Beach 2021
Back in June, we took a quick trip to the beach with Brad’s family. We stayed at Gulf Place on 30A in Miramar Beach, Florida. We have never stayed in this specific area, but Brad’s family was familiar with it and had stayed there. We didn’t book the trip until closer due to the uncertainty of Brad’s work travel, so we only were able to get a room for 3 nights. But we made the most of our time there and had a lot of fun!
As usual we got up early and left. We left around 4:30 am. We stopped at Starbucks for some coffee and me a biscuit. Then we drove until stopping for breakfast at Jack’s outside of Montgomery. Then we pushed on until stopping for lunch in Defuniak Springs, FL at Whataburger. At this point we decided to change Melody out of her pajamas. Unfortunately I did not try on her shorts before leaving town, and they were way too big. Luckily her luggage was easy to access, so we changed her when we finished lunch.
After lunch we headed to the outlets to visit the Disney Store before picking up groceries at Walmart. We made it to our condo about 3, but check in wasn’t until 4. We took our cold things up to Brad’s parents condo, then we called and found out we were able to go ahead and access our room. You can see some pictures of our room below. It was pretty basic but still really nice. When you first walk in you will find the master bedroom. Ours contained one queen bed. Then we had a full bathroom connected. Down the hall there was a “room” with bunk beds. This room didn’t have a door, but it was off to itself enough I don’t think the noise would have been an issue. Melody didn’t sleep in here though. I think if we had been on a longer trip she might have. This room connected to the master’s bathroom along with a half bath too. Then there was a kitchen/livingroom combo. There was bar seating which was plenty for us. And of course we had a balcony that came with lots of beach supplies.
Our room did NOT have a washing machine or dryer. I did not realize this when booking, but we didn’t have much choice either. There were washer and dryers located on each floor near the elevators. The one night we used them was chaos as the washer we first used was broken, and we had to move our clothes upstairs. Then the dryer upstairs was broken, and we had to move the clothes downstairs. Brad’s parents had no issues when needing to wash their clothes so maybe it was just our luck, ha.
As I always do, I was sure to snap a picture of all of the toys we brought. It made making sure we packed everything to take home a breeze.
Once we got settled, we headed for an early dinner at Shunk Gulley. It was just the three of us for dinner, so we were seated immediately. I will say, when we left there was quite a wait though. It was happy hour, so we got discounted appetizers. Brad got the crab chowder, and I got the tuna dip. I really loved the tuna dip, and I would for sure get it again. It is served with lightly crisped flatbreads, and it wasn’t overly fishy. The chowder was ok, but I wouldn’t order it myself. Then we all got shrimp for dinner. Looking back, we should have split one plate instead of each getting a plate, but we had no clue how full we would be from the appetizers. As I have reviewed it before, I really enjoyed eating here, and I could easily eat here multiple times. Had we stayed longer, we likely would have.
After dinner, we met up with Brad’s family. We went and got ice cream with his parents next door to our condo. Then we headed to see his brother’s family at their condo. We had originally planned to swim, but a storm came. So we just hung out at their condo a bit before coming back to our room and calling it a night!
We got up and were headed to the beach around 9 am. While we were across the street, it was a really quick walk. We had our own crosswalk and entrance to the beach. The condo actually had multiple beach access points that had a gate you used a code to open. We rented chairs which happened to be just as you came down the stairs. The girls had so much fun playing, and Melody actually loved the sand since she was distracted by her cousins. We stayed out until probably 1 or 2 before heading up to get ready for dinner.
Below is a view of the beach from the top of the stairs at our beach access point. We got lucky and avoided the rain on this day. It had rained daily up until this point.
We left the condo around 4:15 to go to dinner. We all went to Surf Hut on this night. The wait was insane. Luckily my father in law arrived earlier than us and got us on the list. So we maybe waited 10 minutes after arriving. But this was at 4:45. We have been to the beach many times during the summer, and we never had waits like this at 5 pm. I guess everyone is finally vacationing again and is tired of cooking! Surf Hut is sort of a staple for us. We do not necessarily go EVERY visit, but we go ALMOST every visit. When Brad’s parents had a condo here, we always went and had dinner here. It is quick, easy, and always good. I had the shrimp tacos, which were delicious. And we all had a slice of key lime pie.
After dinner, we walked outside and took a few family pictures.
Then we went back to the condo, changed, and let the girls swim for an hour or so. One of Melody’s favorite things about our room was the bunk bed even though she never slept here. She thought it was the coolest thing she could reach the ceiling, ha.
Our second morning started around 9 am again. It was a much more overcast morning as you can see in the pictures below. We stayed at the beach again until around 2 since it was our last beach day. Melody only got to the spend the morning with her cousins because they wanted to get in some pool time. So Brad and I got to get down and build some sand castles, and she even made a whirlpool for her Barbies.
The one restaurant we wanted to try and go to this trip was Stinky’s. It is our absolute favorite, but it can get crowded quick. So we arrived around 4. Unfortunately they did not open until 5 (this is new post-COVID), but they did add us to the list. So we went next door and shopped and had a drink while we waited. We were seated almost exactly at 5. I had the catch of the day, which was fabulous. And for dessert I had pecan pie with ice cream. While the dessert was also great, the ice cream was mostly melted. But it was all still really good other than the melted ice cream.
After getting back from dinner, we got back together with Brad’s brother’s group. We went back to the ice cream shop and got some ice cream for the kids. Then we played around in the amphitheater before calling it a night.
We decided to take our time leaving, so it was around 9:30 when we left the condo. We should have left earlier after the traffic we faced, but we wanted to sleep in. We won’t be doing that again, ha.
We had such a fun trip. Melody is at such a great age for the beach now. I really wished we could have stayed longer, but I know that was not possible. I am looking forward to our next beach trip!
