Destin, Panama City Beach and the panhandle

The beach at CampGulf Resort in Destin.

The sites are narrow but...who cares? We're on the beach :)

This is the closest we've ever camped to the ocean. 

The sand was over 6" deep in spots so Lyle put it into 4WD to back up into the site.

Henderson Beach in Destin, right at the campground, rivalled Miami and Bradenton's bright white sand.

Panama City Beach, where we stayed, is just west of Panama City which experienced huge devastation from Hurricane Michael.

Panama City Beach had a lot of damage to roofs and debris waiting to be removed.  

The Red Tide was bad today (the toxins become airborne in the wind and are a respiratory irritant). I was grateful that this was the only day.

Gorgeous Panama City Beach at low tide

Our Tommy Bahama beach gear

Panama City Beach sunset with parasailer in the distance.

This what's left of one of the boat storage buildings at the marina in Panama City Beach.

We drove into the city and saw the real devastation.  These were previously large oak trees lining a street along the beach.

Boats were piled on top of each other in the marinas.

We saw broken and downed trees well beyond 40 miles inland from the beach.

Some buildings were completely gone; some are just a crumpled mess.

I realized as we drove past that the church steeple was laying on its side on the ground.  Such a sad story but their motto is," We're Panhandle Strong"!