Rick's Travelicious: Destin and Seaside in Florida's fabulous panhandle

Sure, you can listen to the media hype about the oil drenched beaches of beautiful Destin, Florida and surrounding communities and stay far away, or you can do as I did in the last month, and travel at least a couple times to indulge in some needed rest and relaxation . . . and do your part to help rebuild tourism. This place is hospitable, invigorating and sundrenched! While you may notice the slight black caps on some of the white sands and the occasional government workers swinging by to take sand samples, you’ll nonetheless enjoy a lot of rest and relaxation anywhere along the shoreline, whether Destin or Seaside, my two favorite coastal communities. You’ll also notice that traveling there these days is inexpensive, a reward for “brave travelers” like me and my friends. Find a Vision Airlines near you and fly them to their home base of Ft. Walton/Destin for as low as $19 each way (as I did)! Rent a fully-equipped and furnished beachfront condo for a partial week for less than $500 (a rate that hasn’t been honored there in decades)! And enjoy the landscape (both natural and human…it is a military town after all filled with handsome, tanned Airforce men and women)! Arrive on a Saturday or Sunday, as I did, and follow the lights immediately to Harry T’s Lighthouse (www.harryts.com). Ask for Kim, she’s a local and one of the best servers I’ve met in all my travels. Then order the Nachos for the table (as big as a bushel) and unlimited champagne or pineapple cranberry mimosas for under $10. There’s even a server devoted to refills who wears a belt adorned with champagne bottles. You’ll be overlooking Holiday Isle, a peninsula filled with revelers wearing barely anything, hanging from the beach-wrecked boats. You’ll see just how fun your week can be!
I’d suggest you stay on the other end of Holiday Isle or Sandestin, which is half way to Seaside. The beaches there are more grown up, more mature, more quiet. On three occasions, my friends and I even swam with porpoises less than 10 feet away from us. They are friendly sorts, and, between me and three friends, we saved over $1000 had we traveled to the recreated Dolphin World on the other Florida Coast. There are many travel sites that will save you money too such as sandestin.hotelreservations.com where you can search for the amenities, location, room sizes, views and prices you like! And the Goodwill shopping in Destin is amazing (with 50% off funky, recycled clothing on Mondays). You’ll want to rent a car to get around. Pickup is conveniently right at the airport (no shuttles) and as our Hertz rep flavorfully told us, “we aren’t big enough to have check-in and checkout folks for gates out there, so throw your keys back on the counter when you return.” From sunrise to moonlight, you’ll find beachcombing amazing! It was on a morning barefoot run, following inspiration from the full moon the night before, that I met a former Calvin Klein model who set my day off right. I got little sleep while in Destin, and I didn’t need much because when you’re in the Panhandle of Florida, all is bliss and you lose track of time, as it should be. There is a night life in the Destin area and like many places these days, the Str8 and LGBT communities mix together freely. Many folks will lead you to Nighttown on Palmetto Street (www.nightown.com) for dancing, however my female friends and I recommend you go to one of the various establishments at Sandestin’s Baytowne, a gated community with golfing, shopping and clubs. Check out www.sandestin.com/Baytowne. There are wonderful worship opportunities in this town as well, for the morning after. Easter morning, which fell during my first trip to the Panhandle, offered me a choice of two sunrise services, both on the beach: one Lutheran, one Methodist which have become tradition. On my second trip, I took the treasured advise of the Calvin model and my friends from Missouri, Matt and Kate (meet Kate Lauman at www.connectmidmissouri.com/about/bio.aspx?id=693) who became engaged in this area, to take my trio of friends to Seaside, Florida where Jim Carey shot his “Truman Show” (learn more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show). I knew a print model, a liquor rep and and a morning news anchor couldn’t go wrong and they didn’t. While the beaches were a bit more family-friendly (and I mean it in the traditional way, not our way), they were every bit as gorgeous. Seaside, Santa Rosa, Grayton Beach and WaterColor, FL (you read it right, the community’s name is WaterColor; visit it first at www.joe.com/watercolor-community then visit it real time) are must-dos. The shopping around these communities were in a more stylin’, self-contained areas. The choice of unique dining experiences was amazing. Kate directed us to the Red Bar which you’ll recognize by its Indian-inspired door, funky interior and slate board menu . . . that’s right, there are only a few options for lunch and again for dinner. Each choice we made, based on the recommendation of Kim, another friendly server, was delicious (grouper fish and chips, a burger, fresh tuna salad, crawfish), topped off by Florida Key Lime Pie…where one slice easily fed four of us. Ask Dorothy, Rose or Sophia, my travel mates from Shreveport, LA (they know their crawfish) and they will confirm that this pie was the piece’ de resistance! Check out a sample menu at www.theredbar.com. This area is also home to the sweet Seaside Rep (www.seasidereptheatre.wordpress.com) where two recent theatre grads of Centenary College (in Shreveport) are performing this summer. Check out their current production of Commedia Pinocchio which runs through August 10th. Be sure to say hi to Destin and Scott! Yes, my friends and I travel as the “Golden Girls,” and just happened upon Florida this trip, appropriately and gladly so. Thanks gals for a golden good time! And thank you Kim, the other Kim, Matt & Kate, oh and Mr. CK, as well as the many happy folks working in tourism in this area of the Pandhandle for a wonderfully memorable May! I’m grateful, too, that this last four day adventure wasn’t broadcast 24-hours-a-day to billions of people across the globe ala The Truman Show, but then again much of it is, now, thanks to a blog. Travel deliciously!
Rick]]>