Day 4: Destin, Florida Family Vacation

Day 4: Destin, Florida Family Vacation

On the fourth day we spent the day on the beach as promised. J

For dinner that night we ate at Stinky’s Fish Camp in Santa Rosa Beach which is just up the beach from Destin. We first decided to go to Stinky’s last year after they were featured in Southern Living for the best Keylime Pie. Well you know how I love Southern Living and one of my favorite desserts is Keylime Pie. It had to be a winner. Last year we were not disappointed so we went back this year.

We loved their Fried Green Tomatoes with Creamy Crawfish Etouffe so we ordered it again for the appetizer. It as absolutely delicious!!! The only thing I would change is to have four instead of just three as most restaurants do serve more than three. However, that is just an opinion thing. We also ordered salads.

Caleb, our adventurous one, ordered The Taste of Stinky’s which included Crawfish Pie, Catfish Meuniere, and Crab Cake. Let me just tell you the entire thing was great but the Crawfish Pie WOW!!! It was amazing! I loved it! I could have just eaten that and been completely satisfied.

Mom, Dad, and I ordered the Shrimp basket. Absolutely delicious! The sauce had this smoky flavor that just gave it that extra zing.

For dessert we had the wonderful keylime pie. This time it had a fruit topping that was wonderful! Again, I was not disappointed. It was so good. Just wish I could have it specially delivered for my dessert everyday! J

They have a cute little gift shop next door with shirts and other souvenirs.  Stinky’s is a great restaurant to visit.

Right down the road you can go through the public access to Santa Rosa Beach. We always go out on the beach and take pictures and the sunset it beautiful here. I really love this beach. It is not quite as crowded as Destin and as I have grown older I like that.

Day 3: Destin, Florida Family Vacation

Day 3: Destin, Florida Family Vacation

On day 3 I began the book I had been waiting on for months, Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews! I love her books! This one was great! I really enjoyed it from the little suspense to having me laughing out loud on the beach! I highly recommend this book! It is a great beach read! I tried to read really slow as to savor every page but I will still done faster than I wanted. Now to wait until next summer.

For dinner that night we went to one of our favorites that a lot people still do not know about or just have not tried. Kenny D's they have the BEST gumbo (in my opinion). It has that cajun, New Orleans flavor that just sets it apart! You cannot miss this place it is small but so good!!!

 The Gumbo

 My mom and I both got the appetizer shrimp with a side salad. The gumbo always fills me up.

 Caleb got the Spicy Mahi Melt

It was so good! He is always the one to try new things and I always wish I had ordered it too!

 Dad got (no suprise) the fried grouper sandwich. He sticks to things he knows he will like.

We had a great meal as we are never disappointed in Kenny D's.

Let me know if you have ever tried it.



Day 2 - Destin, Florida Family Vacation

Day 2 - Destin, Florida Family Vacation

Well the next day we were back on the beach. I love the beach! Everything about it well.... maybe not the sand that gets in everything. Haha! I have to say it was HOT! I mean really hot the thermometor and tv said that it was over 100 one day. Now that combined with the humidity makes for a real scorcher but that's what the ocean is for to cool off in. :)

I was reading The Lost Hours by Karen White the first two days. It was a great book. It was a little slow starting off but well worth sticking through. I really liked it and would highly recommend it!

You know me I am all about the food and where we are eating! :) So that night we ate at Dewey Destin. Several locals had recommended it to us and we had planned to try it last year but decided to wait.

Waiting Area

 Back Deck

 View from Deck

 Appetizer: Tuna Dip

It was really good! Many people say it is the best but Pompano Joe's is still my favorite!

 Dad got the blackened Grouper and all grilled or steamed entrees come with Corn, Potatoes, and Slaw.

We all switched something out and they were fine with that. Like I got hushpuppies instead of corn. I know I am the healthiest eater ever! :)

 Caleb got Steamed Shrimp

**Excellent and lots of flavor!

 Mom got grilled Grouper

**Very good!!!

 I had the Mediterranean Mahi Mahi.

I normally get Grouper and he offered to change the fish but I also like Mahi with something like this. It was delicious and something different than what I would normally get.

Our food was amazing!!! So good that we actually went back the last night! I will share about that one later. :) I definitely recommend trying Dewey's if you are in Destin! The food is delicious and both times we were there we had excellent service. Plus, being able to eat outside is a great! They do have indoor seating but when I'm at the beach I love to be outside and enjoy the scenery. Plus this area was well shaded and was not hot.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday! What have you been up to these past two weeks?



Day 1

Sorry for the delay blogger was not cooperating with me for the first part of the week.

The first day is always great!
When we go to the beach we are the type that gets up early packs a cooler for the day and stays all day! Oh add a great book.

For lunch on the first day we had not bought our sandwich stuff yet so we walked up the beach to Pompano Joe's. They have my favorite Smoked Tuna Dip! I have tried it everywhere we go and it is my absolute favorite. It's different and has more of a sweet flavor plus they serve it with this flat bread and cucumbers. So yummy! And that is the perfect lunch on the beach!

That night we ate at the Back Porch another long time favorite. One thing that makes this place so nice to me is that it's right on the beach and they pull the windows up and you get that ocean breeze. It's perfect! We have had most of the things on the menu but my favorites are as follows. For an appetizer here I just like their hushpuppies with honey butter. Delicious! We also tried their shrimp and corn chowder and it was really good too! That night I got a Po Boy (Shrimp) Sandwich with onion rings (another specialty here). Now they have the more sophisticated fare here but I wanted the thing that I am always craving when at home and that is exactly what I ordered. :) Now Caleb got another favorite which is the Seafood Nachos. Mom had the Grilled Grouper Sandwich and Dad has the Fried Grouper Sandwich.

View while eating

I'm getting hungry just looking back at these. You can't get food like that here in our part of Georgia.

Vacation

We just returned from our family vacation in Destin, Florida (my favorite beach). I know I have been slacking on my blogging lately but I am ready to get started again. First I will share some pictures we took and I will be returning later to add some reviews and share what our garden was like when we returned. Who knew veggies could grow that fast!!! :)

 First Afternoon from the Back Porch Deck

 Last Day at Lunch at the Back Porch... We start and end with one of our lasting favorites.

 Me and the hubby!

 My wonderful Family!

LOVE

Flower Garden...

Our flowers are blooming....

I struggle with Hydrangeas. Any suggestions?

Knockout Roses are super easy and so pretty.

I would love to have a Peony or two. Any suggestions for those?

Garden 2011

And so our garden begins...

A little dark on this one but these are our tomato plants and peppers to the side.

 Onions

Squash and cucumbers...

 We also ended up with a cantoloupe. Not sure how that happened. Neither one of us eat Cantoloupe but maybe we will begin to like it. My great-grandfather loves cantoloupe. Maybe I can just give it to him if it grows. I remember he used to eat cantoloupe all the time but my biggest memory was when we would be eating breakfast at their house. My great-grandmother and grandfather made the best gravy and biscuits and dip eggs as I called them then (fried eggs). Sorry just taking a walk down memory lane. I sure do miss those days. My g-grandmother fell this past Sunday and broke her leg where she has already had a hip replacement putting her in the hospital for emergency surgery. She is still not doing real good and it makes me very sad. I have been taking trips down memory lane a lot this week. I am blessed to still have my great-grandparents. As they are in their mid 90's. I have some wonderful memories of them and I will always treasure those.

So far we have planted: Tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, poblano peppers, cucumbers, squash, one zucchini, watermelon, cantoloupe, cilantro, and basil.

What are you planting this year? I have never been successful with watermelon any suggestions?

The cilantro did not survive last year and I have never tried basil. Let me know if you have any suggestions. 

A Suprise...

I came home last week to find our new pet. Caleb had brought home the cutest kitten. While he is the cutest little thing the reason that we did not have a cat before is because I am extremely allergic to them. Caleb insisted that the man ask him to bring it home and maybe he could find someone to give it too. Caleb thought he would just be able to find someone to give it to with no problem. However, what I saw was that Caleb really liked this little guy and no matter how much he said he didn't he really wanted to keep it. So.... meet our new family pet Tigger as Caleb calls him.