Weekend Adventures: Navarre

This past weekend we took a little road trip up to the Florida Panhandle to visit some friends of ours.

You might remember them from our wedding – they got engaged the day before Dan and I got married. And they got married on the beach a few months later.

Both of them serve in the military. One is active duty Air Force and the other is in the Navy Reserves. He is currently stationed near Navarre and they recently bought their first home. We've been dying to visit them and see their new place, but couldn't find the time to do it.

Two weeks ago, I got a call about a surprise birthday visit. Who could say no to that? So Friday after work, Dan and I loaded up the car and drove the 7 hours to Navarre. It was pretty late when we got into town….

Keep in mind, that’s Eastern Standard Time on the radio. Technically, it was only midnight Central Standard Time when we got there. But our bodies didn't know the difference.

The birthday boy was totally surprised! I wish I had gotten a picture of his face! But cell phones and going from dark to lighted rooms just doesn't work well.

The next morning we all woke up, made breakfast sandwiches, and hung around the house for alittle bit.

Then we headed out to Navarre Beach for their Fun Fest event. The event was pretty small – a few vendors selling art & crafts, a local dance troop performed, food trucks – the typical small town festival.

 We headed out to the water to check it out.

I can see why they call this the Emerald Coast. Beautiful, clear, green water. Too cold for our likes though. We just dipped our toes in it for a few minutes before heading back to the car.

Later that afternoon, our friends got a call from someone who was interested in buying their truck – that day! As in, he wanted to buy it in the next couple of hours. So, after taking a quick tour of the military base and making a bunch of phone calls to the bank and the buyer, we headed out to Pensacola and sold their truck. Luckily we were there this weekend, because that truck was their only vehicle. They’re planning on downsizing to a car and will hopefully find one this week (they've rented a car for the time being).

We headed out to a place called Helen Back for dinner.

Our friends said they had the best pizza around. Plus, they had outside seating that would let us catch the Fun Fest fireworks. My opinion of the place: really crowded (UFC fight night), horrible appetizers (I could make better – no joke!), terrible service (I don’t know if the girl was on something or what), decent pizza (which we only found out after we had to send the first pizzas back because they were made wrong), and really expensive considering the quality of food and service.

After dinner we went back to our friends’ place and watched a movie until we were all too tired to keep our eyes open. Sunday morning we had to say goodbye and make our way back home.

I seriously can’t wait to visit them again! Although, maybe next time they can come visit us and see where the retirees all hang out in Florida.