Our drive to Florida was certainly interesting. Halfway through Arkansas, our check engine light came on and in fabulous Jenny style, I freaked out and made us stop at a Sedalia AutoZone for an inspection. It was interesting watching people who didn't really know what they were doing try to diagnose car trouble. They said it was a knock sensor--- which seemed like a pretty serious thing, I called the Hyundai dealership in Destin for some recommendations about what to do. The mechanic couldn't necessarily recommend that we continue on, but the check engine light wasn't flashing, so it might not be a serious problem. It could be something as simple as oxygen in the gas tank. We filled up with higher octane gasoline and kept going.
After about two hours of heart palpitations and heavy breathing, we made a stop in Memphis to collect my "You are here" Starbucks mugs. We had never been to Memphis before, but I chose a location near our route so that we didn't have to drive around a lot. There was one spot left int he parking lot, so Josh slid right in after doing a u-turn on the busy street. When I went in the store, they had TWO mugs: Tennessee and Memphis. Score!
Plus, when we started the car to leave, the check engine light was off and never came back on.
Double Score! It felt a little scary in Memphis because we were in the middle of rush hour, on a bumpy road, in an unfamiliar sketchy area, but we powered on and made it to our overnight destination at the
Holiday Inn Express. Fulton, Mississippi seems like a nice little southern town, from what we could tell. The room was really nice, but the WIFI had problems, as in it wouldn't work. We were only there overnight, so we didn't press the issue and took it as a sign to get more rest.
We went to
Homer's barbecue for dinner. The place was packed after 8 pm, so we took it as a good sign, but the food was really only okay. I got the pork chops and they were super salty, but it hit the spot after a long, stressful drive.
In the morning, we enjoyed an awesome continental breakfast at the hotel. Holiday Inn Express sure does know how to do breakfasts, in our opinion. They had just about everything you can think of: bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, gravy, omelets, yogurts, cereal, pancakes, and cinnamon rolls. Their cinnamon rolls are to die for! (I think we are going to make Holiday Inn Express our go-to hotel.)
The drive for the rest of the day, was pretty low key. We had a lot of fun taking Snapchat (Whereverweland) photos with the location filters throughout our trip. The drive is scenic with cypress trees all around and windy roads. It doesn't fit my picture of Florida, but it's still a nice ride.
We only had a few hours to go and ended up in Florida around noon. We couldn't check into our condo until 4 PM, so we grabbed some lunch at the
Okaloosa Island Pier. We really enjoyed staying on Okaloosa Island last year and I recommend staying there again. There are beautiful views and we really get the beach vibe there.
We went to
Anglers first thing last year and we are starting to make it a tradition. Last time. they had these delicious soft shell crabs--- fried up golden and crunchy. I will never forget the taste of those buggers. But, they couldn't get a good supply of those this year, so they were no longer on the menu. Instead, I had a fish platter and it was just as good. The french fries are something to
write home about--- seasoned and fried perfectly. The food isn't really even the best thing about this place. It has a view of the pier and Okaloosa Island Beaches where you could just sit for hours gazing out at the ocean. It's the perfect way to start your vacation.
We still had time to kill after lunch, so we headed to Destin Yarn Shop-- which is one of the main destinations on my trip. It was my birthday weekend, so I may have went a little overboard, but I won't tell, if you don't.
Can you believe I didn't even get any pictures of our
condo? It was on the
Choctawhatchee Bay and had some wonderful views. The condo was small, but neat a clean. It was located in a hotel which was a little weird, but it was safe, cheap, and quiet, for the most part. It had great views of the bay where you can watch fish jumping and boats skirting across the water.
After we got settled in, we took a visit to the
Destin Board Walk. We didn't get any photos, but you can view our
vlog which has a little bit of time there. If you get the chance, I recommend that you check it out. There are shops, activities, coffee, sweets, and a really long pier with boat after fishing boat. During the daytime it's the perfect change to see dolphins, pelicans, jellyfish, and other marine life. We really enjoying walking up and down it and manage to get in tons of steps in.
It was a long day and we were really in the mood for hanging out at our condo, so we decided to pick up some sandwiches from Publix on our way back. We love Publix and have heard from the
Connerton Adventures that they have some of the best sandwiches, so we couldn't pass at the chance to hit them up. (No lie there, they are really good and the staff at Publix was super sweet and chatty while making them.)
If you get the chance, we did
vlog our trip. I have included the Youtube video below. It's really fun (and silly) to vlog and I feel like you get a good sense for our goofiness. (Please subscribe to our channel.)
