Family Holiday on the Florida Gulf Coast

Having family time between Christmas and New Year’s on the Gulf coast was great.  We had a diversity of activities to keep all three generations engaged. Jesse’s first priority was the beach (even though it was cool and windy).

A trip to the shops along the water in Destin, followed by a movie occupied another day.  Need to guess which movie – Star Wars, of course!  Eric and the kids had already seen it, but were ready for an encore.  [ I saw the original Star Wars 7 times when it was first released.]

Most of our “shopping” was just having fun along the boardwalk.  I really enjoyed time with the family, and Gary (and his camera) stayed very busy with our silly poses.

You may not recognize Leslie with curly hair.  This is not photoshopped but Josh's curls standing behind her.

Jesse

Josh and Leslie

Seaside, FL, was another day trip.  This master-planned community on the beach, designed by well-known architects in the 1980s/‘90s, is in a style called “New Urbanism”.  Josh told me about his High School “Human Geography” class showing a video on New Urbanism focusing on Seaside!

The town's amphitheater area

The layout of the town encourages working, living and attending schools and other activities by walking or biking (cutting down on need for/use of autos - a concept that is becoming popular again. Types of housing vary, with many buildings functioning as businesses and homes.  Landscaping at homes is native plants, not sod. 

Small space garden

It is quite a fascinating place – even though it seems (to the outsider) as if many of the housing units are used as vacation rentals.  And it is definitely a tourist attraction. Another tidbit - the movie “The Truman Show” was filmed in Seaside.

Shopping Plaza by the ocean

Leslie and her rubber ducky

Josh, Leslie, Eric, and Jesse

Leslie and Gary

While there, several of us began coughing.  Then we noticed many others were coughing – especially as we neared the beach! At the beach at Topsail a couple days before, both Eric and I developed an eye irritation that was painful and did not reduce its intensity until leaving the beach and showering.   My mind went into my (former life) public health mode.  What was going on?  Talking to one of the shop owners, we learned the symptoms were from “the Red Tide”.

The Florida Marine Research Institute monitors Red Tide.  Warmer than usual marine waters are supporting large growths of red phytoplankton. [At this point I will refrain from making this a global warming discussion.]

As these tiny organisms have population explosion, they can actually cast a red/brown color to the water (we did not see that from the beach).  The effects are 1) many marine animals are killed as their environment is severely affected (including fish and dolphins) and 2) humans can show respiratory effects – bingo!

Now, we will be checking the locations affected by Red Tide as we visit other Gulf Coast areas on our return trip. http://myfwc.com/REDTIDESTATUS