one tourist chronicles

[nodilberthere]

Two weeks in SoWal again was not even close to being enough.

I have a few observations. Skip this part if you are easily bored by tourist meaderings.

We stayed a block from Ed Walline in a pet-friendly house with a pool near Sunrise. We liked it fine, but found the beaches were not as pristine and clean as in previous years at Grayton. There were cigarette butts and trash all over the beach, maybe because we were near the public beach access? I picked up what I could but to see a family of idiots leaving butts and bottle tops every day under their big old plastic beach monstrosity really was an aggravation that I could have done without. I think cigarettes should be banned on beaches. We ended up packing the car and driving to Grayton most days. Grayton seemed different this year, they roped off the dunes so the beach was not as wide, but still pretty. After the tropical storm, (Ana ?) the beaches were blackish and not looking so great :shock:

This year, two of our best days were spent outside of Sowal. We rented a pontoon to Shell Island, which has become a tradition after 5 years. It is such a beautiful beach and perfect way to spend the day. I made fried chicken, potato salad and blueberry bars the night before and we had a picnic lunch on the beach. There was nobody around and the water and weather were PERFECT! There is nothing in this world that I like to do better than this day, wandering around with nothing to do but swim, read, and wander around looking at all the beautiful shells. I'm not sure, but we had heard that the body of the guy who went missing from his sailboat was found the day we were there....not sure if that's true, but there were a lot of emergency vehicles there in the park.

On a whim, we took a ride to Pensacola, thru Navarre and Gulf Islands National Seashore. Wow. What a beautiful place. We spent the day at the beach, had a picnic with Underwood Deviled Chicken spread sandwiches and pickle potato chips at Fort Pickens, then finished up with dinner at Peg Leg Pete's. This will be the day I will use when I need to transport myself to a happy place in my mind. A perfectly perfect day.

There are no finer pastries on this earth than at Fabrice. We went every morning (except Mondays) with our dog for a cup of coffee and an almond croissant -- okay, we split every pastry in the case, every day. Fabrice and his wife were really cool people, and the chocolate croissant elevated him to God-like status in my book. View attachment 14150 My dog enjoyed the flaky pastry crumbs, as well.

We had brinner at the Donut Hole twice. Consistently great food, love the diet plate. The people working there are sooo nice.
Had the absolute worst Spaghetti and Meatballs of my entire life at Angelina's. I'm not sure how they made such a bad meatball, but we're talking epically bad here, and the pasta was watery. Sorry, Angelina's fans.

We had lunch at Cowgirl Kitchen one day, the meatloaf sandwich was tasty. I left hungry after riding my bike for what seemed like 150 miles to get there, but the prices were very reasonable.
We had a free meal at Olive Garden with gift cards we got at Christmas, and as expected, it sucked. But it was free.

We had dinner at the Back Porch in Destin and it was good, the tuna dip is tasty. Grilled amberjack is pretty tasteless but dipped in butter, anything tastes good, right? Eating here feels like a very touristy thing to do, and we love it. I'm sure there are better places, but we come here yearly on our next-to-last night.

Seaside holds no magic for us anymore. The homes by the beach are piled on top of each other and it seems every year they squeeze in a few more. I still buy a new cookbook every year at Sundog, wine at Modica and funky jewelry at Perscipasity, but a few hours was enough time spent here this year.

The ripoff of the year was had in Wharftowne at a place called the Raspberry Rhino, where we spent 12 dollars for two Red Bulls for our kids, and 36 dollars for two gin martinis. I live near New York City and am accustomed to paying premium for booze, but this was tourist abuse in my book. They didn't even have Goldfish or peanuts at the bar.

For beach shade, we use a contraption my husband made out of four tent poles and a shower curtain. It weighs about 2 pounds and takes 3 minutes to set up. We're pretty pround of our invention. View attachment 14151

 

[nodilberthere]

I guess I hit Enter by accident....I'm not done yet.

We had lunch on our first day in Grayton at the place that used to be D&K and it was good with a great view. I think I had a Shrimp Po Boy, which was good. I've been saying it for years, but this time I think I'm seriously over the Po Boy forever. No matter how well-made, they're always just too much bread.

We did stop into the Red Bar, for the first time ever, one night. Sorry Red Bar fans, I don't see what the draw is here. The menu on the chalkboard was so limited. Maybe there is a regular menu and we were too late for it? It was lively inside, but there were a lot of screaming kids around us so we boogied out, went home, boiled shrimp in beer, made guacamole, drank beer and floated around in the pool looking at the stars. Not bad.

Camp Helen is a really nice park for beaching and a picnic. There is never anyone there, and I'm not sure why, but we really enjoy it there.

I spent one morning driving around checking out rental signs for next year. I really liked the feel of Inlet Beach or Gulf Trace for next year, however, Pensacola was mighty nice........

We finished up with three days in Disney to end the trip on a high note, which it does manage to do every year. This year was the emptiest I've ever seen it in August, and the temps were great.


See ya next year!

 

[aggieb]

oh me that's a fab tent. sounds as though you all had a ball! i like the shrimp/beer @ home and floating in the pool looking at the stars part. nice.

 

[seagrovegirl]

Thank you for your rendition, it is grayt!! The Red Bar food is amazing, even with a limited menu. Please go there next time you are here and give it a try. Later evening is preferred when the kiddies are at home...asleep!

 

[Paula]

I LOVE Fabrice. Best pastries and great service. Wish they had more choices in coffee (e.g., cappucino) but the coffee is great and the pastry... support them so they never, ever leave SoWal.

And if you like Fabrice pastry, you also need to try the Beignets at Flip flops (I know you're all tired of me saying this if you've heard me on the board before) and the donuts at Charlie's donut truck in Alys Beach. All are fantastic ways to start the day for us morning people. And all can be taken to the beach...(as long as we clean up afterwards and we can clean our sticky fingers in the ocean).

 

[nodilberthere]

I looked for the donut truck a few times but I never did see it.

I had Flip Flops on my list of places to go, but time ran out and so did our dining cash ....next time, though. We went out to eat a lot more this year than we ever have before. I love to cook on vacation and I look forward to it all year. It's so relaxing, nobody's in a rush to run out anywhere and I don't count calories so I'll make things I would never make here at home. This year the kitchen in our rental was not not stocked well at all, no cooking utensils, really cheap-o pots and pans, no pitcher, one wine glass, no margarita glasses, etc.....and it was old and dirty in the cabinets, so it took the fun out of making meals. Actually, the other weird thing was that the master bedroom had no dresser at all, no drawers, just a t.v. stand and two little night stands. That really made it a challenge keeping track of our clothes. I like it when you go to a rental and there are little touches of the owner's personality, knick knacks, beachy decor, a guest book to read and write in, etc. This rental had none of that, which is a shame because it had a lot of potential.

Oh well, that just gives me something to do this fall, look into all the rental notes I made on my rental search excursions for next year.

 

[BeachbumAggie]

I'm a big fan of making breakfast in our rental (something there's rarely ever time for at home) so I know what you mean about cooking in the rental. We've had great luck with well stocked rentals the last few years which helps.

I agree that you should come to Red Bar later and try the food, small menu yes but all well done-I loooove their manicotti and it's huge so so cheesy!

We like to get our shrimp steamed at Goatfeathers 2, grill a little sausage, toast some nice bread from Publix, have some chip and dip, this is a bit of a Sat night tradition for us.

The sand often has the black stuff after a storm, we had some of that this summer as well. We were there early this year so the beaches were pretty clean compared to what I've read of later trips this season.

My cousin and their family went to Pensacola last year and had a great time, we often stop thru for a morning on our way to Seagrove to pick up shells.

Glad ya'll had fun at Shell Island, it was 8000 degrees the day we went, I broke my pinkie toe walking back to the boat (kicked wood covered in sand) and almost passed out from the heat!!

 

[tsutcli]

Never had a bad experience at Red Bar. Yes, menu is limited but everything is good, especially the crab cakes on Friday and Sat. nites.

 

[nodilberthere]

We didn't have a bad experience at Red Bar, we just didn't stay. Actually, we went for the Crabcakes and there weren't any on the menu that night. I'm sure it's great, and it looked like a really fun place to go with friends, just not two moody teenagers who would rather eat pizza.

 

[nodilberthere]

I'm a big fan of making breakfast in our rental (something there's rarely ever time for at home) so I know what you mean about cooking in the rental. We've had great luck with well stocked rentals the last few years which helps.

I agree that you should come to Red Bar later and try the food, small menu yes but all well done-I loooove their manicotti and it's huge so so cheesy!

We like to get our shrimp steamed at Goatfeathers 2, grill a little sausage, toast some nice bread from Publix, have some chip and dip, this is a bit of a Sat night tradition for us.

The sand often has the black stuff after a storm, we had some of that this summer as well. We were there early this year so the beaches were pretty clean compared to what I've read of later trips this season.

My cousin and their family went to Pensacola last year and had a great time, we often stop thru for a morning on our way to Seagrove to pick up shells.

Glad ya'll had fun at Shell Island, it was 8000 degrees the day we went, I broke my pinkie toe walking back to the boat (kicked wood covered in sand) and almost passed out from the heat!!

Oh wow, breaking a pinkie toe -- OUCH!

The black sand wasn't so bad, I know that it's naturally occuring....but the cigarette butts and trash were just so disappointing to see. Some people just suck. I watched one guy flick his butts all day. My husband evenutally got tired of hearing me ***** about how wrong that is and removed me from the beach. :roll: I just couldn't believe that somebody is that stupid that they don't realize cigarette butts are trash. Whose wants their kids digging with a shovel to find cigarette butts? That's why we went to Grayton from then on. No trash at all on Grayton's Beach, at least where I was sitting. And I am an ex-smoker who never left butts on the beach. But I do have neighbors who will sit on my patio and throw their butts on my lawn, as if they are magically going to vaporize.