How did you get to SoWal?

[emeraldcoastdav]

It was gilligans, he has moved and renamed AJs

 

[Lake View Too]

It was gilligans, he has moved and renamed AJs

Oh...Destin...way too far away for a SoWal boy to journey on a Saturday night.

 

[Ari Silverstein]

I have been visiting Naples for the past 35 years and never did i think of visiting the panhandle. My wife and i are, and have been considering a move to Naples for years. That is before i heard about the beaches of South Walton. After reading these fourms and blogs and websites, i have fallen in love!! We are planning on moving down there this summer without ever visiting or seeing it in person, except for the time we'll be there looking for a place. I look forward to having you all as neighbors! I hope to be telling this story as a permanent resident in 20 years!!!

I have residences in the 30A corridor and in Naples. I you are interested in staying warm then there is no choice (save this last, miserable winter ).

The Panhandle is cool to cold Fall, Winter and a part of Spring. I have had winters in Collier/Lee County where I rarely took my shorts off.

Take a good look at normal temps for the Panhandle, be ready for a great deal more crowding, and rent before you commit.

 

[Ari Silverstein]

I go to SoWal by following two of the original architects of Seaside. One was a neighbor, the other a GF's father.

 

[LeBoeuf]

My wife and I came to Destin for our honeymoon in 1995. I had visited the area a couple of times prior and fell in love with the beaches. During our honeymoon, we took a side trip to Seaside, which was still developing at the time. We continued to vacation in Destin almost every year, occasionally wandering to the 30-A area. We finally took our first vacation in Seagrove in 2005 and have come multiple times a year since. Much has changed in the last 15 years. (I can only imagine what it must be like for natives of the area.) We've "threatened" to move to the area multiple times (whenever my wife or I get really ticked off at work!), but have never flipped the switch yet. Every year, we get a bit closer... Now when I visit the area, I can close my eyes and almost feel like I live there.

 

[GoodWitch58]

My wife and I came to Destin for our honeymoon in 1995. I had visited the area a couple of times prior and fell in love with the beaches. During our honeymoon, we took a side trip to Seaside, which was still developing at the time. We continued to vacation in Destin almost every year, occasionally wandering to the 30-A area. We finally took our first vacation in Seagrove in 2005 and have come multiple times a year since. Much has changed in the last 15 years. (I can only imagine what it must be like for natives of the area.) We've "threatened" to move to the area multiple times (whenever my wife or I get really ticked off at work!), but have never flipped the switch yet. Every year, we get a bit closer... Now when I visit the area, I can close my eyes and almost feel like I live there.

A few years ago I was at one of the Chamber of Commerce Luncheons and one of my table mates, a much younger person , asked me how I came to live in South Walton and I told him my story of being a native of Walton County; leaving for college; not living here for many years, but always returning for the beach; and then finally returning to live...he listened intently and then in this hushed voice he said: "Wow, you must feel as though you've been invaded!" It was funny and I had not voiced that before, but he was exactly right.

Sometimes I sit on the beach at Grayton or Blue Mountain, or just west of Seaside(about where the WaterColor Inn is now) and close my eyes; and I can almost feel how hot the sand from the dunes felt in the midday sun; how the wind would blow the fine grains of sand from the top of the dunes..into our eyes or mouth...how when the sun would set, it was as though we were the only people on Earth...and how from a grocery-shopping trip to Ft Walton, we would drive, and drive, and drive, and after the little Grimaldi building ...there was nothing: no cars, no houses, no lights...just the narrow strip of highway and the sand dunes as far as we could see...

 

[DD]

A few years ago I was at one of the Chamber of Commerce Luncheons and one of my table mates, a much younger person , asked me how I came to live in South Walton and I told him my story of being a native of Walton County; leaving for college; not living here for many years, but always returning for the beach; and then finally returning to live...he listened intently and then in this hushed voice he said: "Wow, you must feel as though you've been invaded!" It was funny and I had not voiced that before, but he was exactly right.

Sometimes I sit on the beach at Grayton or Blue Mountain, or just west of Seaside(about where the WaterColor Inn is now) and close my eyes; and I can almost feel how hot the sand from the dunes felt in the midday sun; how the wind would blow the fine grains of sand from the top of the dunes..into our eyes or mouth...how when the sun would set, it was as though we were the only people on Earth...and how from a grocery-shopping trip to Ft Walton, we would drive, and drive, and drive, and after the little Grimaldi building ...there was nothing: no cars, no houses, no lights...just the narrow strip of highway and the sand dunes as far as we could see...

This is wonderful. How lucky you were to have lived it. I would have so loved to have seen it back then.

 

[jomoty]

I had a friend contact me a couple of months ago about some buddy passes he wanted to give me and my husband. They were due to expire within the hr and I told him I'd call him back with a destination. In talking with my husband, we decided to go somewhere we had never been. I said... "How about Florida"? We wanted to go where the beaches were not crazy with tourists so I found SoWal... and then this wonderful forum with it's "Wealth" of information. We arrive June 6-12th and can't wait to discover this beautiful party of our country. Destiny...? I think so! Just plain crazy how it all came about! Thank you for all your valuable info that you post.

 

[Lake View Too]

A few years ago I was at one of the Chamber of Commerce Luncheons and one of my table mates, a much younger person , asked me how I came to live in South Walton and I told him my story of being a native of Walton County; leaving for college; not living here for many years, but always returning for the beach; and then finally returning to live...he listened intently and then in this hushed voice he said: "Wow, you must feel as though you've been invaded!" It was funny and I had not voiced that before, but he was exactly right.

Sometimes I sit on the beach at Grayton or Blue Mountain, or just west of Seaside(about where the WaterColor Inn is now) and close my eyes; and I can almost feel how hot the sand from the dunes felt in the midday sun; how the wind would blow the fine grains of sand from the top of the dunes..into our eyes or mouth...how when the sun would set, it was as though we were the only people on Earth...and how from a grocery-shopping trip to Ft Walton, we would drive, and drive, and drive, and after the little Grimaldi building ...there was nothing: no cars, no houses, no lights...just the narrow strip of highway and the sand dunes as far as we could see...

My family has been coming to Seagrove since I was about seven years old. It was before highway 30-A was built in 1969. It was just a few dirt roads and sand dunes as far as the eye could see. The Seagrove Village Market was known as Thorton's Grocery. Once in a while we would venture way down the way to Grayton and hang-out at the Old Butler Store and play ping-pong and pinball. Somehow, we were never bored. The days were filled with fishing, crabbing, sailing, waterskiing. My brothers and I would roam the dunes east of Eastern Lake and we had names for each of the most prominent and majestic sand dunes. We would find Indian pottery and arrowheads near Deer Lake. I think mostly we just drank in the natural beauty of it all, as people are still doing to this day.

 

[Beach Princess]

My husband and I came down on vacation, from Illinois, in 1996. We planned only to stay one week but stayed two... we spent the second week visiting bars and houses- to become "snowbirds". Put a bid on a place thinking the owner would counter and give us an out. He didn't... we look at each other and weighed our choices: "cows and corn" or "sun and sand"... We are approaching almost 15 years here and have never looked back.