family vacation – The Realty Housewife

Another Biking Vacation for those who enjoy biking – 30A is a great biking destination! We stayed essentially in a mobile home in the Blue Mountain Beach area. I didn’t realize it was a mobile home because from the pictures it looked just like a house, but once we got there we realized it was the one small house in a sea of mansions – no wonder it was a good price! 🙂

Anyway, it suited us just fine – good thing there weren’t any strong winds or hurricanes while we were there. It had two bedrooms and one bathroom which was all we really needed. Turns out they also had an outdoor shower which came in really handy so none of us would have to remain salty after coming home from the beach.

We loved Blue Mountain beach – it’s a nice central location to access all of 30A and it’s a beautiful beach, relatively laid back, and family friendly. 30A has a unique phenomenon called Dune Lakes which are actually pretty rare – we passed over many on our bike rides.

Here’s our itinerary with kids.

Day 1: Explored the Blue Mountain Beach area. Loaded up our beach wagon (the place we rented provided one of these) and headed down to the Blue Mountain Beach. We got an awesome new beach tent that looks like a blue starfish which really made our trip nice. It’s very portable by bike as well. After some boogie board riding, we headed to eat at Redfish Taco which had a great band most nights and amazing tacos, then had ice cream at Blue Mountain Creamery.

Day 2: Rode our bikes to Seaside (about 4 miles away – where the Truman show was filmed) from our house in Blue Mountain beach. We ate lunch at the food trucks in Seaside. Had some barbeque at Barefoot BBQ and grilled cheese at the Meltdown – nice shade and cool breeze under their canopies. Then, we headed down to the public access point to the beach and set up our tent. The beach was very similar to Blue Mountain beach – no difference. Except the public part is very small – mostly you have to pay to get in. The town of Seaside was pretty neat with the pastel architecture so that was a sight to see. We went to a few of the shops but were priced out of them for the most part. Saw a dress for $179 and did a U-Turn out of there.

Day 3: Rode our bikes to Topsail Hill State Park (about 5.6 miles – the opposite direction from Seaside). I liked the scenery at this park – it was nice and shaded from the tall trees. We got some snacks at the general store and ice water/Gatorade then rode the Campbell trail to the dune lake – there was nice breeze the whole way. Then, we rode to the beach and saw some sea snails and sat on the sandbars which were protected from the waves. The beach was pristine.

Day 4: Rode our bikes to Grayton Beach State Park (about 3 miles away). This was a must do. We first hiked the Dune Trail which was an experience hiking in the sand but the ground hardened out shortly into it so it wasn’t heavy sand the whole way. After this hike we were kind of hot and ready to get in the ocean. The beach here was really nice and we caught and released some sea creatures. We ate dinner at Beach Camp Brewing Company which was yummy. It actually started pouring down rain at this point and it was getting dark so the ride back was a bit scary traversing the rain by headlight. We were extra careful though and made it back with no injuries.

Day 5: Drove our bikes to Point Washington Forest and biked some of the trails there. Afterwards, we drove our bikes to Rosemary Beach, parked at Shades Bar & Grill, rode the trail to Seacrest and got some pizza at Pizza By The Sea. We ate in the town square where there was some live music then headed back to Rosemary Beach to watch the sunset.

Day 6: Destin for a boat snorkeling tour. I was really surprised how clear the water was – we could actually see fish when we went snorkeling and we even spotted someone with a pet monkey on a surfboard. Afterwards, we ate at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville on the ocean.

Day 7: Shipwreck Island Waterpark and then checked out the Panama City Beach.

Day 1: Blue Mountain Beach

There was some seaweed in the water, but not much on the beach.

Red Fish Taco Band – they had a band most nights and great food – awesome way to end the day of biking:

Blue Mountain Creamery for dessert most nights:

Day 2: Rode our bikes to Seaside

Crossing over Alligator Lake:

Red Fish Dune Lake:

We can see the beach but the tricky part will be getting there. For most of it you have to pay to get in – we walked quite a bit to find the tiny public access point.

Day 3: Rode our bikes to Topsail Hill State Park

We loved our little starfish tent – it was easy to transport by bike and all we had to do is fill the legs up with sand. I kept wondering if the pole was going to snap in half but it held up with all the wind.

Day 4: Grayton Beach State Park

We hiked the Dune Lake Trail. I highly recommend this – it’s a nice change of pace and a different kind of hiking on the sand.

Now, to the beach:

Day 5: Point Washington State Park (my favorite ride this trip). There were some heavy sand patches in some spots that you have to be wary of but very fun trail.

Day 6: Destin

We took a boat snorkel tour which was amazing and saw some dolphins along the way.

Since we love biking so much, we were looking for a vacation where we could explore mostly by bike. Clearwater, Florida is what we landed on since we had read about the Pinellas Trail. We went over Christmas a couple of years ago. Here’s our itinerary with kids.

We rented a house in Palm Harbor which is more of a suburb so it was a bit less expensive than being on the beach. Turns out there are a lot of bike trails in the area as well so if you are an avid biker, you may not even need to drive. We have kids so we drove to the Pinellas trail most days.

Day 1: We rode our bikes to the neighborhood park in Palm Harbor (John Chestnut Sr Park) and saw lots of nature. There were alligators, lots of birds, and several playgrounds.

Day 2: Rode from Crystal Beach to Tarpon Springs. There was a zoo along the way! We ate some Greek food and dessert at the Sponge Docks.

Day 3: Rode from Crystal Beach to Honeymoon Island State Park. This ride included miles on the DunedIn causeway which had the most beautiful ocean views on both sides. It was about 6 miles one way but we beat the car traffic which was bumper to bumper. Honeymoon Island State Park is a very natural park and the beaches are beautiful and pristine. We got snow cones on the way back and watched the sunset at High & Dry Grill.

Day 4: Just me and my husband rode from Palm Harbor to Tarpon Springs and we ate at a nice Greek Restaurant. It was a little too long of a ride to include the kids.

Day 5: Rode from DunedIn to Clearwater Beach. Clearwater beach is amazing – it’s a very busy city beach with plenty to do and loads of shops, but the traffic getting there was pretty bad – luckily we didn’t have to deal with it because we were on bike. We ate at DunedIn Brewery at the end of the ride and it was yummy.

Day 6: My absolute favorite place was Pass-A-Grille beach. We didn’t actually bike here but I think you can. The atmosphere was amazing – there was a great band playing and we got to sit right on the beach to eat at Paradise Grille. A fog had rolled in over the ocean which gave it an eerie, magical feeling. The beach was absolutely stunning.

I do feel like the best way (and most fun, IMO) to get around to the beaches in this area was by bike because you got to beat the traffic and fully immerse yourself in the ocean atmosphere – lots of wildlife and fun things to stop and see along the way as well.

Day 1: Bike to John Chestnut Sr Park