Since it is about a 9-10 hour drive to Destin, we spent all day Monday traveling. Of course, the road was familiar enough since we drove it in November to Orlando--through East Texas, Southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and into Florida. Destin is about an hour south of Pensacola. It has absolutely beautiful beaches. The clear, green water along the coast is the reason they call it the Emerald Coast. Hopefully, the oil spill won't ruin that beauty.
On Monday and Tuesday nights, we camped at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. It was a very nice camping facility with a short walk to the beach. They are known for their coastal dune lakes, which are a pretty rare occurrence. We had a nice time walking on the beach and hiking to one of the lakes. We even had a campfire and did tin foil dinners, which I haven't done forever.
On Wednesday and Thursday we stayed in a hotel near Choctawhatchee Bay in Destin. Because Josh loves kayaking, I very hesitantly agreed to go with him. I will admit that I was quite scared the entire time we were out. Hanging out in deep water is not my favorite thing to do, and then put ocean creatures with that, and I was pretty terrified. Had we tipped over, I don't know what I would have done. Fortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, we ended up seeing a pod of dolphins. They were amazing, but I have to admit that I was freaked out because I thought they might accidentally tip us over. There were literally a dozen or more dolphins, and we were close enough to see some of their scars. However, they were fast, and our camera is slow, so we didn't get any good pictures of them. Josh wanted to snorkel off one of the jetties (another thing he loves that I don't), but when we got close enough, we discovered that there were quite a number of jellyfish. Josh is daring but not stupid, so we scratched that (thankfully).
It was a great trip, and it was nice to be alone together. Of course, we did miss Eli, and I'm sure he would have loved being there with us. Maybe we'll go again next year with him. He really loved being here with his grandma, though. He's getting old enough now to recognize his grandparents, and I'm sure he misses not having them near. Fortunately, he missed us enough to be really excited when he saw us on Friday. He had a hard time going to sleep that night.
Today Josh starts another Florida adventure as he flies to Ft. Lauderdale for an optometry conference where he is presenting some of his research. He'll be gone most of the week and be home just long enough to say hi to me on our anniversary before he goes on a father/son camping trip with Eli next weekend. Then he'll be back to start his externship and another semester. Life is busy! But thanks to Mom Pratt, Josh and I were able to have a moment of relaxation alone together. We won't forget it!
2 comments:
How nice that you two got to have a little vacation all to yourselves! Happy anniversary!!!
I sure loved watching Eli! We had a wonderful time together!! I was concerned he would miss his mom & dad too much but he is such a secure little guy! He understood that his parents were going away for a little while but would be back. Josh & Stephanie consistently follow through so he totally trusts what they say.
He was a delight and I miss him!!
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