Seaside

Saturday morning, I checked out of my Fort Walton Beach hotel at daybreak, figuring if I wanted to see Seaside and still make it back to New Orleans to catch my 3PM flight, I better move fast. I had never heard of Destin until a few years ago, although apparently everyone else had. Fishing charters filled up the channel and skyscrapers filled up the beaches. But what I really wanted to see were the much touted new-urbanist villages farther east. Which were downright cute - once the ad revenue starts coming in on my blogs, I suspect I may have to buy a place down here. It helps that the weather has been very pleasant - not as hot and much less muggy than earlier in the week.

Seaside was a very pleasant place to wade in the Gulf, wander around the town (more pictures, more commentary), and start to wonder if I had actually left enough time to drive the 300 miles back to New Orleans before my plane left. I made it - returned the car and arrived at the airport exactly one hour before the flight. 900 miles, more than 500 pictures, probably 40 road ends and beach accesses, and about 48 hours. $58 car rental (plus two tanks of gas). Not bad.