And Sun also sets Orange :)

Over the Christmas Holidays, I took my family to Destin, Florida. This is a strange year, where we cancelled several vacation (like many others). But we did manage to travel to Washington over the summer to Mt. Rainier; and we did manage to take this trip. Destin is about a 9 hours drive along I-10 from Houston, where we live. We have been there several times. It is one of our fallback options if we can't find anywhere else to go.

If you look at the map, Destin is part of the Florida Panhandle. Once you cross the mighty Mississippi River Delta, all the muddy sediment input of the tidal flat disappears. What we are left with is coral sand, which are beautifully white. This area of the Florida coast is heavily developed, mostly with Condos. That does two things right now. First, due to Covid-19 and lack of travel, Condos can be rented at nearly 50% discount than normal. Second, the beach is relatively empty, and there is no problem with social distancing. This led us two take out family out of our four walls.

Beach

The good thing about Destin Beach is in terms of water activities is that it is shallow and almost no waves this time of the year. I have two young kids and I can easily leave them on their own at the beach to play with the water, boogie board, or on the sand building sand castle. We feel very safe on this beach even during normal times, as it is miles and miles long and never too crowded, and now it is particularly deserted. That works out a lot with the social distancing scenario. Condoes are directly on the beach, so in and out is simple as well.

Food

Most of the days we cooked at home. That is generally the main high point of renting a house or condo. It is easier to cook and eat at home if you have small children even during normal time. Now with the pandemic I am not comfortable is going to most eateries. Majority of them are closed anyways or have limited hours. There is one day we ate out though. There was a seafood place right on the beach, and they serve food outside, which worked out great for us.

Weather was great in general. We did have a couple of days of rain and a following cold front, but that generated wonderful sunset. I highly recomment visiting Destin if you want a few days out away from the four walls you are likely living in for months!