Memorial Day Week Vacation Part 1: Panama City Beach

We did something last week that Eric and I have not done since the week we got married almost 6 years ago....we both took an entire week off of work for vacation, and boy did we need it! We had been planning on spending a few days in Panama City Beach, FL for Memorial Day, but Eric realized the week before we left that red snapper season was coming in on June 1 (the day we were supposed to come home from  PCB) so we decided to extend our trip by a few days and head west to Orange Beach, AL and spend some time with his brother's family. It was a fantastic trip and I was not amused when my alarm clock went off Tuesday AM (thank you random Monday state holiday). In fact I slept right through it until Eric had to wake me up because it woke him up. Clearly my brain was still in vacation mode.

Beautiful scenery is usually the way to put me in a relaxed state: mountains, lake, forests, beach....they all make me happy. But there's something about the relaxing sound of the waves constantly rolling onto shore that puts me in total relaxation mode.

I'll take this view all day every day....kthanksbye

We had plans to head south first thing Friday morning, but the brim were bedding at the lake so Eric just HAD to go catch some...this is real life when you live with a true fisherman. It worked out well because I was able to get all of my things together and take the pups on a walk before we hit the road. We left right at 9AM and were sailing down the road until we got about 20 mins from home and Eric realized he'd left his golf clubs at home.  We turned around to go back and get them, so our official departure was not until 9:37AM.  We had an extra passenger on the way down because we were making a stop at his Mom's house to drop off his Dad's dog. She requested we bring Belle to stay with her for the week, which was no trouble because it was right on the way and we got to stop in for a nice lunch with his Mom and her husband. We finally pulled into Panama City Beach around 2PM, but it was perfect because our friends we were staying with the first night couldn't get into their room until 1PM so we ran to the room, threw on swim suits and hit the beach immediately.  We were not wasting ANY beach time!

Top: Beach bums! Bottom: (L) Beach sunsets are my favorite (R) The girlies before dinner. 

We opted for a casual dinner at Shuckems Oyster Pub with a side of karaoke for the kiddos, although they were more excited about the breaks where they played the Whip and the Nay Nay.  Want to entertain a crowd of kids? Play the song and watch all the kids get down....they know ALL THE MOVES. 

The guys headed out for a round of golf the next morning so once all of the kiddos were up we headed down to the beach for another day of sunshine...It didn't quite go as planned with a chill in the air and once it started sprinkling we headed up to the room for some lunch. It cleared up once the guys got back so we packed up and headed back down to the beach, naturally. After a few hours I left and ventured down Beach Front Road (being Memorial Day Weekend it was a very adventurous and long 3 mile drive) to pick up my parents who we were meeting up with for the remainder of our PCB stay. I brought them back to the other hotel for the afternoon since we had a primo front row beach spot already staked out. After a bit we parted ways and headed to our hotel with my folks to get checked in and unpacked before meeting up with everyone for dinner at Sharkey's (conveniently walking distance from our hotel...because ain't nobody got time to drive down Front Beach Road in PCB at mealtime on Memorial Day Weekend).

Dinner at Sharkey's with the entire crew!

The rest of our stay went like this: Eric and Dad got up and headed to the golf course, Mom and I got up and headed out on a walk down to Pier Park and beyond....a good 5 miles before heading to the beach. When the boys got back we'd head up for lunch and then back to the beach for the afternoon. We'd come in when the sun started going down to get cleaned up and head to dinner. I'm pretty sure that's how life is supposed to be done all day every day, right?

 1) Sand Turtle! 2) Heaven's Gate...no seriously that was the name of the drink. A refreshing crisp spritzer! 3) Dad and I at Sharkey's the first night. 4) The best lunch view ever! 5) Mom's birthday was the last full day of our trip so we celebrated with cake, naturally. Unfortunately we did not have a lighter and the store only gave us some matches with nothing to light them on, so my repairman husband lit the match on the broiler, which was brilliant until we walked over to their room with the lit cake and opened the door. Then a giant wind gust blew ever single candle out.....so we had to relight them with the broiler and a paper towel. 6) Won Ton Nachos....unfortunately the drinks and appetizer were the only really great things about the place we ate at that night. 7) Mom and I at her birthday dinner. 8) The Crab Cake Appetizer at Uncle Ernie's....they deep fry the $#!+ out of them, according to our waiter.....so delicious!

I think we came to a consensus that our favorite dinner was the one at Uncle Ernie's Bayfront Grill in Panama City (across the bay from PCB) for Mom's birthday dinner.  The food was delicious, the view was spectacular, and we even had live music! Our dinner choice only reaffirmed my confidence is asking locals for food suggestions....and I'd like to give a big shout out to Joey from the Electronics Department at Target who suggested this place to Mom and I.

This sunset view was absolutely spectacular on the Bay.  And I'd like to point out the Betsy Ann River Boat in the center of the top photo. 

And now for more pictures.....because beach = perfect background for pictures =)

 We got to see an ocean rainbow after a rain shower one night. 

Whoever named the beaches between Panama City and Gulf Shores the Emerald Coast hit the nail on the head because the water and the white sandy beaches are top notch! We are beyond lucky to live so close to such a beautiful place!

We finished up our PCB vacation on Wednesday and said good bye to my folks before heading west for the Orange Beach leg of our vacation.  Since this post is already a mile long I will save those pics for another day, but let's just say there was a lot of food, fish, and fun family time!