Our home for the next seven nights will be at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, FL.  This has been rated one of the nation’s top ten beaches and is a very popular spot for the surfing crowd.

We arrived at the campground early and our reserved space was not available yet so while we waited for the previous occupants to leave we went to see the beach.  St. Andrews State Park includes 1.5 miles of Panama City Beach’s 27 miles of white sandy beach on the Gulf of Mexico. About 30 surfers were in the water trying to catch the right wave and a string of new arrivals with their boards were heading towards the water. It was about 79 degrees, mostly sunny, and pretty humid, a good day for being at the beach.

St. Andrews State Park

During World War II some cannons were placed on this beach as a temporary harbor defense.  The cannons were never fired and after a few years the site was inactivated.  One of the concrete gun mounts now serves as the foundation for an observation pavilion.

Observation Pavilion

Eventually our reserved site opened up and we were able to move in.  And then it got dark so we just settled in.  These winter days sure are getting short!

St. Andrews State Park, #38

• Gasoline Expense:  none
• Lodging Expense:   $31