Something

If you are willing to camp, you can score a wonderful, inexpensive beach vacay. With my senior pass I camped for 20$ a night at Fort Pickens Camp Ground near Pensacola down a long, narrow, lovely peninsula bordered to the south by the Gulf of Mexico and to the north by Pensacola Bay. 

I did get lucky on finding a site for 2 nights without reserving in advance much further than I did. You usually have to reserve way ahead. (You can sometimes get a site for one night and then a different site for another single night.)

Suzy (my Australian Shepherd) and I slept in my van. We kept cool because I have a jackery power source that runs a fan. The jackery also charges my phone. I used the campsite power to heat water for coffee and oatmeal. Yes I got a little tired of eating oatmeal and nuts and fruit and peanut butter and cheese and tuna fish, but I was trying to keep it simple. My special treat was a kale salad I brought from home and kept in the icebox with some yummy stout beer.

Suzy thought she was the campground hostess. She made a good one. I have never owned a friendlier dog. 

No matter how sweet she is, she wasn't supposed to go on the beach, but I took her out there early in the mornings anyway and she loved it. I always clean up after my pets, so we don't feel a bit guilty. I also took her out on the bay side and she loved that too. She is quite a swimmer. 

There is a dog friendly beach nearby and I took her there one day. You're supposed to keep your dog on a leash there, which seems ridiculous to me. It was Suzy's first time to see the Gulf of Mexico, and she was as excited as I was when I saw it for the first time. Like me, she headed straight for the waves at top speed.  So again we broke the rules and I dragged her on away from the dog park a good distance so we were not near anyone and then unleashed her. 

Naturally, Suzy had a blast swimming in the ocean and then rolling in the sand such that she looked like a powdered donut. Again, naturally, she disobeyed me and galloped back down the beach to greet the first person she could find: a woman who was sitting on a beach towel and was not a dog person. 

Much to the woman's chagrin, Suzy gave her kisses and even a hug and told her how happy she was that she was at the beach and asked her wasn't she happy too? At the moment, she was not. 

It was embarrassing, and I'm sorry Suzy bothered the woman, but i still think it's stupid to have to leash your dog at the dog park beach. Plus a woman who doesn't like dogs shouldn't sit so close to a dog beach.

We did not repeat that adventure. But we sure did enjoy the beaches in the early mornings, every morning, and we had them to ourselves!