Sandestin | Through Heather's Looking Glass

Beach Trip Part 4

July 31, 2012 by Heather

Good morning friends! Before we get started, don’t forget to enter my Good Gear giveaway and like Good Gear on Facebook if you would like. This gear is so so soft, you don’t want to miss out!

This installment of my trip report will wrap up our time at the beach, and then I will be sure to go back and finish up the recap of my Disney trip from May (gosh I feel so behind!)

Ok so where I left off, we had eaten dinner at the Baytowne Village area of Sandestin and we then headed back to our condo across the highway and checked out the observation deck on top of our condo tower.

We were the only ones up there, so it was nice and relaxing to just take in the beautiful scenery. We called it a night after some TV watching, and the next morning I did much of the same as the day before, I headed to the pool!

After a couple of hours, I went back up to the room to get some work done. Some new Disney travel deals had just come out, and I had some clients ready to book. I worked for a couple of hours and then Bobby came and picked me up. We headed back to the Baytowne Village area for lunch. They had a Broken Egg Cafe there, and since we KNOW their food is amazing, we settled on it for a delicious brunch/lunch.

Ham and cheese omelet, cheese grits, English muffin

We headed back to the condo and decided taking naps was an awesome thing to do on a beach vacation. We woke up to some thunder and lightning. It was storming!

We decided we were enjoying being lazy way too much to put on “real clothes” and go out to dinner, so we did what any normal person would do, we ordered a pizza and watched endless episodes of Law and Order. Then we ate ice cream. It was the perfect evening for the last night of our trip.

The next morning we packed up the condo and checked out and I went with Bobby to the conference center and sat out in the hall bumming off the free wi fi because I had a LOT of work to do. After a couple of hours of work, I headed to the outlet malls by myself, which is becoming a little bit of a tradition of mine. Since this trip falls near (or on my birthday like last year) I never feel bad about buying a couple of new things!

I headed back to the conference center at noon to pick up Bobby, and we headed to Panera bread for lunch before hitting the road back to Mississippi! Goodbye beach until next year!

QOTD: Do you work on vacation?

Filed Under: family, Uncategorized, vacation Tagged: beach, Destin, Florida, Sandestin, vacation

Beach Trip 2012: Part 3

July 24, 2012 by Heather

We left off part 2 of the trip after our amazingly fun day relaxing at the beach and playing some volleyball. Unfortunately, we had to be up bright and early Monday morning so Bobby could be at his conference for 8:00. We ate breakfast together before he left, and then I gathered my things and headed down to the pool. It opened at 8:00, so i was literally the first one down there. Here is what was behind me and the pool.

It was nice and quiet and I obviously had my pick of the chairs. I settled in and started reading my book, it was glorious. There was a swim behind waterfall at the pool as well. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love the sound of water. Whether it be waves, a fountain or the rain, I just find it so soothing.

I alternated between laying on my chair and dipping into the pool because it got very hot very quickly.

After about three hours, I decided to head back up to the condo and take a shower before Bobby got back from his conference. I was getting hungry for lunch and I made us sandwiches for when he returned. We spent the afternoon just hanging out in the condo, reading, watching TV, and being bums. It was awesome. We did however decide to head over to the Baytowne Wharf for dinner and to walk around.

For those not familiar with Sandestin, it’s huge, and on the bay side is this well, village, for lack of a better term. Condos, homes, shops, restaurants, all within walking distance. There are fun things for kids and families alike, and we had a good time just walking around.

We settled on a restaurant overlooking the water with a live band playing.

There was a nice breeze off the water so it wasn’t hot at all. Not to mention there were some scary dark clouds overhead! We enjoyed our food, and then went for a walk down the pier right outside the restaurant. You could see the marina, and there were some big boats!

We walked around the village for awhile, watching the kids, checking out the shops, and enjoying ourselves. Bobby even got a funnel cake.

Those of you familiar with Disney, this area reminded me of the Boardwalk resort area. Smile

There was even a magic show going on

This is getting lengthy, more coming up on the next beach post!

On the workout front, I completed day one of the Best Body Bootcamp yesterday, and wow were my arms jello! It was an upper body workout, so it didn’t bother my foot any which was helpful. I can’t wait for more! It’s going to be a fun 8 weeks!

QOTD: Are you a beach person or a mountain person? Or both?

Filed Under: family, Uncategorized, vacation Tagged: baytowne wharf, beach, Sandestin, vacation

Beach Trip 2012 Part 2

July 18, 2012 by Heather

If you missed part one of our beach trip, be sure to read it first then come back for today’s post.

I left off after our first night at the beach. We woke up Sunday morning excited for an entire day of fun in the sun and the sand. We ate breakfast out on the patio, and then lathered up the sunscreen, gathered up all our stuff, and headed down to the beach. We got there early so we got a good spot in the sand with our trusty tent.

The water was so clear and beautiful, no seaweed or jellyfish in site! I have gone on beach trips before where I refuse to get in the water because of this. Also, can’t beat the sugar white sands of Florida. Aaaahhh.

I’m saying “I’m smiling but this water is freezing!”

We did the obligatory beach things like go for a walk, read, play in the water, etc. Bobby even took a nap in the shade of our tent.

After awhile, I looked around and realized the people were closing in. we started the day with no one around, but by lunchtime the beach was getting quite crowded.

Luckily, I brought turkey sandwiches, plenty of drinks and snacks with me in our cooler, so we were well fed and didn’t have to leave the beach. A bit after lunch, we saw some guys playing volleyball at one of the nets so we decided to go scope it out. The group of guys turned out to be super nice and were in town for a bachelor weekend. We picked up on the next game and ended up having a blast and then soon some others joined in with us and we ended up playing for FOUR HOURS! We played until I literally was so tired I couldn’t even get my serve over the net and we all called it a day. We were exhausted. It was one of those exhaustions where you just want a shower and a comfy bed and some ibuprofen because you just KNOW every muscle in your body is going to be sore the next day. it. was. glorious.

Instead of going out to dinner we decided to make this our cook in the condo night, we were way to tired to care. Poor Bobby was really sunburned, but I faired well and was just slightly pink in a couple spots. We cooked tacos and sat in front of the TV watching endless episodes of Law and Order: SVU for the rest of the night. Aren’t we an exciting young couple? Oh ya! But me, I loved it. It was the perfect end to the perfect day.

QOTD: Do you always eat out on vacation or do you try to do some of your own cooking as well?

Filed Under: family, Uncategorized, vacation Tagged: beach, beach volleyball, Sandestin, vacation

Beach Trip 2012 Part 1

July 12, 2012 by Heather

I’m bbaaaccckkk! Wow that trip flew by. Wasn’t I just packing? Did we just book it? So crazy to me! Anyway, I know I still have more to go on sharing photos from my Disney vacation, but I wanted to jump in and share a couple beach posts while it was still fresh in my mind. You know, since I’m getting older tomorrow and all.

We finally made it to Destin on Saturday after driving through more traffic than I think I have ever been in. I drove the whole way, and first we were stopped almost an hour in Mobile. After detouring in a bad part of town, getting lost, and almost running out of gas, we finally made it through the traffic. Just to find more the last hour into Destin…which should have taken 20 minutes. I was having some serious road rage issues by the time we got there and was ready to get out of the car and enjoy a pleasant vacation at the Sandestin resort. Well things didn’t exactly get off on the right foot. Check in was at 4:00, and we arrived a minute or so before 5:00 to be greeted with a line of people waiting at the front desk, seven people long!!! After waiting in traffic for hours I was not in the mood. We finally get to the front to discover our room was not ready. First impressions mean a LOT to me and so far this place that we heard awesome things about was not doing so hot. All I wanted to do was get to our room and relax! (Thankfully this was the only major thing that happened and we truly enjoyed our stay at Sandestin!)

About 15 minutes later we got a call our room was ready. We had to hunt down a luggage cart and finally made it up to our room. We usually stay at the complex next door right on the beach, but they only have two bedroom condos. Since it was just me and Bobby this year, we did need two bedrooms obviously, and since the conference was at Sandestin we decided to just stay on property a bit back from the beach in the Luau building. We were on the 12th floor, and when we got the cart up to the room, it wouldn’t fit through the door! So I am holding a ton of stuff in my hands and Bobby has the cart in the doorway trying to unload it so we can get our stuff inside. Let’s just say I was in a slightly foul mood by this point.

Our beautiful condo and panoramic views made up for it though, check it out.

We also had a view of the bay on the other side. Surrounded by water!

I spy the beach

The condo had two bathrooms, a full kitchen and washer and dryer

and a wrap around balcony

Lots of space! Luau is the newest condo at Sandestin, and it was built in 2006. There are two towers and they share a really nice pool, and a sunset observation deck which I will show you more of later.

By time we got settled in, I was starving. it was getting late and we knew most of the local places would be packed, so we opted for an old standby, the place where Bobby took me last year on my actual birthday, McAlisters. Winking smile We ate, went to the grocery store to stock up on a few items, and then headed back to the condo for bedtime. We had a full day at the beach ahead of us!