Destin Army Infantry Recreation Campground (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Destin, Florida (April 2024)

This is a campground that assigns campsites when you arrive. We were assigned small sites in the outer loop of the campground on our three previous visits. By the luck of the draw, we were assigned a larger site inside the loop this time. 

Office at the Destin Army Recreation Area, which includes the campground and hotel

It looked like an Airstream rally when we pulled up to our site. There were two other Airstream trailers next to Rosie, our Airstream trailer. Plus, there was another Airstream trailer a few sites over. Two more Airstream trailers arrived a few days later. This was a small campground and Airstream trailers stood out in it. 

Three Airstream trailers in a row!

Most people would describe this as a very tight campground. We were pleased that we didn’t have to ask anyone to move their trucks to give us room to back in. We ended up having to move our truck several times to help our new camping neighbors back into their sites. 

It was easy to see that we were there during Destin's Spring Break season. Traffic around Destin was painfully slow and there was an abundance of children in the campground and in the cottages.

Maybe another Spring Breaker

 

Another reminder of Spring Break was the number of trailers leaving the campground during the weekend so that the kids could be back in school on Monday. It seemed that new campers arrived as quickly as others left bringing with them more school aged children on Spring Break. Well, almost all of the campsites were soon filled. 

Along the shore and pier

The pier at night

This has always been a difficult campground to get reservations in, until this year. There were four to six open sites during this visit. Maybe the recent price increases at this military FamCamp had something to do with the empty sites in this campground. 

It was cold several nights while camping in this park.  Rosie’s heat pumps were welcome and kept us cozy inside. 

One of the things we enjoyed at this park was riding our bikes. There were several scenic areas along the Bay that were perfect for bike rides. 

Selfie along the Bay

Another thing we enjoyed while at this FamCamp was going to the beach. The Florida and Alabama Gulf Coasts have some of the prettiest beaches in the country. 

It appeared that we have a new family tradition of being in Rosie during solar eclipses. We were at the Top of Georgia Airstream Campground during the 2017 eclipse. That park was in the 100 percent coverage area and that was a memorable time for us.

During the 75 percent solar eclipse

This 2024 eclipse was a 75 percent partial coverage in Destin and it paled when compared to the 100 percent eclipse in 2017. To make things worse, it was mostly cloudy during the peak of the eclipse. Still it was worth the experience.  Our favorite moment during the eclipse was the night sounds of the frogs in what we call the frog pond. 

We must have camped in this park close to the same week last year. We remembered that the FamCamp had a fire drill then. It was mostly for the hotel part of the complex, but the campers were told about it. We were told about a fire drill again this year as we registered. Fire drills must be unique to this FamCamp.

As before, we enjoyed our time in this FamCamp. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• We found one loop in this campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had some shade
• Most sites had very little space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and concrete
• Our site was level and we didn’t need use any leveling tools
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpster was at the entrance of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There was a bathhouse in the campground. It was very clean 
• There was a laundry room in this campground 
• The park provide WiFi service. It was very slow and frequently required you to sign back in 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch CBS, CW, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were H&I, ION, ME-TV, Movies
• The FamCamp provided a cable TV connection. We normally use the antenna and skip the cable connection, but hooked up to it to watch Iowa's Women’s March Madness Basketball games. 
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Sunset from the park

Selfie at a seafood restaurant

Chick-fil-a delivering orders to boaters in the Crab Island area

It appears that pirates still roam the Bay

Sunset

 

Rosie in Destin Army FamCamp's campground 

Destin Army Infantry Recreation Campground (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Destin, Florida (November 2023)

We felt bad about arriving at this campground on Thanksgiving day. That meant the camp host had to interrupt her holiday to check us in since the office was closed. We learned that we were the first of seven check-ins that day and the camp host was very cordial, friendly and welcoming to us. Still, we felt bad that we arrived on a holiday. 

Destin Army Infantry Recreation Campground

The gate at Destin Army Campground

We mentioned before that the campsites in this park are tight. Three people in campers near our site volunteered to move their trucks to give us the space we needed to back into our site. Even then, it was difficult to back in and park Rosie, our Airstream trailer. 

We learned while officially checking in the next morning that the daily rate for this FamCamp was increased a whopping 70 percent. Since we made our reservations at the old rate, the park honored it and charged us the old rate. We couldn’t help think of Gulf State Park and its frequent price hikes. It seemed that we were always hit with a higher cost when we arrived than quoted when we made our reservations at that Alabama state park. 

The ant battle continued from our previous campground during the first couple of days in this park. Rosie was invaded while camping in Alabama and it appeared that we brought the ants with us from the other park. The ant bait seemed to work because we didn’t see ants a day after putting it out. 

Enjoying our Thanksgiving meal inside Rosie

The last time we stayed in this campground, it was Fort Benning's off-base FamCamp. The campground hasn’t changed, but the Fort's name is now Fort Moore. 

If you saw the movie "We Were Soldiers," you know something about Lieutenant General Hal Moore and how he led his 400 soldiers to repel an attack by more than 4,000 troops in Vietnam. I can see the Army's campaign to honor General Moore, but it will take me a while to feel comfortable with the new name.

Sunset from the pier area

There are rental cottages and a hotel adjacent to the RV Campground and the facility was using the winter lull in reservations to renovate the cottages. That meant that we heard the sounds of the workers during the day.

Probably the most interesting result from the renovations was that several of the larger RV sites were taken over by the workers to store new appliances for the cottages. We were amazed as we watched large delivery trucks navigate the tight turns in the campground to deliver new appliances for the renovations. 

They used several camp sites to change out appliances in the cottages

As with most campgrounds we visit, we enjoyed riding our bikes while there. Most of our bike rides were outside the park on the many bike paths around the area. We were amused by the number of rules posted on multiple signs in the Destin city parks.

One of the city's parks

This campground rates high on our list of favorite military FamCamps. While we prefer camping in Florida State Parks, it is almost impossible to get reservations in those parks. Thus, we are thankful for the military FamCamps in that state.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There was a single loop in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpster was in the middle of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There was a bathhouse in the campground 
• The park provided WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, Dabl, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

A water tower near the FamCamp

Suzy enjoying the sunset

Near the campground's shore

Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area Campground (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Battleship Row, Pensacola, Florida (September 2023)

Before discussing our adventures in this campground, we need to talk about an event that happened since our last trip in Rosie, our Airstream trailer. 

We store Rosie inside a warehouse we call “Fort Rosie.” Of course, the owner of that facility has another name for it. We occasionally drop by to see Rosie while parked in storage. These visits are more for our peace of mind.

On one of our visits to Fort Rosie, we noticed that the new property owner had a crew painting the warehouse buildings. It is always good to see the owner working to improve the facility. 

We had to go back to Fort Rosie the next day and saw the crew pressure washing the metal roofs over the warehouse buildings. The property manager said they were getting ready to paint the roofs. 

I woke up early the next morning. I had an uneasy feeling about Rosie. All I could think about was how often rain dripped through the several small holes in the roof over Rosie and how likely it was that paint from the roof would land on our Airstream. 

We discussed our options over breakfast and decided it would best to move Rosie away from the warehouse during these renovations and we knew that Rosie needed to move that morning.

We had an option because we made arrangements to park Rosie at a nearby military base when we first learned that Fort Rosie was being sold. This was to be a fallback in case the new owner had different plans for that property than RV storage. We were glad we had that option.

 

Rosie in the warehouse

We loaded our hitching gear in our truck and headed to Fort Rosie. We were  not prepared for what we saw when we opened the warehouse door. No, they hadn't started painting yet and Rosie wasn't covered with drops of paint. But, Rosie was covered with dirt and rust residue from the roof pressure washing. We quickly hitched up and pulled Rosie out of the warehouse so we could see her in the sunlight. It was a sickening sight!

Hooked up and ready to exit the storage warehouse

Since we were planning to go on a camping trip in a few weeks, we brought some cleaning supplies with us that morning. We quickly connected a hose and started rinsing Rosie. We were glad to see the debris on Rosie rinsing away. 

I found the property manager and was able to borrow a ladder to help rinse off Rosie's roof. He agreed that removing Rosie from the warehouse during the painting process was a good idea. 

It took three or four long rinses to remove the dirt and rust residue from Rosie then we went ahead and washed her. It was great to see a clean Rosie that shined in the sunlight. That was confirmed at the military base's gate, where we were stopped by a military police officer for the normal ID check. After verifying our IDs the MP added, "Your Airstream looks great!" We knew if we had left Rosie in the warehouse, she would have been covered with paint blotches and rust debris from the roof. 

Rosie parked in RV Storage on a military base

We learned something about Rosie's solar panels while she was stored at the military base. One of the features at Fort Rosie is that we have an electrical plug we can use to keep Rosie's batteries charged. Of course, electricity wasn't an option at Rosie's temporary home on the military base and I was worried about keeping her batteries ready for our next trip.

A quick search of Airstream's online help pages relieved our minds. Airstream trailers are wired so that the solar system bypasses the "store" switch, which normally disconnects everything electrical when parked at a storage facility. That allows the batteries to be charged from the solar panels while in storage. That made sense.

We were thankful we had a back-up plan for storing Rosie and were able to get Rosie ready for our next adventure while parked on that military base. 

We quickly fell into the camping groove once we had Rosie on the road. We were glad to be out camping again. 

The check-in hut at Pensacola Naval Air Station's Blue Angel FamCamp

Finding a site at Blue Angel Naval Recreation FamCamp can be described as a scavenger hunt. The hosts gave us a site tag when we checked in and told us to find the best site without a tag on it. Then there was a mad dash for the waterfront sites. 

As luck would have it, we struck out and settled for a decent site deep inside the park instead of along the water. 

First site in Battleship Row

We saw some unexpected visitors our first night. Two deer were running through the campground between campers after sunset. We would see the deer several times during the evening in this campground. 

Battleship Row

Then a really unexpected thing happened. We were walking our dog the second morning in the park when we saw a camper packing up and leaving from one of the prime waterfront sites. We talked about moving Rosie, but decided it was too much work and the site would be quickly snapped up. 

We went on a bike ride an hour later and were surprised to see that site was still open. We decided to quickly put our site nametag there to claim that site. We called the office and cleared the move with them. 

Unhitching Rosie in our new waterfront site

We were able to pack up and move in less than an hour. That meant we would enjoy the waterfront site for five more days. 

The waterfront site gave us front row seats to watch all new trailers arriving and those departing. It also gave us great views of the sunsets. The sunsets were amazing. We made the right decision to move sites.

Watching the sunset from Rosie's site

Rosie's site in Battleship Row

We were able to visit with our grandson twice while in this park. We drove about 40 miles to watch his first “Coach-pitch” baseball game. For the second visit, he and his father, our son, came to visit us in this campground. It was fun to tour the Naval Aviation Museum and the lighthouse with them. 

Grandson making a great play during his coach-pitch game

A sign of the times was when we pointed out a machine gun on a World War II plane to our first-grader grandson. He immediately said, "I'm telling." I guess that was sadly the result of active shooter drills at his school. I thought back to my elementary school days when we had “duck and cover” drills, which were supposed to protect us from nuclear attacks. 

At the Naval Aviation Museum 

It was amazing how fast a week went by. We enjoyed biking in this campground and going for walks on the beach at Johnson Beach. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were two separate campgrounds in this park. The rustic side is Anchor Cove. It has more shade, water and electric hookups and sites are paved with dirt. The other side is Battleship Row and has full hookups, paved roads and concrete sites. We were in Battleship Row 
• There were multiple loops in both Battleship Row and Anchor Cove 
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had some shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with concrete and was level 
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in Anchor Cove 
• The trash dumpster was in the middle of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There were two bathhouses in Battleship Row 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, Dabl, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

By the way, the Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team practiced over our site one day while camped there.

Watching someone fish with a net at sunset

Selfie at the beach

The lighthouse at Pensacola Naval Air Station

Selfie at the top of the lighthouse

Taking a display aircraft for a spin at the Naval Aviation Museum

Destin Army Infantry Recreation Campground (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Destin, Florida (March 2023)

If we didn’t know that it was Spring Break, we had a big reminder as we headed to the campground. Traffic crawled on the roads around the beach areas. While Destin is not a primary destination for Spring Breakers, enough people were there to create traffic problems. 

We arrived at the Destin Army Infantry Recreation Campground a little after noon. The person at the check-in desk told us that their arrival time was 2 p.m. and we would have to exit the park if our site was not open yet. This was because the campground did not have an overflow area.

Sign at the campground at night

Our anxieties were relieved as we drove around the campground and saw that our site was empty and waiting for us. 

Rosie in the campground

We knew from camping here last year that camping sites are narrow and it takes a higher level of parking skills to successfully park in our site. Becky expertly maneuvered Rosie, our Airstream trailer, into our site.  

It didn’t take long to set up Rosie and we were off on our first of many bicycle rides around the area. The campground was not on a busy highway and was surrounded by private homes which helped make bike riding enjoyable. 

There were two sections in this recreational area. The area closest to the Bay was cottages and something similar to motel rooms. The campground was located behind these rooms. There was a swimming pool and a children's splash pad next to the bay. There was a marina in the park where you could rent jet skis and boats to explore the Bay. 

Swimming pool area

The only reminders of Spring Break were when we went to the Gulf beach area. It was very crowded over the weekend, but tolerable during the week. We also noticed that the people at the beach tended to be families and not the college age crowd. 

One of the more popular events in the campground was watching sunsets along the bay. The adirondack chairs along the Bay were full of people enjoying the spectacular views. 

Sunset in the park

The pier at sunset

A tradition we noticed last year in this park was the 3 p.m. gatherings. A group of men gathered outside one R.V. for what they called the Commander’s Call. That is military jargon for a meeting called for the top leaders on a base with the purpose of solving problems. 

The women met at another RV.  They said their job was to identify the problems the men needed to solve. 

The problem the men haven’t solved yet is getting reservations in this campground. As with most popular campgrounds, it takes persistence and patience to successfully reserve a site. 

We had a first while camping here. The park held a fire drill! That was mostly for the cottages and motel rooms on this property. Still, it was interesting to see all the signs about the drill posted throughout the area. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There was only one loop in this campground
• Our site was a back in
• Most sites could be classified as "full sun" as trees were few and far apart
• Sites were best described as “tight.” We found it a challenge to squeeze our truck next to Rosie at our site
• Our site was paved with concrete.  We needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpsters were at the entrance of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There was a bathhouse in the campground. It was clean and maintained while we were there 
• The park provided WiFi service.  We measured download speeds of 4 mb. 
• AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch CBS, CW, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Circle, Comet, Get, Grit, ME-TV and Stadium
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Selfie at night along the Bay

Big Lagoon State Park - Pensacola, Florida (November 2022)

Our last Rosie adventure camping in the Pensacola area was memorable. (Rosie is the name of our Airstream trailer.) Our trip was cut short when that campground closed because of a hurricane in the Gulf. As Yogi Berra said, “It seemed like deja vu all over again” as we packed to go to a different park along the Gulf and we saw news stories about a new hurricane coming up the coast. We could not help but wonder if this was going to be another abbreviated trip. 

Before we left home, we called the Ranger Station at Big Lagoon State Park to talk about the possibility of that park closing. Yes, the Ranger would close the park if a hurricane was approaching it, but his information suggested the storm was going to miss Pensacola.  That was good enough for us and we continued to load Rosie and headed to Big Lagoon. 

Sign at the entrance to the park

Check in at Big Lagoon State Park was a breeze. We gave our name and our site number to the ranger on duty at the entrance station and he gave us our registration papers and vehicle pass. Things quickly went downhill from there. 

Our site (55) was mostly loose sand. We could see the deep ruts made by the previous camper as we started to back in. We finally parked and the iPhone app we use to level Rosie said we had to raise the right side five inches to even approach level. That wasn’t going to happen because the tires on our truck spun in the soft sand as we backed in. We knew that going up on the leveler blocks would be impossible.

As we were about to accept the obvious fact that our reserved site was a sand pit and we would spend our time there with a pronounced side-to-side lean, a camp host came over to help us. He called in a Ranger and after a short conference, we were moved to an open campground volunteer’s site. Instead of parking in what could have been a golf course sand trap, our new site was paved with grass and a few sandy areas. Things were looking up!

Rosie in the Volunteers Loop

Speaking about looking up, we learned that the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels team was scheduled to perform their “Homecoming” show during our stay. The Pensacola newspaper predicted that 150,000 people would attend that air show. That helped us decide to avoid the crowd and watch the show from the campground. 

We heard the jets more than we saw them, but were impressed with their performance. 

The sign that kept us from walking to the "point" to see the Blue Angels

Big Lagoon State Park was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sally two years before this visit. We were not surprised by the damage because we camped there several times after the storm. We were amazed that most of the park was still closed from the storm damage. This park had some great trails and places to ride bikes, but those had been closed for more than two years and that limited the activities you could do there. 

The boardwalk remains impassible

Do we want to go back to this campground? Yes, but we will probably wait until they start reopening the areas damaged by Hurricane Sally before making our next reservations there. 

Along the shore in Big Lagoon State Park

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground. We were placed into a campground volunteer's site and were amazed at how many other campers in the park asked us how long we were going to serve as volunteers in the campground 
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides. Our site was huge because it was a volunteer's site. We know that we will have to serve as campground hosts if we ever want that site again
• Our original site could qualify as a golf course sand trap. It had an abundance of soft sand and our truck’s tires were spinning and digging ruts as we tried to park there. Our second site was paved with grass and gravel with a few patches of soft sand. We needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site did not have a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in this park. It was a long way from our site
• The trash dumpsters were at the entrance of the campground and in the middle of the second camping loop. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There were several bathhouses in the campground 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 4G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Bounce, Charge, Circle, Court-TV, Dabl, Get, ION, ME-TV, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Boats returning after watching the Blue Angels show

Path to the shore at Johnson Beach

Johnson Beach