Family Vacation To Destin Florida – Part 1

Most of our vacations are spent with extended family. It is rare for the four of us to get away or spend time together without work/school for an entire week. A weekend here and there….yes. Eight days away….never. But a family member gifted us a week in a fabulous condo on the Destin harbor just two blocks from the beach as a big thank you. So we roadtripped it down to the beach and even though construction and beach traffic added an extra hour and a half to the drive, it didn’t ruin our excitement to smell the salt air.

As we crossed the bridge into Destin, this magnificent storm cloud was off to the west of us.

We didn’t make it to the beach on the first evening, even though it was less than a five minute walk. By the time we got unloaded, unpacked, and settled in, it was after dark. The beach waited for us until Sunday. And then the kids jumped waves.

We didn’t want to leave the waves and stayed past sunset.

We walked back to our boardwalk entrance in very little light. I think this felt pretty special to the kids as it is rare they’re out after dark and not in bed.

A couple of teenagers ran past me and I turned around to catch them as they ran into the last bit of the sunset.

Every day, the boardwalk felt like a rite of passage. The transition area from a normal life with regular buildings and streets and stores to a sandy oasis with the comforting rhythm of the waves. In a way, it felt like we were walking through C.S. Lewis’s magical wardrobe.

I lagged behind, watching my people cross the street and dragging my shutter speed to catch the tail lights of passing cars.

The boy child remembered me dragging them out of bed to see the sunrise last year in Hilton Head. He had groaned about it at the time, but it apparently made a lasting impression and he asked for us all to get up and see the sunrise in Destin. Both kids were slow to get up when the alarm went off at 5:15am.

When we walked out of the building, the moon was still high in the sky.

We were able to see the sunrise getting started as we walked by part of the harbor on our way to the beach.

As it turned out, we were unable to see the sunrise on the beach. It was blocked by hotels and condos, so we turned our backs to it and saw the beautiful effects of it in the opposite direction lighting up the highest peaks of the clouds.

Can you see that it is pouring buckets in the distance underneath that incredible cloud?

I like tracking fast objects and seeing how well I can grab and maintain focus. Sometimes, it is rocks my boy child throws into a river or creek. On this morning, it was the seagulls. The moon was still shining over us.

With the approach of sunset, we took another walk to the beach. This was from our balcony looking out over the majority of the harbor and all the way out to the bridge. I loved the clouds!

I wanted to walk more on the beach than the rest of the people (read as, I ate way too much and needed to exercise!). So I left them behind to cover a couple of miles. When I returned, I found my honeys on the right, watching over the little jumping waves in their regular clothes.

They walked back in their soaking clothes, dripping the whole way.

When we got back, the reflections of all the lights on the buildings and homes lining the harbor were so beautiful!

Click here to see Part 2 of our family vacation at Destin beach.