Grayton Beach State Park was just down the way from Destin. (There are so many beautiful state parks in this area!) The hiking trails are unbelievable - powder white sand alternating with heavily wooded areas where if you were just dropped into you wouldn’t even know there was a beach nearby.
This photo was taken at the beginning of the hike (white sand, palmettos), and the one below was taken about 1/4 mile further on (pines, lakes). I love the diversity of the trails. There are also lots of big sand dunes in this area.
This photo is from Topsail Beach State Park up the road - also very beautiful.
The Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center was tiny but wonderful. They let our kids touch all kinds of awesome turtles. Did you know that turtles have feeling through their shells? This one loved to be scratched on its belly. So cool.
This blue crab was very aggressive. We were fascinated and a little disgusted with his mouth, which looked like it was made from about half a dozen trap doors. Super weird.
This sea turtle is named Sweet Pea and is so badly injured that she will never return to the wild. She will live here happily in her solitary pool for the next several decades.
The Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge was also pretty amazing. They take in all kinds of native species - turtles, possums, armadillos, birds - who have been injured and nurse them back to health.
This cute little opossum can’t be released into the wild because she lost an arm.
This cute raccoon named Rosie can’t be released either. I think it was because she’s too friendly with humans and doesn’t know how to take care of herself.
Same story with this squirrel. He was super cute though.
We walked down the pier at Navarre Beach and watched the fisherman at work. There were some huge birds just walking around - I mean taller than my three youngest children. It was crazy.
The day’s fresh catch. We saw some newly caught stingrays too, which was sorta sad.
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