My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets: Florida’s Panhandle – Family Style
Posted in Participating, Sharing, Tips on January 6, 2010
In December, I was tagged by both Amy, at The Q Family Adventures, and Corinne, at Have Baby Will Travel, to participate in Tripbase’s 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets.
“The aim of this game is to unite travel bloggers in a joint endeavor – to create an amazing list of top travel recommendations across the globe to share with the entire online travel community.”
How fun! I have had so much fun reading everyone’s best kept travel secrets so far only, when I got tagged, I couldn’t think of anything to write about. Then, the holidays came and left and I still was not coming up with any brilliant ideas. I decided to talk about something I love: the Florida’s Panhandle.
When you think of taking the kids to Florida, the first city that usually pops into your head is Orlando for Disney and all other wonderful things Mouse. However, just a mere 5 or 6 hours north and to the west you will find a treasure trove of amazing spots to take the family!
1. St. George Island, Florida - St. George is a 22 mile barrier island with beaches as white and pristine as you imagine the Gulf Coast to be. Ride into Apalachicola for some of the most amazing seafood, namely oysters, that you have ever had. Even though it gets chilly in the fall and winter, St. George Island is a fantastic place to take the kids year round. Let them run up and down the beach and hike through the miles of wetlands and forests that surround the area.
2. Marianna and Chipley, Florida – Even people from this area will laugh when they read this. Why do you have Chipley and Marianna on this list? What is there?!?! Many people don’t realize that off of I-10 are two real gems. These two cities (about 25 minutes from each other) are homes to our two favorite NWFL state parks: Florida State Caverns and Falling Waters State Park. Grab your tent and air mattress and take the kids camping. They will love wandering through the nature trails and cooking dinner under the stars. Spend time in Marianna exploring the small caverns and then head to Falling Waters to camp (camping at Marianna will be closed through April for renovations) and to see Florida’s tallest waterfall (usually a just a trickle!) and some of the coolest sinkholes around. My kids were fascinated with the fact that the ground just disappeared! Make sure you grab the Florida Passport and get it stamped while you are there.
3. Panama City, Florida - Not Panama City Beach, just Panama City. We have been traveling to Panama City every 6-8 weeks to visit family for ten years. The beach is fine but if you are coming to the Gulf Coast for the beach, there are other beaches that we love. To be honest, I went to the beach for Spring Break when I was in college (so cliched, I know!) and maybe one time after I got married?! In Panama City, stop by the Bay County Junior Museum to learn more about the area. Take a walk through St. Andrew’s and while you are there watch the sunset and look for horseshoe crabs. Stop by Cahall’s for some of the best chicken salad I have ever had. Ever.
Thanks so much Tripbase for allowing me to participate and share three things I love about the Florida Panhandle!
To continue this fabulous TripBase Blog Tag, I would like to tag Amy at Atlanta With Kid, Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish, and Victoria at It’s a Small World after All.
And if it isn’t against the rules, I am going to write about my three best kept travel secrets about Pensacola over at my Pensacola with Kids blog!
Thanks for letting me participate! I look forward to reading many more travel secrets!
With the start of the new year, one of my goal’s for this site is to post 52 Travel Blogger Tuesday articles…one for each week of the year! We love finding new travel bloggers to share with you! Another goal is to be more organized about TBT…in the beginning I was not very organized and if I write about you more than once, just know that it is because I love your blog!
