Road trip to Destin Florida
While my family and I were in Nevada in December we ended up planning our next trip to Destin Florida with some of our good friends! We flew to Nevada and ended up getting a car from Hertz to road trip all over! We were able to visit a couple of states and see so much! So we decided to road trip all the way to Destin for Spring Break. We booked a car again through Hertz and started our road trip!! A few things I love about having a rental car is you can get up and go whenever you want with no time constraints! I also love that Hertz has the “Gold Standard Clean Seal.” They do a 15 point cleaning process on all vehicles!
After we picked up our car we headed straight to New Orleans! While looking for a place to stay a few days prior we decided to go through Priceline and ended up doing their new “Price Breakers” deal. They picked the hotel for us and we ended up only paying around $75 for a 4 star hotel for one night!
We arrived in NOLA around 8 pm. The streets were busy and every place we stopped in to try to eat required reservations so we ended up just eating there at the hotel. The next day we met our friends in the lobby around 9 am and got in line at Cafe Du Monte. On the way there (we walked) we stopped at PJ’s coffee (NMNP) and got a white chocolate mocha latte! This was recommend and I’m so glad I got it!
This was our first time in NOLA so it was cool to see so many musicians and all of the cool buildings! After walking around for awhile we headed back to the hotel to load up our car and head out! We arrived to our air bnb house alittle before 4 pm! We stayed in the cutest neighborhood called the Sovereign Isle!!! It was 4 blocks from the beach and so close to everything! The neighborhood was so quaint with white picket fences and a community pool. The house we stayed in had a colonial design and vibe to it! After arriving and dropping off our luggage we headed straight to the beach! It was absolutely stunning! White sands and gorgeous blueish-green water! The sand almost felt like powder!
That same evening we went to dinner at the Crab Trap which was seconds away right on the beach! (NMNP) The food was AMAZING! I got the king crab with hush puppies and a crab cake for a side! Might I add they won me over with their sweet tea!
The next day we woke up early to head to Crab Island.
What is Crab Island?
The name ‘Crab Island’ is a bit of a misnomer because it makes you assume that it’s an actual island. Actually at one time it WAS an island, created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s when they dredged the Destin Pass and created the Jetties to stabilize the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. The sand from the dredging project was deposited into the Choctawhatchee Bay and formed the small island that eventually came to be known as Crab Island. -Via: https://www.destinvacationboatrentals.com/blog-post/crab-island-the-complete-visitors-guide-to-destins-most-popular-hangout/
We rented a pontoon boat and went out on the water! The water wasn’t crystal blue like it normally is but I think the timing of the season played a part in that. Regardless we still had a blast!!!
Afterwards we went back to the beach for awhile and then headed to dinner at Royal Palm Grille. (NMNP) Again the food was amazing!!! Once we were done we headed back down to the beach where there is a public area to do s’mores with the purchase of a refreshment(s)!!! Our kiddos really enjoyed that!
The next day we went to Henderson Beach state park. It was about 6 minutes from our house. It’s basically the same as the public beach we were on however this area is a protected strip of the coast! It also had white sand dunes, picnic area and sand washing stations. It’s $6 per vehicle.
Later that evening we got dressed and ready to take photos during sunset! We chose to be ready by 5 pm and I’m so glad we did because it ended up raining about an hour later!
Every restaurant we went to typically had about a 30-45 min wait. We put our name down at an Oyster place but the fire alarms randomly went off and by that time we were so hungry we opted for good ole Cracker Barrel because we could be seated right away.
On our last day we took the kids to a fun bowling place called “Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl & Grill”. (NMNP) It gives you a fun under water experience! We put our name down for a 45 minuet wait so we went across the street to get some Destin merchandise! When we finished bowling we stopped at a restaurant called “The Back Porch”. (NMNP) It was so good (as they all are 😄)
We ended up doing an easy dinner on our last night and ordered pizza at the house. We checked out at 9 am and headed back on the road!
We stopped in Baton Rouge for the night and ate at a recommended restaurant called “Parrains”. The food was sooo good! We ordered fried Alligator, charbroiled oysters & Crawfish ettouffee. We drove around to look for a hotel and found The Hilton Baton Rouge Capital center. (NMNP) Originally known as the Heidelberg hotel that was built in 1972! Our room faced the Mississippi River. We took the girls to walk around the river and see some historical landmarks.
We woke up early to go do a swamp tour at McGee’s Swamp Tours. It was a 90 minute guided tour that taught us a lot about the swamp! I even got to drive the boat for a little bit! I highly recommend this location! We sadly didn’t see any gators because it was around 58 degrees that day. Since they are cold blooded they tend to hide away during temperatures like that.
We got home around 10 pm that night!! All in all we had an AMAZING trip!!! We loved the memories we made and enjoyed seeing so many new things! Destin was magical and I can’t wait to go back!
XOXO,
Jenn
