I know everybody loves the beach. (If you don’t, you might want to get checked out by a professional). However, I am definitely one of those bodys (yes I know bodys is misspelled). And because I am such a beach lover, we try to plan at least one trip a year to some beach somewhere.
We decided this particular beach trip would be in Florida, more specifically, Henderson Beach State Park. The park is in Destin, Florida. My wife came up with the idea to go to Destin because she remembered seeing it on the Jim Carrey film The Truman Show. Of course, the movie was actually filmed in Seaside, Florida in some master-planned community type place. Apparently, it had pretty houses painted with pretty colors on a pretty beach or something. IDK. I don’t think I saw the movie all the way thru so I didn’t have as vivid memories of it as she did. But we were going to a beach, so I didn’t care where we went.
I’m glad we stayed at this park because the beach was the best I have ever been to personally. The beach area at Henderson is A-MA-ZING. It’s only a shortish walk down a long wood bridge from our campsite, and it feels secluded because only state park campers mostly use it. The best thing about this beach is the sand is as soft as powdered sugar. It was sweet for my feet. One thing I don’t like about some beaches is when the sand feels like it is making tiny paper cuts on the bottom of my feet. However, at Henderson Beach State Park, the sand feels like walking on clouds.
The campsite themselves were also great and well maintained. All the sites are spaced out with greenery in between which gave us that feeling of privacy even though there are other campers all around us. Donna’s decision to stay at this park was a great choice, however, the timing of our trip was not the best. We went in August of 2017. Does anybody remember what was happening in the Gulf of Mexico at that time? That’s right, Hurricane Harvey.
Because of Mr. Harvey, it rained off and on quite a bit while we were there. The massive amount of water that the hurricane was dumping on the coast helped us to discover that our fiberglass camper was NOT waterproof. Check out our solution for leaky windows on the picture below. Maybe the tarp was a little TOO big, but at least our bed and pillows stayed dry. That is another good thing about this state park; it is across the street from a Wal-Mart where we were able to buy this beautiful camper cover. All-in-all, the storm wasn’t too bad at our location, and we still had plenty of time to play in the ocean and enjoy the beach.
Besides weathering a storm during this vacation, we had a few first on this particular road trip. It was the first time we took our tiny camper to a beach, it was the first time I had ever camped at a beach, it was the first time Little D had ever been to the ocean, and it was the first time my camera took a dip in the ocean.
The only first that I was not a fan of was my camera taking a swim. On our last day in Destin, and we decided to head down to the beach to watch the waves one last time. Although we were going to the beach, we didn’t plan to go swimming specifically because there were high tide warnings. However, I thought it would be a good time to get some pictures of Little D playing near the waves. BIG mistake. As I was getting all those cute images of my daughter on the beach…WHOOSH, a big wave comes in a knocks little D off her feet and into the water. Keep in mind she has not yet learned how to swim, and she is fully dressed (floaties not included). So I jump in the water and grab her before she gets swept away. The daughter is scooped up and the camera goes down. Bye Bye camera. On to the next one. But at least my most valuable possession was safe.
I am telling you this story because I have one piece of advice when taking a vacation to any beach. Please pay attention to posted signs and flags which indicate high, dangerous tides. They are there for a reason. A very good reason. I didn’t understand fully how strong, powerful, and unpredictable the ocean can really be, and my camera paid the ultimate price. The trip overall was fantastic! We will definitely be going back. Especially if I never find sand that soft again. Really y’all! It was THAT soft.
✪ Henderson Beach State Park – 17000 Emerald Coast Pkwy, Destin, FL 32541
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