Destin, FL (State #3)-Henderson Beach State Park

We are at the beach!!! Yay!!!! Destin is beautiful! Henderson Beach State Park is located right on the beach. It is a little more than a quarter mile walk to the water, but the benefit is that once you get there, you just see beach. The area has grown up so much that there are hotels all over, but where we were, the hotels and people were far enough away that they didn't impact the beautiful view.

The park was nice and very well maintained. The park hosts even raked the gravel between guests! The showers were clean and they had a couple of laundry machines. The sites themselves were carved out from the natural trees and brush, which to me was a little cavernous, but I know some prefer that kind of privacy.

We spent most of our free time at the beach...

Some days were a little chilly but we were lucky to get a couple of warm ones. The water was still quite cold so I just relaxed in my chair. Ahh!  I even started reading a BOOK!

The kids jumped in the waves a little, but mostly they played in the sand. Greg joined us some on his lunch breaks and was able to spend more time on Saturday. He was so excited about his day off that he got up super early and went down to the beach, with his cup of coffee and chair, to enjoy the sunrise!

We did venture out to a couple of places. We had planned to go to some of the historical locations but couldn’t pull ourselves away from the beach and sun.

One of the places we visited was Gator Beach. It is a free alligator exhibit at Fudpucker's restaurant. The gators weren't moving much since it was cool but it was fun to see them all sunning themselves.

They also had a rare albino alligator, named Pearl. She was a little more active than the others and because she was in a tank, we were able to see her up close. She was born from another albino alligator in captivity elsewhere. It was a little sad to see her in a tank, but we learned that she would not have survived in the wild due to her lack of camoflauge and sun protection.

We tried to feed the alligators by dropping a loooooooonnnnnnnng line from a pole into the pool area where they were (this is a permitted activity) but even with the food dangling right above their noses and often on top of their noses, they just would NOT eat!

Trying to feed them made us hungry, so we decided to grab a snack. Jacob enjoyed his very first milkshake at Fudpucker's (Jordan's second)! The kids asked them to mix the flavors for a chocolate strawberry milkshake and they did! They were also kind enough to split the milkshake in two for us and top it with cream and cherries! Jacob LOVED it! It is now known as “leche de wow!” in our family because Mommy didn't know how to say it in Spanish during our Spanish food lesson the next day. Ha Ha! Thanks Gina for giving me the correct term ;)

The other place we visited was the Emerald Coast Science Center in Fort Walton. We got in FREE using our museum pass and the kids had a great time. It was a cute museum although very dated in its décor, like carpeted walls (kind of gave me the willies). That being said, it had a lot of different activities for them to do. We were there for almost 3 hours!

Jordan wanted to test out the hurricane tunnel. The winds increased to 78 miles per hour; the equivalent of a category I hurricane. I was surprised she was able to maintain a standing position!

This was Jordan's favorite. We all took turns making some awesomely big bubbles.

Jacob's favorite was this airplane that by using a button and a lever, you could make it fly.

And both liked this energy bicycle that talked about the number of watts you would need to power various appliances in your home.

They did not want to leave but I just couldn’t see staying any longer while the sun was shining beautifully outside!

We are a little sad to be leaving the beach and are looking forward to coming back next year. BUT checking out the forecast for the upcoming week made it easier for us to go. We left early Sunday morning in the middle of the rain that was supposed to be the beginning of a yucky week, even possibly freezing by Friday morning.

Our next stop is Cedar Key, Florida. We are heading further south!