Enjoying Panama City Beach, Florida

It has been a beautiful green Summertime here in Tallahassee.  We have had more rain than any time I can ever remember and we are still having gully-washers each afternoon, which are always associated with intense lightning and thunder.  

Schools began in our area a couple of weeks ago.  After checking to see that all of the grandkids were comfortably in a good routine in their individual schools we decided it would be a wonderful time to take off to Panama City Beach for a couple of days.

We were fortunate the rain did not follow us to Panama City Beach.  As you can see in the below photo on the day we arrived it was a completely beautiful day looking out over the Gulf of Mexico.

We like to stay at the Long Beach Resort, which has lots of windows 

where we can enjoy beautiful views of the beach and of the Gulf waters.

The below photo shows a section of kitchen, dining and living room all in one room.

And in the below photo we see the colorful bedroom which also has windows all across the back 

wall of the room,  providing a stunning view of the beach and water below.

If you would like to know more about Long Beach Resort you can click on the site below:

https://www.resortcollection.com/resorts/long-beach/

Panama City Beach has so many wonderful restaurants.  When we go to Panama City one of the fun things to do is choosing one of these great restaurants.  During this visit, we did not go to Captain Anderson's Restaurant, but we have gone there in the past and it is amazing.  They also have a fish market and gift shop.  As you can see in the photo below Captain Anderson's also offers boat cruises for guests to enjoy.

If you would like to know more about this restaurant you can click on the link below.

https://captandersons.com

The first evening we were visiting the beach we decided to go to a restaurant that is located next to Captain Anderson's restaurant.  As you can see in the below photo it is called "The Grand Marlin."

If you would like to see more about this restaurant you can click on the link below:

http://www.thegrandmarlin.com/pcb/

We enjoyed this very nice seafood restaurant.  I snapped a photo of our "crab claw" appetizer, but we were enjoying our meal so much I forgot to take photos of the rest of our delicious dinner.

If you ever visit the Panama City Beach area here are a couple more of our favorite seafood restaurants.

http://www.shuckums.com/#/karaoke.html

http://bayoubills.com/menu/1948793

After our dinner at the charming Grand Marlin restaurant, we walked along the
pier to see some of the many fishing boats that were docked in this marina.

We later visited the very popular Pier Park section of Panama City Beach.  Across from the Park, there is a very long pier that extends way out into the Gulf as seen in the photo below.

As the day was coming to an end, we enjoyed the walk all the way to the end of the pier on this beautiful evening with the soft breezes blowing across the waters of the Gulf.

As you can see there were lots of folks out enjoying the evening.

Looking back toward the shoreline we see the last bit of sunlight
highlighting the huge clouds in the sky.

Everyone was enjoying watching this cute young dolphin swimming down below the pier.  He seemed to be enjoying himself.   As he swam down and under and up again, he appeared to be saying "hello" to everyone up on the pier.

As you can see in the photo below it was a beautiful evening with the peaceful blue waters and the lovely pink sky.  Lots of folks were on the pier to watch the sunset.  I brought my camera in hopes of being able to see the sunset before it went down into the clouds.  

So far so good ...

There it goes down, down

down

and down!

I love the soft glowing pinks and blues in the sky as we see the twilight of another lovely day.

We turned around from watching the sunset and saw this beautiful surprise
on the opposite side of the pier, as we looked back toward the shoreline ...

Could you ask for a more beautiful evening?

Looking down at the beach the next day,  it was about as beautiful as a day could possibly be.  The turquoise water was so calm that there was not even a wave at the shoreline.

And look who came for a visit.  He flew right up on the patio railing as
if he was stopping by to say "hello."

I was so hoping this little visitor would not fly away when I went inside to get my camera.  I quickly returned and he was still there, and even posed for the camera as you can see below.

And as seen below the sun is setting on another beautiful day.

I'm reminded of our Girl Scout days when we would all sing at the end of the day around the campfire:

“Day is done, Gone the sun,
From the lake, From the hill,
From the sky.
All is well, Safely rest,

God is nigh.”

Thinking of you and wishing you a Happy Labor Day weekend wherever you may be.