For our 10-year anniversary, my husband and I really felt the need to get away and simply relax! For the past 2.5 years, we’ve been running around non-stop with foster-to-adopt paperwork, appointments, visits, renewals, celebrations, etc. And while we love our daughters dearly, we also needed rest. You can’t take care of others if you’re exhausted, right?! And we were burnt out. It was also nearly 4 years since I had a vacation with just Kevin and flew on an airplane (I’m not a huge fan of air travel), so my nervousness also started kicking in! While there were some exotic countries on our list of places to visit, we ultimately chose the quaint area of 30A, Florida, USA. And I’m so glad we did! It truly had everything we were hoping for and everything we needed to reset our minds & bodies. Not to skip ahead, but we’ll be back to the area. I’m sure of it!
After about 6 hours of travel time, we made it to the tiny airport of Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida (VPS). After waiting what seemed like forever and a day for our luggage to be released, we headed to the parking lot to pick up our amazing ride for the week: A super fun Jeep Wrangler Rubicon from Jeep Destin! You definitely need a Jeep by the beaches of Florida, right? The answer is, yes. Yes, you do need a Jeep rental in Florida! It just makes everything so much more fun!
I mean, look at how pretty that Jeep is! (My favorite colors, too!) When I was posting on IG during our trip, a couple of you asked how the process went for renting the Jeep. It was seriously so easy and Bella (my main contact) and Eli (owner) were wonderful! Since our flight was a bit delayed, I messaged Bella and we decided we’d do “contactless delivery.” Here are the steps to rent a Jeep in Destin, Florida (and around 30A):
- Find the Jeep you’d like to rent on JeepDestin.com and continue to book.
- Ensure you receive a confirmation email with the details and follow the instructions to sign the contract. Make sure to select “airport dropoff” during booking if you’d like it ready and waiting at the airport! Send Jeep Destin a copy/picture of your auto insurance card & your driver’s license.
- Pack your bags & travel to your destination!
- When you arrive, we were alerted to where the Jeep was parked by Eli providing us with a dropped pin text message along with the code to get the key out of the storage box on the trailer hitch.
- Be on your way and enjoy your time with your fun Jeep in the beautiful Florida weather!
- Return your car at the end of your trip. Our return location was the VPS airport. And that’s it!
We loved that Jeep Destin includes UNLIMITED miles for your trip so you don’t need to worry about how often or how far you are driving on your vacation! You also have the option to have the doors of the Jeep on or off. We opted to keep them on but we loved opening the roof while we were out and about! We can’t recommend Jeep Destin, enough! Having a Jeep on our trip truly made it a trip to remember…the ease of travel, the flexibility, and the pure enjoyment of each ride was unbeatable!
Another question I received about our vacation is: “What is 30A, exactly?” 30A is a highway in the panhandle of Florida. It goes through many different cities/beaches. Our favorite areas on 30A are Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, Grayton Beach, and Sandestin (Miramar Beach). Honestly, though, you really can’t go wrong with any of the beach towns on 30A.
Day 1: Saturday, May 6
- Travel day. Arrived around noon. After picking up our Jeep Wrangler from the airport, we stopped for lunch at a local cafe and then checked into our hotel: Hotel Effie in Sandestin (more details on the hotel to come)!
- Visited the local Walmart for food to keep in our room’s kitchenette. We always like to stock up on water, fruits, veggies, and snacks.
- Relaxed on the balcony and watched the world slowly go by as we enjoyed the throwback early 2000s music coming from the rooftop pool.
Day 2: Sunday, May 7
- Explored Hotel Effie and the Sandestin grounds. Such a beautiful location!
- Explored the city of Rosemary Beach, Florida.
- Ate lunch at Charlie’s Cafe. The Rosemary Cobb Salad was so delicious!
- Walked through the boardwalks and interior walkways of Rosemary Beach for hours and was in awe at the gorgeous architecture. I told Kevin that I felt like I was walking through the pages of an Architectural Digest Magazine. Words simply can’t describe the beauty.
- Went back to Sandestin and leisurely explored The Village of Baytowne Wharf.
- Dinner at Everkrisp in Miramar Beach. We customized our massive salads! We like that they came with some artisan bread on the side.
- Drove around and explored the area. Took an evening walk at Baytowne Wharf.
- Enjoyed the music at Hotel Effie.
Day 3: Monday, May 8
- Beach Day! We took the Jeep and drove down to Hotel Effie’s private beach on Miramar Beach to relax and soak up some sun.
- Lunch break: Fatboys at Miramar Beach. I recommend the house salad, and Kevin enjoyed a burger with a side salad.
- We traveled to Santa Rosa Beach and walked around/explored the beach and quaint town.
- Dinner: Mimmo’s Ristorante Italiano (new location in Santa Rosa Beach). We dined on the beautiful patio and enjoyed the gorgeous weather! It was a lovely evening!
- Went to Seaside, Florida, and loved how adorable everything was. I can confirm that it is very idyllic, as everyone says.
- We saw the home that is on The Truman Show. Located at: 31 Natchez St, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459. Such a unique little house!
- Of course, we found and took photos of the Seaside Post Office, Amphitheater, many local food trucks, etc.
- We ate a banana at Nigel’s Bananas store. Wow, it was delicious!
- Enjoyed the courtyard behind the shops, where the beautiful architecture resides. In some areas, you would have sworn you were walking through Paris.
- We took an evening walk into the area of homes. After walking only two blocks in, any noise of the tourists, ceased to exist. Kevin and I looked at each other and were amazed by how peaceful the location was. All you could hear were birds and people’s water fountains. It was so serene!
- Took in the architecture of this beautiful southern, seaside location and dreamt of a day we’d own real estate there, too.
Day 4: Tuesday, May 9
- Jeep Wrangler content day! As you know, we partnered with Jeep Destin and wanted to find the perfect area for photos to capture the fun we’ve been having!
- First, we looked at a location near the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Welcome Center. It had really awesome dunes and was right off the coast. Kevin started droning, and within a minute or so, his drone randomly threw some errors at him, and emergency landed IN THE DUNES (if you know, you know). He quickly searched the dunes for the drone, got some nasty cuts from the plants, and returned empty-handed. We looked at the tracking app on his phone and he was able to get a better grasp on the possible location. We prayed that he would find it quickly (without the authorities having to get involved) and thankfully, he did! We were so relieved. It turns out that that area was restricted flying space. Needless to say, we were a bit more cautious when we droned later on during the trip!
- We finally found a spot off of Choctawhatchee Bay in Fort Walton Beach that fit exactly what we were looking for! It was so fun taking these photos!
- After the photoshoot, we traveled to Navarre Beach, closer to Pensacola. The beach there was simply breathtaking. It was also less crowded than the other beaches we went to.
- Dinner: we were craving a home favorite, “Olive Garden.” It’s always a comfort food for us!
- Took a long stroll through HarborWalk Village where we found some souvenirs for the girls and enjoyed the harbor views. The weather was simply perfect for outdoor enjoyment!
Day 5: Wednesday, May 10
- Another beach day! We went to Norriego Point (on Holiday Isle) and relaxed by the inlets. It was such a great place. It is definitely where I’d feel safe taking my children to swim. The water was extremely clear and the waves were very calm compared to the typical local beach due to the inlet’s structure. A couple of families had very young children’s swimming there and everyone was having fun and stayed very safe which was great to see!
- During the beach days, I kept looking for seashells to bring home to our daughters. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find any. All I found was shell shards. So, at the end of our Norriego Point beach time, I prayed and said “Lord, could you please just let me find two little “twisty” shells right next to each other so I can take them home to the girls?” Instantly, I looked down and saw two twisty shells sitting next to each other! The fact that God provides for even the smallest desires of your heart is amazing! 🙂
- We took a break for lunch and then drove to Grayton Beach State Park. At this point during the trip, my skin was starting to get sensitive and burnt (even after I had pre-tanned in the Florida sun and used a tremendous amount of sunscreen the day of). Kevin swam in the ocean, while I made a makeshift tent with my towels LOL. It was definitely a sight to see haha. At least I covered myself from more sunburn!
- Dinner: We had the pleasure of dining at Ovide, Hotel Effie’s restaurant. The food was seriously incredible. Our server was so friendly and had the best recommendations. We had:
- Appetizers: Oysters Rockefeller & Caesar Salad
- Beverage: l’ovide (Citrus Vodka) & Sunset Swing
- Entree: 8-ounce Tenderloin & Pan-Roasted Grouper
- Dessert: Blackberry Cobbler & Raspberry Sorbet
- I’ll share more on the Hotel Effie blog post which will be located here. We highly recommend tasting the delicious food for yourself! Yum!
- In the evening, we took our nightly walk on the wharf and reveled in the fun entertainment!
Day 6: Thursday, May 11
- This day was our 10-Year Wedding Anniversary! To see all our wedding posts, click here!
- We had a purposely late start to the morning and savored the perfect weather outside on our balcony before getting ready to go to the spa.
- At Hotel Effie’s Spa Liliana, we were thoroughly pampered and left extremely relaxed! We arrived early to enjoy the relaxation room. We had our comfy robes & slippers on, sipped on some tea, had some almonds as a snack, and sat quietly and listened to the relaxing spa music in the dimly lit room. When it was time for our couples massage, we were so excited! I explained to my masseuse that I wanted a very relaxing massage with medium pressure. Kevin was more open with his massage and the masseuse gave him a deep tissue version.
- For lunch, we went to Ruby Slipper which is located at Baytowne Wharf. It was so delicious (we wished we would have eaten there more!). We also discovered rosemary-infused olive oil here and we were smitten! I’ve already made two batches at home so far to eat with our homemade sourdough bread! So good!
- After lunch, we rented bikes (free for Hotel Effie guests) and rode around the entire Sandestin Resort. It was such a beautiful ride. Everything in the resort was so picture-perfect. We rode to Jolee Island and took a walk on the jungle-like paths. It was HOT on that island but it was fun to see all the wildlife. I was happy to get back on the bikes and ride in the shaded pathways and get a perfect breeze on us.
- We took a long walk around the resort grounds and soaked in the beautiful weather.
- For dinner, we went to a super cute, modern French restaurant called Commelfo.
- After dinner, we played a round of mini golf at The Track in Destin. I won! (I usually win in mini-golf. It’s one of the few “sports” I enjoy!)
Day 7: Friday, May 12
- Our last full day in Florida. We took more photos, took more walks, and took more Jeep rides. We simply wanted to enjoy our day!
- We drove to Alys Beach and had a late breakfast at Raw & Juicy. The food was delicious but the wait was very long. After that, we walked around the gorgeous neighborhoods and took in the beauty of all the white architecture. Such a stunning area by the sea!
- For lunch, we went to Canopy Road Cafe which had a massive salad for me and a large chicken sandwich for Kevin.
- We went back to Seaside, Florida and took some time to shop the many stores and restaurants. It’s such a tranquil place.
- Then we took another long walk around the hotel grounds and dipped our toes in the pool for a bit. After that, we ate dinner at the Marina Bar & Grill while people-watching the attendees of the popular Taco & Tequila festival.
Day 8: Saturday, May 13
- Travel Day! We left the beautiful Emerald Coast to travel back to our home & family in Wisconsin. It was such a trip to remember! We arrived home feeling relaxed and refreshed! Exactly what we needed! A big thank you to my parents for taking care of our girls and dogs while we were on our much-needed vacation!
Hotel Effie – Sandestin, Florida
Sandestin + 30A Florida
Hope you enjoyed this recap and that it inspires you to take a 30A / Destin, Florida adventure soon!
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