Time to Meet the Parents

It's time to meet the parents and help you understand why I love the beach and small towns!

My mom was born an raised At Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.  (how cool is that to grow up on an island?!)  She grew up in this quaint beach town located right outside of Jacksonville, FL.  She spent her school years cheering on the Fernandina Beach Pirates where my grandpa was the football coach and her summers were spent at the beach, riding her bike around town, and helping make boiled peanuts and cast nets.  On her way to the beach she would stop by the Putt-Putt Golf and get a Blue Raspberry Sprite, a sprite with a squirt of blue raspberry snow cone flavoring, to enjoy at the beach.  Now when her and I go to the beach there we always pick one up on the way.  Yum!  Some of my favorite things to do while visiting Amelia Island is walking through the historic downtown, eating outside in the fresh sea breeze, and watching the light house at night.  I also love going to the Shrimp Boat Festival which happens every year during the first weekend in May.  If you are every in the area, I would definitely take the time to visit this beautiful place!

Now onto my dad.  My dad is from the forgotten coast, also known as the panhandle of Florida!  There are so many small towns that run into one another creating this coast.  Taking a drive right down highway 98 you pass through the forgotten coast from Wewahitchka, FL to Port St. Joe to Cape San Blas to Indian Pass all the way to Apalachicola, FL.  If you go the opposite way it becomes less forgotten from Mexico Beach, FL to Panama City Beach (which I know everyone has heard of!) to Destin and Pensacola!  My whole life I have been brought up coming to this quaint area.  I have learned and experienced more irreplaceable things here than anywhere else.  From a young age my favorite things to do here are crabbing in Money Bayou, scalloping in the Bay, and sitting on the tailgate enjoying a bonfire on the beach.  Now that I am older these are still some of my favorite things to do, especially getting to bring some of my friends to our beach house we have here and letting them experience these things.  We love hanging out at Indian Pass Raw Bar, sitting on the porch, and doing karaoke on Friday nights!

                                            

        

With my mom growing up on the Atlantic coast and my dad growing up on the Gulf of Mexico, I have a true appreciation for the beauty and variance of the coasts that Florida has to offer.  I believe that both of these places have played a big role in who I am today and have given me memories that will last a lifetime.  Although my parents have both told me that small towns are not always peachy with everyone knowing everyone and your personal business spreading like wildfire, the closeness of the community is one of the things I cherish most and my heart is always happy when i'm visiting one of these small towns.

Have any of y'all visited any of these places or have a similar place near and dear to your heart?