30A Beach Trip 2019 – Days 1 & 2

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The week before last we headed down to our favorite place – 30A in Florida!  Since we don’t have plans to take any other big trips this year we decided to make this our longest beach trip yet – eight days and seven nights – so I have lots to recap for you!

We left on Sunday, June 2.  Check-in time for our condo wasn’t until 4 PM CST (which is 5 PM our time) so we took our time getting up and getting on the road.  We stopped in Dothan, AL for lunch at Panera and then continued the drive to our favorite place. 

For some reason, our GPS ignored all of the small country roads we usually take (that get us there faster) and it ended up taking us a bit out of the way, which happened to be right through where Hurricane Michael hit last fall.  The devastation there is still just unimaginable.  We drove for a solid 30 minutes (at least) through nothing but forests with downed trees.  We must have seen thousands of them bent over and broken.  There were also countless residences covered in tarps (some of which looked abandoned altogether) and boarded up businesses with signs up saying “Closed temporarily.”  It was just a little reminder that there are still so many people down there who need our help.

We arrived at our condo about 30 minutes prior to check-in time, so we decided to go ahead and try out the door code and see if we could get in a few minutes early.  The door did unlock but we realized right away that it hadn’t been cleaned. 

Since the condo wasn’t ready, we decided to walk down to the ocean for a bit to kill some time since the kids were dying to see it.  It was HOT, so we didn’t stay out there too long.  When we walked back up to the condo, one of the property managers was just coming out of our unit so we stopped him and asked when he thought the room would be ready.  At that time he couldn’t even give us an estimate which made me a little mad since we were all tired and hungry and ready to be unpacked.

Since there was nothing we could do, we went ahead and made our Publix run to get groceries for the week, and on the way back to the condo we went ahead and made a stop at The Donut Hole to pick up donuts for breakfast for the next morning.  By the time we made it back to the condo, a good hour had passed, and the cleaning crew was just finishing up cleaning the condo.  Thank goodness!  It was worth the wait for this view!

By then it was pretty late our time, so we hustled and got everything settled in, and then we immediately freshened up and headed to dinner.  We had originally planned to go into Panama City for dinner since that’s what we usually do on our first night there, but we decided to forgo that idea since the kids were hungry and tired.  We opted for dinner in Rosemary Beach because it was just a short three minute drive from our condo (we stayed in Seacrest this year) and we hit up Southslide Slice, our favorite little pizza place in 30A.  Somebody was exhausted while we waited for our pizza.  Lol.

You can’t go wrong with pizza and beer, and we were all a little more chipper after dinner, so we decided to take a little stroll around Rosemary.  If you’ve never been, it is positively STUNNING there.  I’ve been to the Bahamas, Maui, and many other tropical/beachy locations and there is nothing better than 30A in Florida, y’all!  The evening was GORGEOUS – completely cloudless and cool – so our walk was about as good as it gets.  B and I sat on a bench in the square while the kids ran around on the green.  A lot of you pointed out that Olivia was yelling at Jacob in the Instagram stories I posted and y’all were right.  Lol.  She’s so bossy!! 

After the kids ran all of their energy out from sitting in the car all afternoon, we strolled up to The Sugar Shack, one of the famous dessert shops in 30A.  The place was packed so there was a bit of a line.  While we waited for our ice cream, the kids browsed all of the candy, and they ultimately decided to have candy for dessert instead of ice cream.  B opted for Mint Chocolate Chip (which is what I usually choose) and I decided to change it up and get Birthday Cake. 

We took our ice creams – and candy – outside and sat on a little bench in the courtyard across the street.  Jacob enjoyed some of his giant gummy snake that he had chosen, and Olivia ate her pacifier lollipop while B and I ate our ice cream.  Dessert with that beautiful view just can’t be beat. 

Once our bellies were full, we hopped back in the car for the short drive back to the condo.  On the way to the car we passed by this cool fish in Barrett Square.  It’s made solely from trash that was pulled from the ocean. 

When we arrived back at the condo, the sun had just nestled into the ocean, so we booked it down to the beach to watch the sky fade from pink to purple to navy.  It was the perfect way to end our first evening there.

On Monday, we were up bright and early Florida time (since we’re usually on Eastern Standard Time), so we scarfed down our donuts that we had gotten the evening before, and then we headed down to the beach!  I think we were down there by 8:30 AM, Florida time.  Lol.  It was nice, though, because we had the whole thing to ourselves!

We stayed down on the beach all. day. long.  I mean, forever, only breaking to make sandwiches for lunch in the condo.  The kids hunted for shells and played in the water and played in the sand and it was just a GORGEOUS day.  I mean, perfect.  The water there is crystal clear with an emerald tint and it looks like a dream. 

We finally headed back up to the condo for good around 3 even though I could have stayed down there for the rest of the evening.  After the kids showered they relaxed and watched a little bit of TV while B and I got ready and then we headed out for our second night there. 

Since we hadn’t been able to go into Panama City the first night we were there, we decided to go ahead and do it on this night.  We have been eating at Pineapple Willy’s every single year since Jacob was born, so it’s a tradition to eat there for every trip.  We always sit out on the pier because – are you even really enjoying your beach trip if you don’t eat outside?!

B and I both got Hurricanes (how appropriate since Pineapple Willy’s was just closed to repair damage for six months following Hurricane Michael) and the kids got their drinks in souvenir pineapple cups.  We had never noticed those on the menu before so I’m thinking they were new this year??  I told B I bet they started offering those to encourage people to spend more money since they’re probably still paying for all of the damage that was done there during the hurricane.  Olivia had been a little grumpy upon arrival, but she sure did perk right up when she saw that special pineapple cup!  For dinner, I tried something different this year and instead of getting my usual turkey sandwich (theirs are soooo good), I got the chef salad and it was awesome! 

After dinner we drove just down the street to play putt putt.  We had been telling the kids for weeks that we were going to try to play putt putt at the beach this year and they didn’t want to wait another second.

Jacob is awesome at it and Olivia is getting much better, so it’s actually really fun and way less stressful nowadays when we play.  I used to always worry about holding people up, but that’s rarely the case now, so it was a super fun evening.  Brian and Jacob both ended up getting not one, but TWO, holes in one and I couldn’t believe it!  Jacob’s score ended up being almost as good as mine, and naturally, B beat us all. 

Also, before I go any further, Olivia's pineapple dress is here.  So many people asked about it on IG!

We were all exhausted by the time putt putt was finished, so we headed back to the condo.  The kids were wanting treats (because we’ve conditioned them and now they expect them every night during vacay – LOL) so we let them eat a little more of their candy from the night before.  B and I opted out since we were still full from our giant Hurricanes.

After the candy-eating we got the kiddos settled in their sleeping bags on the living room floor and both of them were out cold within minutes.  B and I were beat so we both hit the hay, too.  And that was day two!

Lots more goodness coming in future posts so be sure to keep checking back!  In the meantime, check out our By the Numbers post if you missed it!

30A Beach Trip by the Numbers

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