Switch your condos, do-si-do

I enjoyed an early breakfast on the lanai, where I watched the Destin West maintenance crew go through the process of recovering from the weekend. Chemicals were added to the spas (which gave me an increased sense of security), the lights along the lazy river were reattached, and the beer cans were collected and disposed of. Lorie had negotiated with the front office regarding our condo switch. They allowed us to remain in the bayside unit past check out time, and would call us when our gulfside unit was ready.

The red flags were still flying at the beach, and the gulf was still roiling. I think the girls and their mom visited the pool for a short time that morning. I went into Destin in search of a bargain on a small beach umbrella and chairs. I was also tasked with the acquisition of tequila and other ingredients for Beer Margaritas. (In Florida, distilled liquor is only available at dedicated liquor stores. The grocery stores sell only wine and beer, so I was unable to pick up the fixings for our new traditional Florida vacation beverage while at the Publix yesterday.) I visited the liquor store, the grocery store, the Walmart, and really never found an umbrella deal better than what was available at the FWB Publix. The chairs were all pretty expensive, and I was pretty sure we weren't going to have room in the minivan to take them home with us.

Back at Destin West as check-out time approached, we collected our dirty laundry, packed up what was left of our food, and finished cleaning the condo. We had lunch, and then the call came in from the front desk letting us know that the gulfside condo was ready. I spent the next two hours lugging boxes down to the minivan, which I then drove across the highway, where I then lugged all those boxes back up to our new digs.

The new unit was super nice - bigger, with two bedrooms in addition to the bunk room. The master bedroom was on the ocean side of the condo (unlike the previous one), with a double sliding door opening onto the lanai. The master bathroom was much more luxurious, and the furnishings were certainly more upscale. The best part (besides the view, of course) was that we finally felt comfortable unpacking our boxes.


Finally settled in, we packed the girls in the van and decided to do some Destin sightseeing. Our first stop was the alligator park at Fudpuckers, a local restaurant. In addition to the bar and grill, they house a small alligator museum, and a fairly large lagoon with live specimens. I assume they were live. They did appear to be breathing, and I'm pretty sure one of them moved. Once.

Admission to Gator Beach is free, and patrons are given the opportunity to buy gator food on hookless fishing pools. Several kids were attempting to entice the reptiles with these "goodies", but the gators weren't having any of it. Several casts dropped directly onto gator snouts, but failed to elicit even a flinch of annoyance. These gators were hot, bored, and not in the least bit hungry.

The museum was small, and sort of hokey, but there was a very animated docent who provided interesting commentary about the animals. My knee was starting to throb (I was recovering from surgery the month before), so I sat in the shade and listened to the lecture while my female companions explored the exhibits. On our way out, we contemplated coming back for dinner, but found the menu to be a bit lacking. We visited the gift shop for a while, then headed east on 98.

We took the girls to the Destin Commons outdoor mall. We had been alerted via the pages of TripAdvosor that the mall contained several features that children would enjoy, including a playground for younger kids, and a set of ground-level fountains. Jules was enthralled with the soft climbing features of the playground, and Liz and Kate dodged the fountain blasts for nearly an hour, emerging soaked to the skin. The girls had a change of clothes in the van, so we let them have their fun without restraining them.


After the mall, we wanted to visit Henderson Beach State Park. It was getting sort of late in the afternoon, close to closing time for the park and campground. We didn't feel like we wanted to pay the rather steep, per-vehicle admission to just drive through quickly and leave, so we turned around and returned to the main drag.

We stopped in to a couple of the stores that I had scouted earlier, but neither Lorie nor I felt the need to pay the prices that were being asked for beach chairs. We traveled west on 98, back toward Destin Pass and the Choctahoochiwoochie Bay (or whatever it's called). It was approaching 8:00pm and we were becoming ravenous.

We visited Dewey Destin's seafood restaurant. Just before crossing the bridge back to Fort Walton Beach, we turned toward the bay and found the dirt road which led to a dirt parking lot behind a dilapidated looking shack on the water. If we hadn't received glowing recommendations for this place, we would have certainly turned around and left at this point. The lot was nearly full, indicative of at least some return business. We walked into the shack that serves as the kitchen and fish market. The menu, written on a blackboard inside, was sparse but sufficient. I ordered grilled Yellowtail Tuna with a Teriyaki marinade. Lorie ordered a similar special - grilled teriyaki Mahi Mahi. The girls ordered fish and shrimp baskets (fried fish with fries and fried hush puppies, with a side of coleslaw that went to Mom and Dad). We also had a crab something appetizer for the table, which was good, as I recall. Outside, we had to wait for a table to open up before we were able to sit. The wooden picnic tables are all outside, on the dock which juts into the bay. No candles, no linen tablecloths, and no wine service. Just really good, really fresh, just-off-the-boat seafood. The Yellowtail was awesome, and Lorie's Mahi was even better. The girls seemed to enjoy their meals as well.

We made it back to the condo about 10:30pm, and after enjoying the view from the lanai, we all turned in.