We fly off in a few hours.

Meeting up with my childhood best bud in New Orleans and his fiancé, for a couple of days.
The driving down to Fairhope, AL to see my wife's friend and check out the area for retirement.
Then continue to drive along Floridas Panhandle to check out possible retirement areas.

If you wondering, retirement is still 10-15 years away, depending on our finances.

Starting now to check places out.

Can't retire in Aruba.

Seriously want to check out Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic.

2 days of New Orleans has been, uh... A trip. An expensive trip.

This not for us. Way to many people. Way to many drunk people. I can now say... Been there, done that. Lots of unusual sightings. Fantastic music, great art.

Dirty ass town that stinks... Literally. Since this is early spring, it's mildly humid. Way more humid than St. Louis. I could not imagine this place in summer. Tomorrow we say adieu to my best bud and his wonderful fiancé. We take off mid morn for Alabama.

Flew from STL to NO.

Driving from here on out to Alabama and northern Florida. Small road tip.

NO is not a place I would want to stay.

Santa Rosa Island is amazing. Long thin outer island with a few homes and resorts. The beaches are sugar white, wide and long. Very few people, but that might be this is in between tourists seasons. Loved the area. We wound up sitting next to the dog access area. Now that was cool.

I now want a big dog, I can bring to the beach to play in the ocean. 

Sounds like your having a blast. I hate you. 

Today was on to Seaside, a place that has grown in notoriety. It is beautiful, but has become The Town in the panhandle. The traffic and crowds were pretty bad, and this is not the tourist season. Apparently it gets stupid crazy. No thanks.

Then some small communities.

The Alys Beach... Holy crap. It's gorgeous. And right now it's just starting with plans for 600 families one day. My wife instantly fell in love. Crazy expensive. The future of it looks awesome. Put it on our radar, for future possibilities/bargains. Beaches were awesome.

Mexico Beach is a bust. It's an old town with not much to see. Our rental is nice, but that's about it. We went to the next town of Port St. Joe. Bigger, but it seemed like any other town. My wife liked it, but I wasn't feeling it.

So today we started off early and our goal was Carrabelle, a town past the southern tip of the panhandle. My wife heard some friends just bought there. We decided to visit Cape San Blas, a remote peninsula off the panhandle point. Once you go far enough past the military test sites, a small community suddenly pops up. It looked awesome. Met some folks on the beach who go there every year. If you really wanted seclusion with a scenery and small town feel, the Cape is the place. Too remote for us. The couple we meet told us Carrabelle is just OK and ther are no beaches much further up the coast, beyond St. George.

Well 45 minutes later and arriving in Carrabelle turned out exactly as the couple said. We immediately turned around and headed back to St. George Island. This was our best move of the day. While remote also, it seemed to have life. The beach was gorgeous and the housing was classic beach. Loved it. We agreed it's too remote to live there, but something we definitely want to come back too and rent. Great people we met. Loved St. George Island.

Last day to explore. We know where we didn't want to be. I suggested we go back through the areas we rushed through getting here. It's the 20 mile stretch on 30A. It obvious some area are too pricey and prestigious. So we visited realtors to give us the low down on value. They guided us and advised to some areas we should consider and areas to limit ourselves. We did just that and understood what they were saying.

We think we found the areas for us. Now we need to dive further and review options. Buy land? Buy in a community? Buy now? Wait?

I really love some of the areas and it works for me. My wife seems to be a little more selective. Single story, 2,000 sq feet, 3 bath, etc. those kinds of thing may need to be rethought.

Anyway, back home tomorrow. Lots more places to visit.