Spending a Day in Fort Walton Beach, Florida

We recently spent a day in Fort Walton Beach, Florida while looking for a car. The car didn’t work out but we tried to make the best of it! We love the beach and will never pass up an opportunity to stroll along the sand, watching the waves.

After a quick search on Yelp, we decided on Neighborhood Cafe for Brunch. It had great ratings and was close by. We were very pleased with our choice. It’s bigger than expected for a cafe. It looks like they slowly expanded.

It was very crowded but we didn’t have to wait long for a table. They put us in a large booth and the waitress got us drinks right away. The service was very good and quick. The food was all well cooked and delicious. It was even well priced!

Once our bellies were full, we spent the rest of the late morning and afternoon at the Okaloosa Island Fishing Pier and the car lot. The pier was fun. There was a volleyball tournament going on. We watched it for a bit before walking down the beach. There was a man with a huge flock of pigeons that the kids found fascinating.

There was a tropical storm right before we were there and the waves were impressive for the area. A large wave came in and got all of us wet. Octavia was the worst. She was holding my hand but she’s short. She was soaked. She took it really well. We decided to hang out on the beach a little longer before going back to the car to change.

After changing into dry clothes, we walked the pier. It was $2 a person to walk down the pier. There were people boogie boarding and surfing. We hung out to watch them and enjoy the crashing waves for a while. We left the pier to go back to the car lot to finally test drive the car we had come to see. As all of you already know, the car didn’t work out.

We were very tired so we decided to grab a quick, easy dinner before heading to our hotel room. We had to stop at Whataburger. We love their food and don’t have one in Cincinnati. We had huge burgers, fries, and onion rings. It was all tasty. We drove to our hotel and went to sleep ridiculously early that night. You can read about our hotel experience Here.

When we got up in the morning, we took a short trip to the beach before going home. The beach access was perfect! I hope the locals know how good they have it. The girls got wet again (this time it was Dad’s fault) and we had to change their clothes yet again before heading home.

We got on the road for the trip home. Michael got an urge to pull off after seeing a sign and we stopped at Thomas Pilcher Park. It turned out that we found a very cool place. We got to see the water in a different way. There were dolphins jumping out in the water. We saw tons of tiny fish and jellyfish near the pier. Isabella was excited to see men on the pier catching baitfish. The girls followed around a lizard for a while. Isn’t it fun that you can find such cool stuff by simply following a sign?

Happy Travels!