What a year of travel…Spain and Mexico all in the same year. So far in 2026, I’ve looked across the Alboran of the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Okay, let me be completely honest. I did not see the Gulf of Mexico from the Mexico side. I have done that, but this time I saw it from the Florida side. We were not in Mexico at all, but in Mexico Beach, Florida. Some of the great things about visiting this beach is that it is not far from my home. I can be there in half a day, and they speak the same Southern English as me.
Mexico Beach, along Florida’s Forgotten Coast, was once a favorite quick getaway for Jean and me for a restful laid-back vacation. We used to love a duplex condo there named Metsi-beachi. That was prior to Hurricane Michael destroying it and the town in 2018. We had not been back there since. I couldn’t even find where that condo once stood, but we found a nice new place to stay. The Driftwood Inn was rebuilt after Michael. It is a small three-story hotel that sits right on the beach. Every room has its own balcony overlooking the beach. We had never stayed there before the storm, but they have done a marvelous job with the rebuild.
We did have a couple of issues during our restful visit. We enjoyed a stroll down the white sand beach each morning of our stay. After our first walk on the first day, we were disappointed to discover that we couldn’t get back in our room. We both knew the code for the door pad and we both tried it several times. We are early risers, so the hotel office was not open yet. There was a number posted to call in case of emergencies, but guess where our cell phones were. Yes, in the room, along with our car keys and wallets. We thought the morning was saved when another guest realized our dilemma and graciously offered to call the emergency number. Unfortunately, no one answered. I tried the lock code again about 3,376 times. Unexplainably, on the 3,376th time, the door unlocked!
I sure enjoyed our beachfront balcony. I watched the birds fly by, the waves as they lapped in and out on the sand and the other guests playing on the beach. Each day a couple of fighter jets from nearby Tyndall Air Force Base flew by just off shore and at low altitude. One morning I was surprised to see a large boat that looked like a house as it floated near the shore. That’s when I realized that I still have not fully recovered from my recent eye surgery and sight issues. I was a little embarrassed when I was about to show Jean the boat. That’s when I realized that it was not a boat at all. It was a large birdhouse mounted high atop a pole in the yard that made it look like it was floating on the water! I should have shouted, “Birdhouse, ahoy!”
One day, a beachgoer decided swimsuits were not required there. He was mistaken. I wasn’t sure what was going on when I saw the two local officers stroll down the boardwalk toward the beach. After my birdhouse boat siting, I wasn’t jumping to any conclusions. They gave the man bracelets for his wrists, as well as free downtown lodging for the evening.
I was indeed blessed to see some of God’s beautiful creation one again…and that I couldn’t actually see what the beach exhibitionist had shown!
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com.
