This post comes in collaboration with Resort Quest by Wyndham Vacation Rentals. As always, all opinions are my own.
Every October, we try to take a beach trip somewhere close. This year we really waited until the last-minute and our favorite place (30A) was booked, so we went out on a limb and landed in Destin, FL.
I’m not going to lie, I was hesitant about this trip because we had never visited + decided a day before leaving that’s where we were going… but I’m happy to say that it ended up being one of our best vacations.
If you know anything about me, it’s that I’m type A to the max. The thought of going on a family trip without a plan normally would send me into a panic. Believe it or not, we went with the flow and thoroughly enjoyed our trip! It was very laid back + stress free!
Anytime we book a house in Florida, we make sure it’s with Resort Quest by Wyndham Vacation Rentals. I can honestly say we’ve never stayed in a house we didn’t love, plus the staff at check in is always super resourceful, helpful and sweet.
I mean, who doesn’t love a nice welcome when they finally arrive to their destination?
Our Beach House: Destin Pointe- Just In Time
I can’t stress enough on how great the location of the beach house was! If you follow me on Instagram, you know how close we were to everything + didn’t have to drive to most of the restaurants we ate at! More on that later!
Upon arrival, we ate a quick bite at McGuire’s. If you like Irish food, you will love this place. It’s pretty dark inside, so it was hard to get a good picture, but there was 2 million $1 bills all over the restaurant (walls + ceiling) and the overall experience was very neat!
Right before check in, we always hit up the closest grocery store to get some last-minute snacks and items that we’ll need for our trip. I was happy to see that they had a Super Target right across the street from the community we were staying in, so we did most of our shopping there!
There’s also a Starbucks in said Target, along with a Chick-fil-a down the street! Just saying.. I know most of my readers love 3 things… Target, Starbucks + Chick-fil-a, so I’m making sure you guys know!
Check in was at 4 PM, so we went to the front desk, and they informed us about the Destin Seafood Festival that was taking place on the Harbor Walk. They were so nice and gave us comp tickets to use the water taxi service to get over to the event! This was perfect because some of the restaurants we wanted to try were on the Habor Walk, and riding the water taxi over meant we didn’t have to drive + wait in traffic!
Things were already going good!
This house is stunning! From the beautiful decor, to the spacious front and back decks/porch, this house felt so homey and I was constantly having to remind Riley that it wasn’t ours. ha!
The kid seriously begged us if we could stay there forever.
The living room + kitchen area was perfect for entertaining. We actually had some friends that were visiting the area while we were in town, and they stopped by one night to hang out. There was plenty of room for all the girls to play, and for us to sit around and have some adult time.
This adorable bedroom downstairs could sleep 2-4 and I was in love with the paint color on the walls. They really put so much thought into the decor with this house. Every room was so pretty.
Attached to the downstairs room, was this cute little bathroom that you could use from the bedroom + the hall.
Upstairs, had another guest room, with an attached bathroom.
The master bedroom was my favorite. It was very spacious + had balcony with a view that Riley and John loved to sit out on after their bath. Haha! The bathtub in the master was huge, so they would take a bath everyday (John would wear his bathing suit) when we got home from the beach.
If you asked Riley, this was one of her favorite things to do while we were on vacation!
I’m not going to lie, it was pretty cute to watch!
The view from the backyard decks were also amazing.
It was a plus that you could feed the ducks everyday, too.
And trust me when I say, this chick LIVED for feeding them every morning and night.
We did a lot of front porch sitting, and the views in the front were just as peaceful + relaxing as the back. We needed a low-key weekend getaway, and Just In Time was the perfect place for that.
It was so good that we decided to stay an extra night.
Places to eat!
Our first night we went to Margaritaville.
I got the fish tacos, which were very good, but for some reason I only snapped a picture of my watermelon margarita. Which was the perfect drink for being at the beach!
It’s located on the Harbor Walk, so we should have ridden the water taxi over, but this night we drove. If we could do it all over again, we would have gone with the water taxi, because the traffic on a Friday night is crazy. It takes 2 minutes to get to the water taxi location, so if you’re going anywhere on the Harbor Walk, make sure you use it! It makes things so easy + it’s a cool experience for the kids.
I didn’t get any good pictures of the water taxi, because when we finally used it the sun had gone down. I do have some videos on my Instagram stories under my Travel highlights.
For breakfast the next morning, we went to the Donut Hole. If you’ve never visited a Donut Hole in FL, it’s a must! We make sure we always stop to get donuts when we see one. They’re that good!
They also have breakfast food, too! We actually ate breakfast there that morning… I had a pimento cheese + ham omelet and it was amazing!
AJ’s is also on the Harbor Walk, and on this night we rode the water taxi over! Riley loved Captain Crystal’s boat, and thought it was “super cool” that a girl drove a boat.
The shrimp pasta was great and so were the mojitos!
This place was pretty close to our house and really cute for kids. They give kids an old lunch box full of crayons and other things to play with while you wait for your food. They also have bottomless mimosa’s for the adults!
I will say it takes a while for your food + my eggs Benedict weren’t the best, but it was still a fun place to visit.
But John’s shrimp and grits were good. So it might just not have been their day with my order.
Some other places we ate at, but I didn’t snap pictures were…
The Pancakery– which had the best omelette’s and pancakes. The iced coffee here was good, too.
Mellow Mushroom– they have amazing pizza!
Both places were 2 minutes from our house and in a complex right at the entrance of the community we were staying in.
I saved the BEST for last!
If you go anywhere, let it be Louisana Lagniappe! Yall…. the shrimp and grits were OUT OF THIS WORLD! I’ve tried a lot of shrimp and grits in my life, and hands down, these were the best I’ve ever had.
This restaurant is kind of pricey, but I promise you wont regret it. It was the perfect dinner to end our trip.
I’m seriously still dreaming about this meal! All their meals come with a salad and a twice baked potato… so you could easily share this with someone!
The Jetties
If the house wasn’t enough for us, the Jetties helped make this trip! When you book this house, you have access to a private beach which is beautiful, but you also have your own access to The Jetties.
It was a 2 minute bike ride from our house, but you could take the tram there if you didn’t want to ride bikes. We enjoy riding bikes when we vacay in FL, so it was a huge plus that our house came with four. We just attached our carriage so I could pull Riley while John pulled all of our beach stuff!
Make sure when you check in, that you ask the girls at the front desk how to get to the Jetties. I wanted to do a quick video on how we got there, but the wind from the hurricane moving in + the red tide that just hit, made it where it wasn’t doable.
The best part about the Jetties is that you can snorkel and see some beautiful fish. Just make sure you bring your own mask!
How cute is she?
The water is really calm by the Jetties, so Riley was able to swim in the water without me having to worry about her getting knocked over by a wave.
Not only was it beautiful, but Riley loved being able to play by rocks and catch little crabs with John. We brought our speaker with us + our umbrella, and spent a lot of time over by the rocks splashing + lounging in the puddles.
I can’t say enough good things about this trip! We left with full bellies, happy hearts and memories to last a lifetime! All we were missing was big Sis, who was off at church camp.
If you have any questions about our trip or the house, please feel free ask! You can also contact Resort Quest to schedule your Slice of Paradise at Just In Time!
Here’s a quick video of the house, so you can see what all it has to offer! Please feel free to share this post on Pinterest, too!
xoxo-Lauren
Marie says
After this review who wouldn’t want to book a trip. Very informative and great pictures! Than look s!