Our vacation recap is finally here & it is officially making me wish I was there! This was truly the first vacation where I felt like I was not at all ready to come home, maybe it was the freezing cold temps waiting for me back in KC, but I could have stayed another week or two. In fact, I definitely begged all of the responsible adults to extend the vacation, but alas, we came home. It was SO much fun & I’m excited to share a bunch of pictures and a list of all of our favorite places & things to do with you!

We caught the prettiest sunset on one of our last nights and my mom took some pictures of us on the beach with my good camera, my favorite souvenir!

There are really three things we (and probably most people) do on beach vacations, go to the beach, go to the pool & go out to eat. And 30a is no exception!

Most mornings, we would eat breakfast at home, venture out and get coffee, walk on the beach, get in the water and hang out for a few hours, get lunch somewhere and then head home to the pool. If you’re vacationing for more than a few days, it makes most sense to get lots of groceries so you can cook at home (especially with kids) so you don’t have to do dinner out every night. But then again, what’s the fun in that, right? 🙂

Ok on to all of our favorite things to do & places to go!

Seaside & Watercolor // This is where we spend the bulk of our time. Like I mentioned, this is where we stayed and is home to most of our favorite restaurants and beach access. We love going in to Seaside first thing in the morning, getting coffee, doing a little shopping and then walking down onto the beach. Five Daughters Bakery is new to Seaside, a little airstream with amazing coffee and the BEST donuts of your entire life (trust me) and was our favorite breakfast spot. The Seaside shops are in this same area (stocked up on all of our favorite sweatshirts for the year!) and some of the best local shopping, The Art of Simple has the cutest and most quirky home decor & Duckies for kids toys and entertainment. We needed this store since we had lots of cold weather, we got a bunch of art supplies & the kids ended up buying magic cards and it entertained us all the rest of the trip! Seaside is also home to all of the best food, the food trucks (Meltdown for the best grilled cheese ever!) and Bud and Alleys restaurants. We have officially decided that our favorite place to eat in all of 30a is the Pizza Bar, which I know sounds crazy because who wants pizza at the beach, BUT. It is the best wood fired pizza & and their gulf mahi is some of the best fresh fish I’ve ever eaten! The patio is the prettiest, it is so relaxing compared to lots of the other restaurants, and has the most amazing view. We went so many times and I would spend every afternoon there if I could!! They also have the best margaritas!! And you can get them to go!! The Great Southern is another restaurant we love, it has a super fun atmosphere and amazing food, it’s usually one of our very first stops when we get in town! We had an amazing sunset dinner at Fish Out Of Water and it is worth it just for the views, seriously stunning & such a fun experience. The Publix is also in this area which comes in handy if you’re staying more than a few days, and the new Perfect Pig restaurant opened just next door that has an amazing Happy Hour!

Alys Beach // This used to be home to our favorite coffee shop, Fonville Press, but it just closed the week before we visited, and is currently switching hands to become a new juicery & coffee shop. I’ve heard it’s going to be just as good once it reopens, hoping that is true!! It has the best patio for lounging in the morning & a fun playground for kids (so we brought our own coffee and still hung out there!) and I can’t wait go to back when it reopens! Out other favorite spot in Alys is George’s Donut Truck & the splash pad right in front of it. For dinner & drinks, we love George’s (another gorgeous patio!) and NEAT is a fun late night spot for margaritas. The beaches in Alys are private, but just walking around to see the architecture is one of our favorite things to do, it is so so beautiful there and definitely a must see while you’re in 30a.

Rosemary Beach // We actually spend the least amount of time in Rosemary, they have some amazing food, but it tends to be a little busier and harder to access the beaches. We love La Crema for coffee & brunch, The Sugar Shak for ice cream and Cowgirl Kitchen. They have a super cute farmers market and it is a fun place to rent bikes to ride around. If you are looking to rent a hotel instead of a house, The Pearl is beyond words stunning and an amazing location with heated pools.

Seacrest Beach // This is where The Hub is located, as well as Prominence where we stayed last year. I love this area!! We go here strictly for the fun entertainment, if you have young kids and are planning to vacation here, I would highly recommend staying at Prominence. The Hub is so kid friendly, family movie nights outside a few nights a week, lots of live music and entertainment. So much fun! They have lots of different food options and also amazing margaritas!!

Inlet Beach // The Donut Hole is an amazing breakfast spot with pastries & diner food! There is a fun little area with some shopping that I love to visit, The Outpost and Mingle, and a brand new coffee shop in the area with lots of fun games and entertainment for kids. There’s not a lot over here, but it’s only a few minute drive from everything else and worth a change of scenery for some good food and shopping! 🙂

And now, for a photo dump! They’re probably all out of order but we will remember them all as before Harper lost her front tooth and after Harper lost her front tooth. Having the tooth fairy visit the beach house was extra memorable!

Until next year!!

If you made it this far in the post, you are surely craving a margarita & warm weather by now. Lucky for all of us, Spring is just around the corner!! XO

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