Day 2 - Panama City Beach - We Arrived

It might have taken us all day to drive a normal 3 hour trip from Mobile, AL to Panama City Beach, FL but the two stops we made were worth it. We arrived at 4:48 PM with mileage of 709.3. Our first stop was grocery shopping at Publix. This was a nightmare with everyone arriving for the week shopping at the same time. We arrived at Splash Condos at 6:15 PM on July 12. Total trip mileage was 724.0. We unloaded the car and settled into our home away from home for the week, condo #105E.

 

At 8:45 PM we were sitting on the couch, feet up and eating lasagna and salad. We were completely unpacked and watched an amazing sunset. The beach was pristine. White sand, clear water and no seaweed. We finished supper and the kids put on their swimsuits. At 9:15 PM we headed down to the waterpark for 45 minutes until it closed for the night. We then headed back to the condo, showered and headed to bed.

 

 

Day 2 - Pensecola Beach Air Show

After visiting the USS Alabama we hit the road at 10:47 AM with the hopes of catching the Pensacola Beach Air Show which started at noon. The Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy's elite flight team was scheduled to make it's long awaited return to the skies at 2:00 PM after taking 2013 off due to the federal government grounding them. We crossed the Florida state line at 11:15 AM. Mileage was 606.2. Up to this point we had been making superb driving time, however we spent an hour and a half in traffic to get to Pensacola  to watch the Blue Angels. It was definitely worth it to watch them fly right over our heads. It was very loud and you could smell the jet fuel. It was definitely a memorable part of this vacation and one that we won't forget in many years to come.

 



Day 2 - USS Alabama

On day 2 we left the hotel at 9:00 AM after eating a great continental breakfast, we just love this hotel. It was actually our second time to stay there. Our 1st stop of the day was at the USS Alabama. We drove right past it the last three years and this year we scheduled a stop within our itenerary.Dalton really enjoyed it, Mallory not so much, but she was a trooper. We got there when they opened and thanfully so because at 10:45 when we decided we had seen enough it was getting very warm and muggy and the ship was filling quickly with people. It was time to go.

 



Florida - Day 1

We headed out on July 11 for our annual beach trip to Panama City, Florida. We pulled out of our drive-way at 8:20 AM and stopped at Sonic in town for a large sweet tea and three cheeseburgers (kids breakfast, lol). Mileage was 66,022. We officially left Brenham at 8:51 AM and crossed the Louisiana state line at 11:23 AM with no stops. Our first stop was for gas and potty at 1:16 PM in Grosse Tete, LA. Our mileage was 335.5. After our quick gas and potty break we were back on the road at 1:23 PM. We detoured serious traffic congestion and road construction on I-10 by taking LA 77 in Grosse Tete to LA 76 in Rosedale to LA 413 to 190. This took us around Baton Rouge to the north. We were back on I-12 at 2:27 PM and took the next exit to grab our lunch at Raising Canes and the kids lunch from McDonalds. We used drive-thrus at both and kept on driving.

 

Mallory fell asleep after eating her chicken nuggets. Dalton stayed occupied with his rainbow loom and watched a movie until he fell asleep later. We hit our first rain between Hammond, LA and Slidell, LA which of course affected traffic. We crossed the Mississippi state line at 4:20 PM. Our mileage was 463. Mallory woke up from her nap at 5:15 PM and we crossed the Alabama state line at 5:23 PM with a mileage of 537.8. We arrived at our hotel for the night, Hampton Inn & Suites in Mobile, Alambama at 5:54 PM.

 

Day 1's total mileage was 564.9 with one gas/potty actual stop and 1 drive-thru lunch. A total of 9 1/2 vehicle hours. We ate dinner in Mobile, AL one block from the hotel outside on the patio at The Royal Scam. It was delish! We headed back to the room for a restful nights sleep.