vacation day 3

Monday, November 29: Day 3

So….my motivation to get up early was thwarted by a.) the Colts game and b.) CNN heroes. Amanda was up with Reed around 5 and the rest of the kids were up around 6:30. My sweet wife did her best to let me sleep in. I drifted in and out of consciousness until about 7:30. I literally stumbled out of bed with another reminder of why running on the beach is a bad idea. I was SO sore. With the kids all ready, we headed to the The Donut Hole. Let the adventure begin.

When we first entered Destin on Saturday, we past The Donut Hole just a few miles east of the resort. Despite having seen one location we decided to trust the GPS to take us to what appeared to be a second location about 12 miles west of the resort. Initially, the GPS led us to a Dead End street in a residential area. Between our iPhones and the TomTom, we finally found the The Donut Hole not too far from the initial, wrong location. As we approached the restaurant, we noticed the marquee with the message “Re Opening Dec. 18th.” Awesome! So, at this point, it was about 8:30am and we had been driving for over 30 minutes with some very hungry children. So, we headed back east. We decided to go back to the Baytowne Wharf (part of our resort north of Highway 98, see day 2) to have breakfast at Another Broken Egg. Several people had suggested we try Another Broken Egg and we completely agree with all the reviews. Amanda fell in love with their coffee AND their coffee mugs. Apparently there was something about the lip of the mug that made it comfortable to drink out of. Anyway, the kids all got pancakes and I got something truly unbelievable. I ordered the cinnamon roll french toast. So, take a cinnamon, stand it on its side and bread slice it. Fry the sliced cinnamon as if you were doing french toast. Finally, add icing, fresh strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry and whipped cream. Yeah…it was awesome.

The weather today was the warmest yet but rain was looming. Knowing that time on the beach or at the pool wasn’t likely to happen today, it was nice that breakfast was right next to the playground where we took the kids yesterday. The kids had the place to themselves for most of the time we were there. At one point Cooper and I took a little walk by ourselves. It was short but nice to have a little time just her and I. As rain drops began to fall, we packed the kids up and headed back to the condo. It was around 11am at this point and time to put Cooper and Reed down for naps. While they slept, Amanda went down to the exercise room and I read on the couch. Avin and Parker were, once again, perfectly satisfied to play with their toys and games. Amanda’s workout was short due to a lousy treadmill. While reading on the couch, I began to doze off. Sinus pressure was back I was feeling pretty miserable so a nap, although short, was welcome.

After naps, we decided to hit the road in search of one of our favorite eateries when traveling, Five Guys burgers and fries. Once again, there appeared to one fairly close to us, but rather than take the easy way, we decided to take a trip about 30 miles east to Panama City. Having never been, I was curious to see what the hype was all about. One the way to Panama City, we took a detour through Grayton Beach and Seaside. Grayton Beach was quaint and unique. Compared to most of the surrounding, commercialized areas, Grayton was a little more humble but lovely. Seaside was definitely impressive. This area is so clean and consistent. The landscaping and building all appeared to be perfectly maintained. Further east on Highway 30A, we were surprised by the Rosemary Beach area. This stretch screamed high class. The buildings and home were beautiful and there were a few beachfront properties that had unbelievable homes on them.

Back on Highway 98, entering Panama City we were less than impressed. We found 5 guys located in a large, very nice shopping area. We enjoyed our burgers, hot dogs, fries and peanuts and needed to walk them off. We walked back toward an area filled with carnival rides. As we walked through, nothing appeared to be open so we kept going. The kids were antsy and needed entertainment. We came back through the rides and found the guys running them. Turns out they were open, we just had the place to ourselves. Avin and Parker flew the airplanes (Avin had to watch Parker ride first to help him overcome his fear) and Amanda and Cooper rode the carousel. After the rides, we went to back to Marble Slab Creamery, conveniently located right next to 5 guys. Avin got Birthday Cake ice cream, Cooper had Banana and Parker had Cinnamon. I had trouble deciding and ask for a suggestion from the Romanian gal helping us. Her response was, “I don’t eat much ice cream, but more people get the Cookie’s ‘n Fudge.”

After ice cream, we loaded up and made one quick pass by the main be strip in Panama City. In an effort to get something that would keep my sinuses from exploding, we found the nearest Target (for the 3rd night in a row). I got my medicine and we headed back west. We took the same route back that we had taken there and saw some lovely Christmas lights. We made it back to the condo by about 6:00pm.

The next hour ended up being the most fun part of the day. As we got the kids ready for bed, we all cuddled on the couch and took turns getting Reed to laugh and just had a fun time with each other. On our way to the kids bedroom, Avin, Parker, Cooper and I stopped at the mirrored wall in the dining room to make silly faces. Avin struggled to make faces because he couldn’t stop laughing at mine. From there it was off to bed. With the kids on snug, I read them Napoleon Goes to the Ballpark and it was lights out.
Today was really the first day that we felt as though we’ve got Destin to ourselves. We’ve pretty well determined that this is the time of the year to come. The weather could stand to be a bit warmer and there are a few places that we would like to see closed for the season, but ultimately, we’re loving not having to fight crowds. Especially considering we’re traveling with 4 young children.
The forecast looks grim tomorrow but we plan to make the most of our time together here.