Destin...

Ok, so I'm slacking, I know...It's been over a week since we took our trip to Destin and I haven't even said a word about it.

Well...things got a bit hectic after I made the decision to go. My father was in town for the FLW fishing tournament (he fishes on the co-angler side) and I met up with him on Weds after work. Then I had church with Caylie and we were still stuffing eggs for the easter egg hunt. Thursday after work, I got the oil changed and a headlight replaced in my car. (Man was both of those things needed!) Then I had a meeting to go to.

So, Friday rolls around and we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Both of us ended up staying late at work. I wasn't packed AT ALL. Shane at least had most of his things together. I got home first and began gathering snacks and heating up some dinner to eat while I packed. I decided to go ahead and bake a box of muffins. (Might as well since I still had to pack everything I needed).

We finally got on the road about an hour behind schedule. In a way this was ok because we had horrible tornado like storms coming across MS and AL and, of course, we had to drive across AL to get to Destin. The majority of the drive was ok, but there were serious scattered showers...and when I say showers,....I mean monsoon like downpours! There were times that I couldn't see in front of me. It was absolutely horrible. Then, right after we got off the interstate in Montgomery, the national weather service issues a warning to get indoors and off the roads near the exits that I had just gotten off of 15-20 mins prior. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck after that. I had to wake Shane up and keep him looking around until we got into Destin and away from the storms. The last leg of the drive (after Montgomery) is all back roads 2-4 lane highways. Kinda nice, but frustrating at times. Since we were having so much trouble with the weather, it took the full 7 hours to get there.

On Saturday morning, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we went out to explore the shopping. Since we just moved a couple of months ago and things are still being unpacked, I could only have 1 half of my bathing suit, which was not a good thing. So, we went by the outlet mall to get me a new one. Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the beach. Shane found out that he needed a new swim trunks, so we went back to the outlet to get him some sandals and then to a beach store for swim trunks a  towel and sunblock.

When we got out onto the beach, we noticed that the "red" flag was out meaning that we needed to use caution because of the currents. We found out right away why. The wind was blowing so hard that sand was kicking up on us and if you got mid-calf into the water, you were being pulled out or sideways. We stayed out for probably an hour or so, then decided to head back to the hotel to clean up.

We watched a movie on tv and rested up eating popcorn. I had a bit of sunburn on my left arm from driving around mainly. Shane was sunburned on his shoulders and right arm. After a while we got motivated and went to Wine World to check out their cheese store. It turns out the cheese store was already closed, but they have a really cool machine that you can purchase a card for and sample different wines there in the store. So much fun! We got a $10 card and sampled several reds and a couple of whites. Shane still preferred the zinfandel to everything else, so we grabbed a bottle of Sin Zin.

 For dinner we decided to check out Poppy's Dancing Iguana. There were a few of reasons why I chose this place to eat.
1: There was a buy 1 get 1 free entree coupon in a magazine that we got at the hotel.
2: I love mexican food
3: It was near the little boardwalk area, and I wanted to check it out.

It was a great decision! The food was amazing! Fresh chunky guacamole and salsa. What made it even better was it was on the gulf! We were basically sitting on a patio right beside the harbor docks. We were able to see the sunset and enjoy a great meal...could not have asked for better.

Then we walked around and looked at the shops before deciding to return to the hotel.

Sunday morning we woke up got ready and had breakfast at the hotel. We went back to the room to pack, got the car loaded and then went out for coffee. Right along the beach was a coffee shop that we had to check out just for the name...The Bad Ass Coffee Co....man was it good! I got a decaf monkey mocha and Shane had a lava java mocha. Super yummy! Then we went next door to the Emerald Coast Wine Cellar. They have a winery nearby where they grow muscadines for wine. They had so many different options! They offer a free wine tasting so Shane and I tried a few more. We settled on a bottle of Noble (red) and Wildhoney Flower (white). We also purchased a really neat cork holder. It's wrought iron in the shape of a globe and says corks of the world. So cool! It spins!

Then we went back to the outlet mall to have a hot dog...wait, not a hot dog...a SABRETT!!! YUMMO!! Love it! We talked with the owner for a few minutes about when my sister owned her own hot dog stand in Nashville. Then we went over to the Van Huesen store to shop a little more. I found a few things on major sale and Shane got a shirt and belt.

Then we said goodbye to Destin...