Peter and I flew down to Panama City Beach, FL, last week to meet my parents (who drove from Memphis) for a week at the beach. We rented a condo here - the Majestic Beach Towers - on the 14th floor. All of the condos here are directly on the beach and have fantastic views :)
Growing up, my family always vacationed on the Gulf Coast, usually in Destin, FL (a.k.a. "Little Memphis" - the entire city vacations here in the summer :) ), and this was the first time that I had been back since high-school. I had kind of forgotten how beautiful it is!
We chose to stay in Panama City Beach since the major airport for the area is there and since I have a cousin who just moved there, and while PCB used to be called the "redneck riviera," let me tell you that PCB ain't what it used to be :) There are still quite a few airbrush T-shirt shops and 24-hour tattoo places, but the newer condo buildings and houses are really nice. There are also some great new shopping places, like Pier Park, which have more upscale stores and restaurants.
You certainly can't tell from this picture which was taken later in the trip, but when we first arrived, Tropical Storm Lee was brewing off the coast and on our first full day in FL she hit, bringing rain and plenty of wind. Certainly not evacuation conditions, but certainly not nice beach conditions! We did get to see some pretty awesome waves, though :) After that one day, we had wonderful weather; I think September is one of the best times to be at the beach (if you can manage to avoid hurricanes/tropical storms!) - warm but not super hot, very low humidity, and clear waters.
As Peter is demonstrating in the above picture, there were sandbars out in the ocean that you could swim to and stand on. He's fairly far out but in waist-deep water.
Our condo was very "beachy" and cute with lots of pink and green which I loved! How fun would it be to decorate a beach place :)
We celebrated my birthday while we were there, and I woke up to a sweet sign that Peter had "inscribed" in the sand for me :)
We went to dinner at an old-time fave, Captain Anderson's. Capt. Anderson's is one of those old-fashioned seafood restaurants where all of the waitresses have worked there for at least 20 years, there's a lot of wood and nautical decor, and the bartender knows how to make the best cocktails. They also broadcast the nautical forecast in the restrooms :)
We had Publix cupcakes for dessert (the best!) and ice cream.
We also took a side trip to Seaside, FL, (the planned community where The Truman Show was filmed) which I had wanted to see for awhile. It's just as cute as in pictures! I think this is where we will want to vacation the next time we go to FL :)
Is it time to go on vacation again? :)
