports!

 

[Teresa]

Awesome reports BBA! and Ciao Bella pizza is one of the BEST, imo.

You sound exactly like us: travel is ALL about the food experience. keep 'em coming.

 

[BeachbumAggie]

We had a little rain come in Friday evening and it cooled things off-nice...up and walked to Seaside and back for a nice outdoor workout Sat am then cleaned up, packed and checked out of our townhouse. We had rented through Royal Beach Rentals and they were great to work with and I'll be glad to use them again, Hubs and I hit some shops along 30A, had a fabulous lunch at Stinky's, JB waited on us and we shared a crawfish hushpuppy appetizer then I had a half shrimp half cuban poboy-yummy! hubs had shrimp basket-yummy! JB was great and I'll be looking for him next time! We drove down to Panama City Beach, stopped at the Italian Bakery that's not as good as our first trip there a few years ago then drove around Pier Park which is really cool and has more shops than I remembered it having then drove the rest of the way down the beach front road and stopped at the $1 trinket shop for lots of junky prizes to carry home-tons of shell necklaces, shark tooth necklaces and such, all for $1 each! Dropped hubs at the airport and returned to Seagrove to meet my friends at our beach house.
House is 3 full stories with a crows nest, we rented this because it's right by beach and has an elevator (because we have a mom with double knee replacement with us as well as an aunt with MS), the elevator's not working and likely won't be before tomorrow evening-this has caused problems and much stress! The house is well furnished but there's marks in ceiling from water damage, carpet is rather yucky and there's only 1 towel per person and only 2 cup towels and 2 rags-this house sleeps 15 or more and was pretty expensive so I expected no water stains, a working elevator and more towels! they are trying to get elevator fixed but this is an issue. House does have an extra fridge in the garage, garage is huge and came with a couple of bikes which is nice, pool is nice sized as well.
Settled in and then to dinner at Nick's, everyone was happy with their fried goodness as well as our steamed crab claw appetizer. Me and 2 others hit the new Walmart and found it's not got everything that you need really and is laid out so weird then we had the slowest checker ever, I mean ever! Back to unload-it's nice to have some 11 year old boys for this, especially since elevator is broken! Visited with friends a while and we all crashed!
Sunday, up and to the gym then we all hit the beach. The water was calm, clear and wonderful! We all floated around like corks, it was great! Then waves started and we boogie boarded and beached till we were starved then came in to eat, pool time and rest. We did build your own pizza night and played some games a while then crashed!
Monday, up and to the gym then to the beach, the waves were crazy and the water is quite green today, we boogie boarded and got beat up on the beach for a while then laid out till hungry again. We have a ton of dips and breads and cheeses and crackers and chips-who needs protein when you have snacks and chocolate!! you know it's a girls trip! We are all resting for a while now, those waves wore us out!!


Cleaned up and headed to Stinky's Fish Camp for dinner at 8pm, late on purpose to miss the crowds, neither Savannah nor JB were working but we had Molly and Jennifer and they took good care of us, a table of 8 and one of 7 with this many women and kids is a challenge to wait and they did great! Everyone was happy, the kids crab legs were a huge serving! Mac n cheese was a huge hit with everyone as was crawfish pot pie, fried brie and fried shrimp baskets and catfish! Back with full tummies to crash.


Tuesday morning to the gym to go to Pilates class with Shea, came out to some rain so we spent an hour and a half getting ready to hit the outlet mall for the younger generation and movie theater for the older generation. Of course the mall was crazy but I got some great shoes at Kenneth Cole, got my cousin Tate a darling cammo swimsuit and flipflops and got hubs some cute boxers at Banana Republic. We all got cookies at Mrs. Fields-always a hit! Back to the house with 2 tired 5 year olds to rest up. Fixed some great fresh bruschetta topping as well as fabulous pasta salad for future lunches this week. Tonight is dinner in, we're having chicken spaghetti, salad and bread-yum! We may roll down to Seaside later.

 

[cpete]

Any June grass?

 

[BeachbumAggie]

mucho june grass this morning, not so much this afternoon late-the tide was out by 4:30 and the water was more clear and quite smooth and we had a great time bobbing around!!