The beach at this particular spot (behind our hotel) is quite steep for some reason, and the surf that morning is too strong even for the adults to enjoy just sitting.
Destin and our hotel there are an improvement over what Panama City had to offer. I don't understand how some hotels on the beach can remain so decent on the inside, while others don't.
Afterward the girls had a dip in both hotel pools, indoor and outdoor. This outdoor pool ranks as my #1 on this trip. It's this big circular affair, I'm talking grand proportions, very clean and pleasant. There's an old couple swimming peaceful laps in the pool, which I think adds to the impression.
But we must be heading, so there's the usual packing and hotel antics (below).
We head towards Pensacola and stop off for a few hours at the Naval Aviation Museum there – Drew has a thing for planes, you know.
Other aviation museums we've been to, the planes for climbing around in are scattered about all over the museum, but this one's are consolidated into one play area for the kids.
We also decide to have lunch there at their little cafe to save ourselves the trouble of searching out another place before turning north.
Across the street is this lighthouse, which we didn't have time to tour. It seems it's haunted!
So we drive drive drive and spend the night in Hanceville – at a smaller guest house near Mother Angelica's. (We tried to get the Saint Mary one again, but it was already booked.) Saint Benedict's is a log cabin with a beautiful view out the back. It's a shame it was only one-bedroom (with pull out couch and extra mattress for the floor) one-bathroom, else we might have liked it just as well as the Saint Mary guest house.
