Traveling Huntleys

Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.

Airstream

Panama City Beach, Florida: Sugar-White Sand, Historic St. Andrews & a Winter Stay at Emerald Coast RV

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Last Updated: August 1, 2026

Panama City Beach is a spring break and vacation town for much of the southern United States, and its miles of sugar-white sand are consistently rated among the best beaches in America. The area went through a real estate boom in the mid-2000s with a wave of new construction and rising prices. Then, on October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael came ashore near Tyndall Air Force Base with 161 mph sustained winds — a Category 5 and the most powerful storm ever recorded to strike the Florida Panhandle. Driving through three years later, it was surprisingly hard to tell. Most structures had been rebuilt or repaired. What gives it away is the tree line: the downed and topped pines and oaks are still everywhere once you know to look. From Orange Beach, Alabama it was about a three-hour tow with the Airstream.

Empty stretch of sugar-white sand beach with no one in sight on a January morning at Panama City Beach, Florida
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Fort Pickens, Florida & Orange Beach, Alabama: Camping on Santa Rosa Island, Civil War Brickwork & Gulf State Park

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Last Updated: August 1, 2026

Fort Pickens sits at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island inside the Gulf Islands National Seashore of Florida. Sandy and I have camped here before, and we keep coming back for the same reason: miles of white sand without the beach crowds or the wall of high-rise condos that swallow so much of the Florida coastline. This was our favorite kind of travel day — about an hour and a half of sunny, scenic coastal driving from Santa Rosa Beach and Topsail Hill Preserve to the Fort Pickens Campground, with our brand-new 27-foot Airstream behind the truck and Jake stretched out in the back seat.

Large coastal defense cannon aimed toward the Gulf of Mexico from the ramparts of Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Beach, Florida, photographed by travel blogger Michael Huntley
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Santa Rosa Beach-Topsail, Florida

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Last Updated August 1, 2026

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is at 7525 W County Hwy 30A, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459; (850) 267-8330; full hookups (no WiFi), paved sites and roads, beach tram (no dogs on tram or beach), reservations recommended; floridastateparks.org/topsail. Grayton Beach State Park is at 357 Main Park Rd, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459; (850) 267-8300; dog-friendly beach; floridastateparks.org/grayton-beach. Grayton Beer Company is at 217 Serenoa Rd, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459; taproom and patio.

Santa Rosa Beach is where Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is located. It’s a favorite because it has an incredible beach, plenty of roads and trails to walk for hours, and is close to Destin and Grayton Beach. Even though Topsail is pricey and sites are more crowded for a state park, the sites and roads are paved and they offer full service other than WiFi. This is our second stay here, third in the area. We love the beaches and all the great amenities that Destin has to offer.

Sandy Huntley and Jake the dog next to signs for Grayton Beach, Florida
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Carrabelle, Apalachicola, & St. Marks NWR Florida

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Last Updated August 1, 2026

Ho-Hum RV Park is at 1 Brown Circle, Carrabelle, FL 32322; (850) 697-3926; waterfront and near-water sites, full hookups, beach access, dog-friendly; hohum.net. Apalachicola is approximately 30 miles west of Carrabelle on US-98. St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge is at 1255 Lighthouse Rd, St. Marks, FL 32355; (850) 925-6121; open daily dawn to dusk; vehicle entry fee $5; lighthouse grounds free to walk; excellent birding, kayaking, and wildlife drive; fws.gov/refuge/st-marks.

Carrabelle is a small coastal city located in the eastern Florida Panhandle about 70 miles south of Georgia. This is our third stay. Its appeal can probably be summarized by the expression for the area, “the forgotten coast.” It’s relatively undeveloped, has a low population, and minimal commercialization. But it has just enough of the sugar white sand beaches, sights, amenities and restaurants for our needs. The beaches are not only dog friendly, but it’s rare for us to even see another person on one. We were here for a couple of weeks in mid December, so the weather was cold, overcast, and wet.

Sandy and Jake the dog walking the beach without anyone in sight, Carrabelle, Florida
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Somewhere Across the South to Tampa, Florida

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Last Updated August 1, 2026

After years of traveling in our Newmar Dutch Star motorhome with the Willys Jeep in tow, Sandy and I made a big change. We sold both and bought a Ford F-150 hybrid 4×4 truck, then set our sights on Tampa, Florida to pick up a 27-foot Airstream travel trailer. It was a new chapter, and it meant driving across the country before we even had our new home-on-wheels. Somewhere is frequently a rest stop. We’ve grown to appreciate rest stops, sometimes for the view or history, but usually to pee and change drivers. Many states do an amazing job at creating a little highway oasis. We rarely drive more than a few hours to get from one place to another as we look for something interesting along the way. If it isn’t rest stops it’s gas stations with food like Flying J’s, Pilots or Loves truck stops. When we were kids, it was Stuckey’s. Even though we pass Stuckey’s along the way, we won’t stop at one, worrying it will change a fond childhood memory of pecan rolls, key chains, geodes, and scorpions embedded in resin.

A huge colorful Sculpture of a Roadrunner, Somewhere at a roadside rest stop, New Mexico
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