Camping in Cutie RV: Grayton Beach State Park, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

We managed to book a one-night stay at Grayton Beach State Park on a Friday night in order to attend the Bay County Audobon Society birdwatching at Panama City Beach Conservation Park on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful sunny day as we headed to Grayton Beach State Park campground around noon. We had a beautiful shady spot across the road from the lakeside sites. We walked out of the park to the 30-A biking/hiking trail and over to the Beach Camp Brewpub in Grayton Beach. We had the whole outdoors to ourselves sitting at a sunny table and enjoying their craft beers and pulled pork nachos. From there we headed back into the park towards the gulf beach boardwalk over the dunes. It was a flat calm day out in the Gulf of Mexico and there were kayakers enjoying the water. A few shorebirds waded in the water as we beachcombed along the shore. We took our chairs for a happy hour along the lakefront for the sunset. After making black bean turkey chili in the Instant Pot we hurried inside as the temperatures were dropping into the 30s overnight. Our heater and polar fleece sleeping bag comforter kept us toasty. We had to hurry to make it to the Panama City Beach Conservation Park to join the other birders. Our first time here and we followed one of the many trails to Buck Pond. Our leader had his spotting scope so we were able to see the birds and ducks up close. It was overcast and cold so we did not have our usual picnic lunch with the group.