Destin, FL

Wednesday, April 10

Destin, FL has been on my RV travel bucket list since the first time I saw a picture of the gorgeous white sand beaches. I’ve visited Florida many times, but I’d never been to the northwest panhandle. I’ve been looking forward to this part of our RV road trip for weeks.

Available campsites were harder to come by on Florida’s Emerald Coast, so Andi made reservations ahead of time. We’ll be hopping around to different campsites during our time here which is completely fine with us. One of the biggest perks of our Class C RV is that it sets up quickly.

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Santa Rosa Beach is one of Florida’s premier state parks located 10 miles east of Destin. We were lucky to get a campsite here for our first night in the area. We pulled in around 3:00pm and hooked up the RV, then walked down to the beach to check it out. It was a bit of a hike — 1 1/2 miles on a warm, sunny afternoon — Aden barely made! Andi noticed a tram that runs back and forth from the beach to the campground every half hour & noted that we needed to be on that shuttle when it left again.

Finding a geocache near the beach helped spur the kids along for the last stretch. This one was hidden near No Name Lake in the brush. Tory traded a plastic gem we brought along for a plastic gold coin which she was thrilled about.

As expected, the beach was incredible! I’ve never seen sand so soft and white. It felt like sugar between my toes.

There were quite a few other families on the beach — the most kids we’ve seen so far on our trip. Not many people were playing in the ocean because the temperature was cool (in the low 70’s) and fairly windy. Still, it was a beautiful sight.

Back at the campground, Andi grilled the tuna steaks he'd bought at the fresh seafood market in Dunnellon yesterday for dinner. Tuna steaks are easy to over-cook, but Andi was determined to get them right using a few tips the owner gave him — use sesame oil and only grill the steaks for one minute on each side.

Our goal is to eat ALL THE SEAFOOD while it’s so fresh and readily available.

Thursday, April 11

Beach day! After breakfast and school, we were all anxious to spend the morning at the beach before we left Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. We packed up all the things — beach toys, sun tent, towels, goggles, sunscreen, music and hurried over to catch the tram down to Santa Rosa Beach. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on board with our plans! The sun was shining, but the windy was whipping over the water making it difficult to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

The kids never seem to be affected by temperature so they were happily playing in the sand, but even with our sun tent blocking some of the wind, I was shivering! I suggested to Andi that we scrap our plans for a beach day and go inland to find another activity that might not be so windy. After all, the sun was shining so I knew it’d be warmer if we were right by the water.

Andi agreed and said to the kids, “How would you like to go to the amusement park?” Of course, they erupted in cheers! We quickly packed up our tent and gathered our beach toys, and high-tailed it to the tram stop at the entrance of the beach to catch a ride back to our RV. Phew! We made it.

I’d read about a fun amusement park in Destin called The Track, so that’s where we headed. It was located about 20 minutes away from Topsail Hill Preserve State Park but we were moving campgrounds today anyway today, so it didn’t much matter.

The Track amusement park was almost empty on a Thursday afternoon! Perfect time to visit. We bought a points card for rides and stepped right up to the bumper boats — Tory and Aden’s first pick.

The bumper boats were so fun! It was Team Boys vs. Team Girls & we were all drenched by the end of the ride. Tory and Aden manned the squirters while Andi and I steered the boats. Each parent took the brunt of the super soakers.

Tory and Aden tried a few more rides by themselves like a kiddie go-cart track, the jungle jumper, and a spinning top ride. I love the rides that drop you unexpectedly the best, but neither Tory or Aden were big fans of this one. Tory screamed and Aden was stone-cold silent — I couldn’t tell if he was un-phased by it or scared to death. Turns out, it was the latter. Aden got off the Jungle Jumper and said firmly, “I did not like one!”

Next, the four of us rode the regular bumper together and the family go-karts. It was really fun to laugh and act like a kid again. We all had a blast.

After rides, we visited the arcade which was like a mini version of Dave & Busters. Andi gave the kids each $1 and said they could play one game each. They were having so much fun that he gave them another dollar to play one more. And then Andi had to get in on the action and play one himself, too. From the arcade games, the kids collected 75 points to redeem at the prize counter. There were rows and rows of tiny plastic toys like rings and green army action figures. Aden chose a Dum Dum sucker and a piece of Twizzlers licorice for his prize; Tory picked a Dum Dum sucker and a few plastic rings to use as geocache trinkets.

The four of us left The Track with giant smiles on our faces. It was a fun afternoon doing something different in Destin.

For our second night in the Destin, FL area, we camped at Grayton Beach State Park which is located between Panama City Beach and Destin. This entire is a great place for families to visit. There’s lots of shops and restaurants, amusement parks and themed-bowling alleys, miles of pristine quartz sand beaches and emerald-colored waters. 

The Grayton Beach State Park campground wasn’t quite as polished as nearby Topsail Hill Preserve, but it was still beautiful with massive sand dunes and access to Western Lake on the property. Our campsite was fairly secluded with tall shrub bushes on three sides of the space. It’s funny how no matter where you are when you’re traveling in an RV, it always feels like home. I found myself stopping to question where we were for a second or two when I stepped outside the camper door after we’d settled in at Grayton Beach.

We had a grilled pork tenderloin, green beans and salad for dinner and then Andi started a campfire & we enjoyed our first s’mores of the year. They tasted like summertime!   

The kids were super hyper after a big sugar rush of chocolate and marshmallows, and they ran around our campsite with headlamps in the dark chased each other. Hearing those squeals of laughter and the warm evening breeze felt like summer, too. Looking forward to those days when we’re back in Wisconsin again.