Experiencing Destin

We woke up with an open mind, the hotel might not have been what we had hoped for, so we decided to explore the beach! The hotel had a garden in the center to walk through to access the beach, it was really nice and reminded me of resorts in Mexico etc. There were even "swim-up" hotel rooms, just like those resorts! That was pretty cool. The beach was also like the big resorts we have seen while considering a Mexican vacation. Again, we were open-minded as we set out to explore our favorite thing...the beach!

The sand may have even been the whitest, softest I've seen. The water was still clear and beautiful, there was a little more seaweed here than on the island, and maybe we were just "beached out" from our week in paradise, but it didn't hold up to our standards. Unfortunately, I really do think we are spoiled by the beaches we go to...they are less populated, protected with more regulations, and further south. I suppose after a quiet, perfect week on an unspoiled beach, it's hard to get a fair perspective while researching other beach areas. I like to keep all my posts positive, focusing on the good times and such, but this really made us sad. Really sad actually. This beach, while beautiful by nature, is having a difficult time due to the people using it, taking advantage of it, drunks leaving beer bottles, cans, trash, even hotel bedding was still there from a drunken night before. Resort workers were quickly working to try to clean it all up. We could see litter being washed out by the waves. Hoards of chairs, umbrellas, being set up to appease the crowd that would abuse this beach again today. See...I told you it made us sad. Sad for God's beautiful creation-an amazing beach, sad for humanity-that they take such advantage with no consideration. Seeing this made me want to leave the beach, I had no desire to swim in the water, without knowing what trash could lie right under the sand...I even made the kids put their shoes on to walk because I had seen glass pieces from beer bottles. We went back to the hotel to try out the pool and forget what we had just seen. I guess big, commercial beach areas are not for us.

Gotta say, the pool was really nice, it was less crowded on this early Sunday morning. It was fun to explore the waterfall and the water playground area.

After getting to swim, we headed out to explore the Destin area. We have to remember that this is a tourist area, the same type of area that we typically try to avoid while on vacation, but hey...we are playing tourist today so let's see what all the hype is about! The area is definitely crowded, the beaches look beautiful from the road. The traffic was similar to the downtown Branson area. We drove down to the Pensacola area, got distracted following "the light" at the end of a beachside road (lol), and ended up in the car for way longer than expected. Kids were falling asleep and we found ourselves dreading another night in that crowded hotel. I called and asked if we could cancel our 2nd night and they accepted, we had to have our items out of the room by noon. We hurried back, packed up, and were happy to be back on the road toward home. I guess busier places are not for us. Maybe growing up at Lake of the Ozarks, a tourist attraction town, made me want to escape that while on vacation, not sure. I think we will stick to the quieter beaches.