If you follow me on Instagram, then you would know that I was at the beach last week to celebrate my close friend, Brittany Dugas’ birthday. She was nice enough to open up her condo in Sandestin, FL to me and a few other girls for the occasion. Since I didn’t take a babymoon with my husband, this trip turned into my unconventional babymoon.
At 33 weeks pregnant, I was no longer able to travel by plane per my doctor’s orders. I ended up driving to Baton Rouge, LA to drop of McKenna with my parents before I made my way to Mandeville, LA to meet Brittany and another one of my friends for the drive to Sandestin. Since the drive from Houston to Sandestin is a total of 8-9 hours, so I was thankful that Brittany was able to drive part of the way.
We arrived at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort which is right next door to the Hilton Sandestin on Friday afternoon. The first thing we did after we unloaded the car was walk to the beach to grab lunch at The Beach House. Before we even stepped foot on the beach we all started coughing, which we thought was weird. Once we sat down outside to enjoy lunch with a beach view, we noticed several other people coughing. Once our server greeted up she informed us that the Red Tide had hit the area. Immediately we all took out our phones and googled “Red Tide.” This is what we found: the Red tide is a phenomenon caused by algal blooms during which algae become so numerous that they discolor coastal waters hence the name “red tide”. The algal bloom may also deplete oxygen in the waters and/or release toxins that may cause illness in humans and other animals. So essentially the toxins get in the air and cause respiratory issues for humans and it also kills sea life. This was not ideal, but we decided it was not going to ruin our trip!
After lunch, we decided it was best to head to the pool where the Red Tide wasn’t so prevalent. Once the sun set we got ready for dinner and a night out at Baytowne Warf. For dinner, we ate barbeque on the patio at The Village Door and listened to live music. Then we headed to Rum Runners to listen to the Dueling Piano Players. Village Door turns into a nightclub once it gets later, so had I not been pregnant we may have stayed there. 
The rest of the girls drove in from Nashville, TN and made it to the condo late Friday night. So for day two, we started out at the beach, but with the Red Tide effecting everyone on the trip, we decided it was best to head to the pool. After a day of soaking up the Florida sun, we were wiped out. For dinner, we decided to stay in and cook then call it a day.
On our last full day, the Red Tide was not as strong so everyone lasted a little longer at the beach. Once lunchtime rolled around we made our way to the pool. After we wrapped up our pool time we all got dressed to head back to Baytowne Warf for dinner. We ate seafood at Slick Lips Seafood and Oyster House. The food was good, the service not so much. After we finished dinner we walked over to Fat Tuesday’s to get daiquiris. I, of course, had a virgin pina colada! 🙂 Then we headed to Rum Runners again to end out our night.
On our final day we had planned to get a little pool time in before we left, but mother nature had a different plan for us. During our trip, Tropical Storm Michael became Hurricane Michael and it was going to be making landfall the next day. We packed up our stuff and got on the road as quickly as we could. By the time we left the line to get gas was an hour long, that is if you could find a gas station with it. Luckily we had enough to drive north about 45 minutes before making a stop to refuel. I am happy we got out when we did, and pray for everyone who was affected by this horrific storm.
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