Florida's Emerald Coast

My lagoon-front campsite at St. Andrews State Park is on pretty high-value
real estate, judging by the neighbors "across the pond."

I'd never been to the Florida panhandle, and didn't really know anything about it before this trip. I'm afraid if I hadn't been talking to people to get first-hand suggestions of places to go, I might have missed the Emerald Coast and that would have been a terrible mistake. I think I assumed the beaches would be the same as in other locations along the gulf, but I'm really loving this area.

I had heard that Destin was a great place, but when I started looking into it, all the RV parks were expensive. One couple I talked to really recommended Henderson and Grayton Beach state parks in the area, and when I pressed them to tell me which was their favorite, they couldn't decide. So I've seen this as an exploratory mission and have just stayed two nights apiece at a number of locations, working my way down the coastline. The Fort Pickens national park was peaceful and full of wildlife (I finally spotted a live armadillo--in my campsite). Henderson Beach was pristine and airy, Grayton Beach was within biking and walking distance from two fun seaside village areas (recommend better walking shoes than I was wearing, though). St. Andrews is pretty and close to the tourist-y area, but out on the end of a peninsula so you're not in the middle of it. And I passed up several other state parks along the way that probably each have their own charm.

In Florida, I'm finding the best value in the state parks, which hasn't been the case in all states. The state parks hee offer more interesting settings and reasonable prices. Throughout this trip, I've gotten good value out of my $40 Passport America membership, which offers half-price camping rates at many locations, but in Florida many of the RV parks don't offer this deal during this part of the year. Thankfully there's an abundance of state parks here.

Next I'm going to travel across the state and see some of the historic sites around St. Augustine, staying in Anastasia State Park. After that, I decided, "What the heck, while in Florida, maybe I should experience the Great American Race." I'm going to go to the Daytona 500 and the Speed Weeks events that precede it. That'll be a real change of pace from the quiet beach life here!