Exploring the State Parks

 

After a gloomy start to our time in Florida, most of the rest of our days were really very pretty, which was good, because most of our plans were outside! The Monday we were there, we explored two different state parks. 

The first one, Henderson Beach State Park, was very different from what we're used to in a state park in Indiana. It had beachfront to it, so we were able to sit on the beach for a while. It also had very pretty sand dunes, but you weren't allowed to walk on them. So the only real trail in the park was about a mile around, and it contained quite a diverse amount of sand and dirt trails. We had a lot of fun exploring this park, but it was a short stay, mostly because it was a small park!

One of the strangest things about this park was that it was IN Destin. So all during our hike, we could see the tops of hotels and hear the traffic on the highway. That was very different from parks at home!

Our only "big" meal that day ended up being at Whataburger. We hadn't planned to eat there, but we chose it on the fly. It was a first for both of us! I enjoyed the food (rarely have I met a burger I didn't like) but I wasn't absolutely blown away by it. We did get to watch a parking-lot-rage moment that managed to not get out of control. It may have been the longest honk I've ever heard in my life, though.

Then we went to Topsail Hill Preserve State Park for more hiking. They had WAY more trails than we had time to for in the afternoon. (A peril of activities like this in the winter is that the parks close at dusk - which is 4:45. So if you don't arrive until about 1, you don't have much hiking time.) We also didn't find the trails to be very well marked, so it's possible we were lost a few times. But it was still fun. And the park was very nice. We made a mental note that it had camping available. :) 

We did make it back to our Airbnb in time for sunset on the beach, and we found another beautiful sand sculpture had appeared while we were gone!

After sunset, it was time for another dinner in and a night of football for Ryan! 

Seaside!

 

I'm so excited to share our vacation finds from this particular day, because THIS was the whole reason we went to the panhandle of Florida in the first place. 

Years ago, I watched the Truman Show for the first time. If you aren't familiar, it's a movie from the 90s starring Jim Carrey. His character (Truman) is living this picturesque life in a too-good-to-be-true little town, and the whole time, he has no idea he is actually the star of a reality show being broadcast all over the world. The show adopted him as a baby and has been filming (and scripting) every part of his life, including his marriage, his job, and everything else. The movie begins just as he's starting to figure out something isn't quite right. I love that movie, and I love the town where it was filmed...which is actually a real place! It's a little community called Seaside, Florida, and it's just outside of Destin. Visiting Seaside in person has been on my bucket list for many years, and now I have officially checked it off! 

It is as beautiful in person as you might expect! If I were independently wealthy, I'd want to live there. (I'm pretty sure you have to be independently wealthy TO live there. I checked out the real estate!)

We actually had planned to visit Seaside later in the week, but the weather forecast pushed us to rearrange our plans. We wanted to do Seaside on a beautiful day because it's a beautiful place! My original plans for the day called for us to start with breakfast at a little place down the road from Seaside called The Scratch Biscuit Kitchen. But when we moved the day of our visit to Sunday, we wanted a slow start to the day and the chance to watch our church online, so we skipped the breakfast plan. We never made it back to try that restaurant, but it looked good online, so if you go - give it a try!

I had read in my research that they have this thing called Airstream Row. It's a whole row of Airstream trailers (hence the name!) that have been converted into food trucks. So the day we went, we arrived around lunchtime and began our adventure with food. (Note, in case you ever go...there is parking around town, but you might have to walk a little ways to the main part of town. We were probably 4-5 blocks out, but it was a pretty day, so it was no big deal.) 

We shared a sandwich from The Meltdown, which was a grilled cheese truck. Our sandwich was a Cuban, so it had meat on it too, and it was quite delicious. We also got donuts for dessert - from Charlie's Donuts. (This was the same place - different location - we had planned to eat dinner the night before, but the location we had chosen for the night before also had food. This JUST has donuts. Note: they usually sell out early and close, so if you go, get the donut even if you aren't ready for it!) 

They had tables everywhere, but they also had an outdoor amphitheater location, so we sat on the steps there, watching kids play in the green space while we ate. It was very...Truman-show-esque.

The tree was actually lit, but you couldn't see it until you got up close, because the sun was so bright!

These were the steps we sat on and below that is the green space. 

Ryan commented that this is a perfect place to bring your kids to run around and burn off energy. There were so many of them out there playing ball, rolling down the hill, and just running. It was fun to see them enjoying a sunny day!

Next up? The famous Seaside Post Office! I have read that it is one of the most photographed post office locations in the world, and it is featured in the movie, too. It's a real, functioning post office, and I had to wait for pictures until people from the area were done checking their mail. 

Then we walked over to the Modica Market, which is also featured in the movie. It has such cool ladders for things on high shelves. (Like a ladder you would find in a library.) There is also a poster from the movie in there. It's an actual, functioning market, and they have coffee, too, so we got some!

Seaside has 9 different pavilions that lead from the town/residential areas out to the beach. Unfortunately, it is a private beach, so if you don't live there or are not a guest in a rental there, you can't go through to the beach. (Staying there was not in our budget.) I tried to take pictures of all the pavilions from the street side, because they are all different and pretty in their own way, but some were really hard to photograph because of foliage in the way. I'm sure they're much easier to see from the beach!

BUT! I was really excited that the most famous pavilion - the one featured in the movie - was visible enough for pictures, and we were also able to see the water from the town side. I took a picture to try to match what the movie showed that Truman saw. (Though the part he saw was a set with a wall at the back.)

Another fun fact: the house belonging to Truman in the movie is a real house in town, and you can do photo opps with it! In real life, the house number is different than it is in the show, but the owners have left the movie house number up for fun. You can see, in the photo below, that the numbers on the house (above the door) and on the picket fence are different.

We took a long walk around town, and all the houses are SO BEAUTIFUL. I told Ryan that I have always said if I lived at the beach, I would have to have a water view. I can't imagine living that close and not being able to see the water from my house. Seaside proved to be an exception to that. The houses away from the water were so picturesque that they would be worth missing out on the constant water view. 

There are park-like settings throughout town, too.

We saw the gazebo from the movie. It's so cute!

We had a snack from Airstream Row while we sat in Adirondack chairs overlooking that green space in the middle of town. I mean...life is rough.

We did more pictures around town...and walked a total of about 25,000 steps.

Not your mama's golf cart!

This sign is from the movie. It was one of the businesses in the fictional town. The building owners have left it up as a nod to the movie.

We window shopped (couldn't afford anything) and left to go back to our Airbnb just before sunset. We didn't arrive in enough time to walk down to the water for the sunset, but it was spectacular from up high!

We ate in that night and then Ryan watched football and I...

I am so happy we were able to have this beautiful and perfect day. I loved it so much. Seaside was all I hoped for and more. The only sad thing was not being able to get to the beach (but I knew that going in, so it wasn't a disappointment that day). I told Ryan that sometimes I feel like places are hyped up and then don't live up to the promises. Not Seaside. It was perfection in real life.

Sunday Sentiments

 

I've been finishing up the book of Genesis as we finish up this calendar year of 2022. This week I kept going back to one phrase, and it has convicted me, so I wanted to share it with you today!

The phrase comes right at the end of Genesis 45. Joseph has just told his brothers who he is and has sent them back home to pack up their belongings, gather their father, and return to Egypt to live with him in a place of physical provision.

When the brothers returned to their father and told him that Joseph was alive and had managed to become the ruler of Egypt, Jacob didn't believe them. Can you blame him? He had grieved Joseph for so many years, believing he had been killed long ago. That was a lot of information for someone to take in all in one afternoon.

Eventually, Jacob did believe them, and Scripture says when he finally let himself believe, he "revived." But it was the next part that really stuck out to me. 

"And Israel said, 'It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.'"

It is enough.

Jacob had gone through much in his life. Some of it he brought upon himself, and other things were just unfortunate circumstances. He took the birthright from his brother and spent years at odds with him and separated from his parents just so he could stay alive. He was cheated out of the wife he was promised and then ended up married to sisters who spent most of their marriage in a fertility feud. 

Then the wife he loved most died, and he was left to raise 12 sons. Then the son he loved the most disappeared, and his other sons claimed he was killed by a wild animal. Then there was a widespread famine and he had to send his remaining sons to search for food. 

Life was about survival for him at that point. It was about finding a way to make it through this unbearable famine. It was about surviving old age and squabbling children.

And then...a glimmer of hope. News he never dared to imagine he would hear. 

And it was enough.

The famine raged on. His beloved wife was still dead. The pain of history probably still tugged at his heart. 

But it was enough. That one piece of hope was enough. 

I'm convicted to think about what is enough for me today. In all that feels wrong, in all that feels uncertain, in all that seems overwhelming, can I still see the enough from God?

And even if I see it, can I believe it truly is just that? Enough?

I don't know what it might look like for you today, but I encourage you to think about it. 

It is enough. HE is enough. 

The Saturday Six

 

This week was a random week in my reality, so it's a random week in this space as well. But enjoy! Hope you find something that sparks some inspiration for you!

One.

Isn't it funny how our tastes change over time? When I was first out on my own, my grandest dreams for home decor were to have the most, biggest, and best of everything. More is more, it felt like to me. And now, after a few moves and so many years of muchness, I'm seeing the beauty in simplicity. Less is more for me now. I appreciate the fullness I see around me, but when it comes to what we own personally, less is more. And that is why I loved this sweet and simple Christmas porch. It has just enough to be decorated beautifully, but it's not overdone. Less to store. Less to manage. Less to buy! I think it's perfect. 

Two.

After coming home from the warmth and joy of Florida, I am even LESS ready for winter than I was before I went. I have heard this is going to be a cold winter, and I'm just not there yet. But I appreciated Callie's take on how to appreciate the winter months. If you're on the please-not-yet-with-the-cold bandwagon with me, maybe her words will help you too!

Three.

Did anyone else have an obsession with dollhouses when they were little? (Or last week?) Long before I ever had a home of my own to decorate, I thought it would be SO MUCH FUN to have a dollhouse so I could play interior designer. I never had one (assembled, anyway...I did own a project one for a while, but it never got finished) and now it feels like something Lexi might just eat. :) But how cute is this dollhouse shelf that doubles as a stocking holder at Christmas? It is just cute as a button!

Four.

This blogger's home style always makes my heart happy. I feel like she and I have many similar tastes. (She does like wallpaper, and I still can't go there, but I do like the patterns of what she picks.) She released a home tour of their newest home this week, and I love how it's shaping up! (She's a military wife, so they move often.) 

Five.

Back when we lived in Kokomo, and I redid our guest room with the Anne of Green Gables theme, I fell in love with quilt bed covers. I loved the one we got for that room so much that when we moved to WillowBridge and got a whole new bed for our room (that was smaller, so I had to get new bedding), I chose a quilt for it as well. Though I've never (yet) been one to change up bedding specifically for the holidays, I do love this Christmassy quilt. Maybe one day our room will take on a whole Christmas life it's never yet seen!

Six.

Our neighbors dropped off Christmas goodies on our front porch this week. It was so fun to find them early in the morning before Ryan left for work! I know the costs of everything are going up, so maybe giving neighbor gifts - or Christmas baking in general - can't be part of your Christmas this year. But if you ARE looking for some goodie-gift ideas for neighbors or coworkers, here's some inspiration for you. In full disclosure, I haven't tried these recipes, but I do remember eating cream cheese mints when I was little, and they felt so fancy! (And I don't even like mint!) I used to do a whole huge, overdone baking day each December, and this year isn't going to be like that, but I do hope to crank out some cookies eventually.