Florida - Day 4

Panama City Beach is beautiful but that beauty is tainted by spring breakers between late February and April.  The sand is littered with beer cans and you can barely walk the beach through the thick crowds.  Not that you'd want to with children in tow....the language alone would be awful much less what they might witness.  That said, we decided to visit the state park to get our beach experience.  We'll save the "real" beach for the summer. 

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.  If not for the strong breeze it would have been a perfect day. 

I cannot believe our crazy kids even stuck a foot in the water.  It was way too cold for my liking.  Again, I prefer summertime when the water is 80 degrees. 

We were having a really nice time when out of the blue a guy walks by wheeling a suitcase behind him.  Sounds weird, right?  Imagine seeing it.  Bizarre is an understatement.  Of course weird guy decides that of all the beach all around us, he's going to sit down next to us, about 15 feet away.  He unfolded a chair and sat down.  About two seconds later he stood back up, reached in his waistband, and pulled out a gun!  He unzipped his suitcase (which was overflowing with who-knows-what), shoved it in there, and zipped it back up.  At this point Kevin and I gave each other the "did I just see what I think I saw" look and within a minute had the kids out of the water, dried off, bags packed, shoes on, and we were headed to the car. 

We stopped by the office on the way out to let them know about dude on the beach with a gun.  They were not concerned and said that they had recently changed the law allowing guns at state parks.  Huh?!?

A beach trip cut short just made for more time for naps before another busy evening.  My brother, Steve, came into town as did my parents and Gram.  Unfortunately we didn't have much time with them before we had to rush off again.  That night on our way back to Niceville we stopped back through Grayton Beach to check out our friends' new art gallery.  Andy Saczynski and his amazing pieces did not disappoint!  He is such an awesome talent. 

Just behind Andy's studio is The Hurricane Oyster Bar which is owned by some other friends of ours.  The BEST oysters ever!  Steve joined us for the evening and got his oyster on, too.

With full bellies we headed towards Niceville making one last stop at Baytowne Wharf to jam out to some music.  The kids danced and ran wild and had a really great time.