Ft. Walton and Destin Beach Trip

Last week, we went to go visit my husband Peter.  He has been living at a condo on the beach for three weeks.  It sounds luxurious, but he hasn't been able to go to the beach, pretty much, at all. He has been busting his butt, working 12 to 15 hours a day, digging through trash.  Yes, trash.  He is a engineer, and his firm is doing a pilot study (fancy word for experiment) in an attempt to make methane from bacteria in food trash (sort of like how fermentation works to grow good bacteria and enzymes).  It's a pretty cool experiment, if you can over look the whole digging-in-trash-all-day part.

Anyway, so we went to visit him and had some local fun. We, of course, spent lots of time at the beach.

We stayed at Destin West.  I was pretty impressed with how family friendly it was.  There was a lazy river and a family spa at the pool.  Almost everyone there was families with young children, so whenever we went to the pool, there was always a little tot for Penelope to make friends with.  Staying in Ft. Walton Beach, is way more affordable than staying in Destin, but the beach looks exactly the same!  And Destin is a short drive away, so you still have access to all the restaurants, shops and amenities.

We went to the Gulfarium.  And I pretty much felt like an asshole the whole time.  Ever since seeing the movie The Cove when I was pregnant, I swore I would never go to Sea World or anywhere that had captive dolphins again.    Penelope loved it, of course, and is now obsessed with dolphins even more than she already was. I am obsessed with dolphins too.  I spent many weekends of my childhood swimming with dolphins in Key Largo. When I was pregnant, I went to go feed and play with dolphins at the same place in Key Largo. I wanted to swim with them, but they don't allow pregnant women to do it (apparently the dolphins know that their is a baby inside and they are worried the dolphins will get too excited and head-butt you in the belly).  While there, we bought her a book about dolphins giving birth and nursing, and because of that book, she loves dolphins.  We also bought her a stuffed Mama and Baby dolphin that she adores.  In the gift shop, at the Gulfarium, I bought her a little plastic dolphin.  She calls him dolfy, and she clutches him in one hand and Mickey in the other.   She tells anyone who will listen about the "dolfies jumping in the wate."

Anyway, I once read, in a Doreen Virtue book, that dolphins like interacting with humans.  They see it as a higher calling, to be like earth angels and aid humans in their spiritual journey and help them remember their connection to Spirit.  And to the credit of the Gulfarium, the three dolphins that they had there, two were born there; a brother and sister and the mother was 28 years old, so they must be treating them well.  That is what I am going to keep repeating to myself, so I can sleep at night.

She also really loved the fish tank.

We went to the Air Force Armament Museum.  Penelope really liked looking at the airplanes and helicopters (panes and ah-ca-ca, as she calls them).  We couldn't really spend time reading or looking at the exhibits in depth, such is life with an almost 2 year old,  but she really got a kick out of getting into one of the cock pits and trying on pilot, bomber jackets. My Dad is a retired Air Force pilot, so it was cool to pay homage to all the past men and women who served in the Air Force.

There is a large area outside of planes and then regular museum exhibits inside.

And I can't go visit that area, without doing a little shopping at the outlet mall.  I didn't really need anything, but I got a cute long sleeve t-shirt for Penelope at Crew Cuts and some Micheal Kors sunglasses for me.

Have you ever vacationed in the area?  What is your favorite thing to do there?

By Best Kids Health Blog