Travels Without Charley: Enjoying Steinbeck's America: 11/6 Grayton Beach State Park & Seaside

Grayton Beach State Park is on Florida's Panhandle and about 25 miles east of Destin and 30 miles west of Panama City. It is directly on the Gulf, although the campground is about a quarter mile away from the beach because it is separated by a marshy lake. The problem is that even when you get close to the dunes protecting the park from Gulf of Mexico, you still have to walk a few hundred feet to get to the boardwalk that goes over the dunes. (Cutting across dunes is discouraged in Florida because it can degrade the dunes, and they are needed for hurricanes.)

Anyway, that pretty much means I need to either drive my motorhome or ride my bike there. I am here for two weeks, so plenty of time to do that.

There are two campground loops--one has electric and water only, while the other one is newer and has larger spots with full hookups. I chose a full hookup site because it is a luxury for me to have sewer right at my campsite.

The site is really nice with fresh gravel and a very large patio area. It even has a towel drying rack, which is nice for a campground on the beach because otherwise people will hang towels on vegetation.

As you can see, sites are also fairly private because of the greenery.

I don't know what these bushes are, but they were full of monarch butterflies which were waiting to decide when to fly across the Gulf to Mexico for the winter.

This is the restroom near the beach. Unfortunately, my bike lock was not working properly, so I did not spend much time on the beach, but I did take a few photos. Notice how white the sand is here. The whole Panhandle area is like this.

The very white sand is supposed to be the results of the melting glaciers 20,000 years ago causing quartz particles from the Appalachian Mountains to flow down rivers to the Gulf. It is hard to tell from these photos, but the result is that the water looks a unique shade of emerald green, hence people calling this the Emerald Coast. I'll take more photos in a few days now that I can lock my bike up for a longer beach walk.

After stopping back at my motorhome to get my spare cable lock for my bike, I headed off on the bike trail along the main roadway to the little town of Seaside about a mile east of the state park. Nice bike trail, but in spite of this photo, it was full of walkers and bike riders because today was a Saturday. I need to go back in the middle of the week when it is not so busy.

One of the many little lakes in this area. I would not swim in any of them, however, because they are full of alligators!

Seaside is a planned community. Or should I say it is a planned tourist area. It is full of hotels and houses that are actually condos in disguise and many are rented by the week or month. As you can see, the parking problem starts outside of town!

Seaside was crowded, but I was here a few years ago on spring break, and it was so packed that you could not walk, ride a bike, or even drive easily through the bumper-to-bumper college students! I am told the college student crowds are here from early February through April!

This is a nice little town square with a music shell in the middle and shops all around.

Want a $5 donut, or a $15 sandwich, or a $9 kids toasted cheese sandwich? How about a $6 single-dip ice cream cone? This is certainly the place. I have no idea what the drinks cost, but there were a lot of people wandering around with alcoholic beverages to go.

Stores on the bottom here and hotel rooms on the top two floors, which is typical of this town. The houses and condos are behind all of this. Will take some photos of those another day.