(Thursday, October 26th – Saturday, November 4th, 2017) – We embarked on a fall trip to Panama City Beach, Florida with a snow-filled forecast for Minnesota (leaving just in time – haha!).
The first day of driving was great weather, and we landed in Quincy, Illinois for the evening. We ordered in and had the best pizza in town, from Gem City Pizza (tasted like House of Pizza – yummy!).
The second day of driving included about 4 hours in a constant rain, not so great. A bright spot for the traveling was a stop in Cape Girardeau, Missouri for a delicious meal at Steak & Shake. We landed in Corinth, Mississippi for the evening.
The third day of travel had us going from Corinth, Mississippi to Panama City Beach, where we arrived at about 6:00 pm. Along the way, we had a delicious meal at the Santa Fe Cattle Company in Troy, Alabama. In PCB, we soon found out that there is a major motorcycle convention of some sort – and many of the bikes were staying at the Comfort Inn where we were.
Sunday, October 29th was our first full day at PCB, and the adventure began with a trip to Eden Gardens State Park, where we took a tour of the Wesley House, which was built in the 1800’s. The grounds had some very large and old “living” oak trees, estimated at 600 years old.
We visited the Panama City Beach welcome center and had lunch at a local place called Salty Sue’s before checking into our accommodations on the beachfront for the next four nights. The view from our room was amazing; the ocean (Gulf of Mexico) was right outside – the sunset from our room was beautiful.
Monday, October 30th was a fantastic day at the beach. We ran some errands early in the day and had a delicious meal of redfish at the Fishale Grille for lunch. The water in the Gulf was so clear, and the waves were gentle coming into shore. We measuredly walked out into the water until we were acclimated to the water temperature. We frolicked in the salty water, bobbing as the new waves came into shore, over and over – it was delicious as the sun shone brightly down on us from the south.
After some magical time in the ocean, we retired to the hotel pool area and enjoyed some time in the hot tub before reading on nearby lounge chairs. It was a perfect day!
Tuesday, October 31 was a day of adventure! Our adventure was a three-hour tour of dolphin sightseeing, exploring an uninhabited island, and snorkeling. The day was a perfect 75 degrees and sunny as we boarded the small boat with one other couple.
There were many dolphin sightings during our tour, along with jellyfish, and a few small sharks near the shore. One of the highlights of the adventure was exploring Shell Island together. We also enjoyed snorkeling over a shipwreck of a Schooner near St. Andrews State Park. The story has it that the shipwreck was from rum-runners back in the day. Our guide said that no lives were lost in the shipwreck and now the wreckage serves as home for many fish. It was fun to snorkel and view the wreckage and the many fish.
After our daytime adventure we cleaned up and enjoyed a delicious meal at Runaway Island Grill located right on the beach. The grilled blackened swordfish and mahi-mahi were very delicious.
We’re so grateful for such a wonderful day!
Wednesday, November 1st included an airboat tour, some quality beach time, and then strolling along the Panama City Beach Pier to witness a gorgeous sunset before enjoying some Red Brick Pizza at Pier Park.
We enjoyed our road trip back home through many states, including Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Iowa, to get home to “Minne-snowta”!
Below are some of the signs along the highway that we passed by, and Busch Stadium, home of the Saint Louis baseball Cardinals, was very close to the freeway.
