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GettinAway · 03-11-2015, 10:31 AM

We have a reservation at Grayton Beach SP in Florida, coming up in April.
Just curious if anyone else here has been there? What you thought? What else is there to do there?
It's been a long winter here. Looking forward to just sitting in the sun for a few days. Ha. Looks like it is close to the beach. We looked for a last min reservation, and beggars can't be choosers. Now we are curious as to what we've got ourselves into.
Ha

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Paddledipper · 03-11-2015, 10:46 AM

I've heard it is wonderful! We have our first visit coming in May and are looking forward to it. Will be happy to follow and hear your (and others) reviews.

GettinAway · 03-11-2015, 11:17 AM

I'll write a review. We stayed in another state park near there a few years ago. It was nice, but we did it the same way (last minute) so we had a pretty poor camp site. I'll post pics etc..
Thanks,
Jeff

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CalamonTin · 03-11-2015, 11:59 AM

Whether you like it or not largely depends on how you like to camp and what you are looking for. On the whole the area is truly beautiful! It is one of the top rated parks in the number one rated park system in the country. The surrounding area offers much to see, do, eat and meet people who are "on vacation". The specific site you have is level dirt with water and electric, 30 amp only in that site. It and all the rest of the sites up to 34 are 30 amp. It is the "old loop" and has lots of canopy and smells of dirt, trees and salt air, really marvelous! The volunteers there are like a family with the ranger staff. I love it there and stay very frequently. Great surf fishing will get you Pompano and you can walk to the beach or drive. There is a bathhouse at the beach. No chain restrauants are allowed in the area along 30A so it is a castronomical dream. Publix and Walmart are close by.

karenjude · 03-11-2015, 01:27 PM

We love Grayton State Park - one of our favorites! You're in the older section which is the best - wooded private sites. The newer sites have very little vegetation and are much less private. I've stayed in site 2 - it's a nice one!

We love to bike and kayak there. Many miles of bike paths/ sidewalks off the road. Take a right out of the campground and it's only a mile or two to Seaside where they have restaurants and food trucks ( Airstream). You can rent bikes by the hour, day(s), week in the area if you don't have your own. Very flat biking. You can rent kayaks too and there are flat water areas by there too. Red Bar in Grayton is one of our favorite restaurants and is maybe 1 mile or so from the campground. We like to bike or walk there since parking can be tough at times. The owner of Red Bar just opened a diner somewhere around there but I'm not sure of the name. That's on our list to try next time. There's a little area of shops, restaurants and a Starbucks about 1/2 mike from the park entrance ( turn left). Youre not too far from Destin either. I'm jealous!

Have a great trip!

Rollster · 03-11-2015, 01:35 PM

We're at Grayton now - I just came back from the beach. Red flags are flying and surf's pounding, and it's gorgeous! Like others said, bring bikes if you can because there are lots of nice bike trails in the area.

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knunut · 03-11-2015, 02:38 PM

Beautiful. All previous notes are good info. Bikes are good to have ,out the gate to left is a good Coffee Bar and Breakfast place.Very Close. to the right are Watercolor and Seaside ,Good Eats and shopping. Up and down 30A is Great. Good Bike shop (Big Daddys) in Blue Mountain.Have rentals and excellent repairs. Publix shopping on 395 also.
Hurricane Oyster Bar on 283,just N of 30A.
Showers are very Good.

jbroedlow · 03-11-2015, 05:51 PM

While you're at Grayton State Park also stop in at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park right down the road. We've stayed there twice this year and it's one of our favorites. Next door to Topsail is the Donut Hole Restaurant that serves a great breakfast. This whole area is great and April hopfully will be warmer than January when we were there.

GettinAway · 03-11-2015, 06:08 PM

Sounds like we got very, very lucky on this one! Thank you all for all the great information. Very much appreciated.

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karenjude · 03-11-2015, 06:14 PM

The donut hole makes a fabulous key lime pie too. They sell whole pies to take home too

MrUKToad · 03-11-2015, 06:38 PM

We stayed there in 2011. The site was in the old section and was as described by others here; reasonably private and backing onto some water. The wash block was a bit tired in the older part but the laundry area was excellent. We met some great people there, not least a wonderful military family from The Netherlands - we swapped tales of Europe!

We only eat out once whilst there and went to a very busy, but very enjoyable pizza restaurant called Angelina's, about 10 minutes drive to the east.

I'd only been in North America for two years in 2011 and had never been to the Gulf Coast. I was absolutely blown away with the white sand and the incredibly warm sea (try swimming in the sea in England!) and the place left a lasting impression on me. The beach area is unspoiled, being in the State Park, and it was interesting to look east and west to see the development but to stay on the all but wilderness beach at Grayton. Absolutely fabulous place.

Jarrod White · 03-11-2015, 06:49 PM

Im also a big fan of Red Bar. The crab cakes are amazing if they have them (usually sell out early). I like upper deck bar of Bud & Alley's in seaside for drink and light snack. Basamati's is good sushi and asian Fusion a little west of park. Cafe 30A is excellent fine dining a little east of seaside. There is a fun general store and ice cream place just west of park (where you hang right to go to red bar). The sandestin wine festival is April 16-19 if that lines up with your visit.

GettinAway · 03-12-2015, 06:37 AM

We haven't even seen it yet, but I'm already thinking we will be back. So many positive comments. I am really looking forward to the trip. By the way, my wife's favorite desert is key lime pie.
I haven't figured out a way to take bikes and our two person kayak, we are in a either/or predicament.. May rent a kayak, I think we will use the bikes more.
Thanks again everyone, for all the great info.

Honeybee704 · 03-12-2015, 11:42 AM

Enjoyed these comments! I will put this in my list of places to visit!!

**moosetags** · 03-12-2015, 12:54 PM

We live in Santa Rosa Beach south of 30A about three miles west of Grayton Beach State Park. We have been there kayaking many times. The beach and dune in the park are spectacular. The sunsets along the beach often great.

Because of the very large beach house rental community in the area, bicycles and kayaks are easy to rent.

The Red Bar is great but extremely loud. The same people own Louis Louis up on US 98. They have the very same menu as the Red Bar including the Crab Cakes. The atmosphere is very nice and much quieter.

I will have to disagree on the Key Lime pie. The ones at Publix are much better than the Donut Hole for about one third the price.

The Airstream food trucks at Seaside are really neat to see.

Take in Destin. It is very touristy, but really neat.

If you get a rainy day, it is about an hour and a half drive over to Pensacola. The National Naval Aviation Museum is located on the US Naval Air Station in Pensacola. It is world class. All of the memorabilia is there. This base has been the Naval and Marine Pilot training center since its inception in 1914.

Brian

GettinAway · 03-12-2015, 05:10 PM

What a great pic Brian. Thanks for posting. I was a little hesitant about this trip, because mid April is usually really nice here in Missouri. It looks like this is going to be well worth it, no matter what we have here.
Thanks again

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DCMom · 03-12-2015, 05:29 PM

Sounds like our kind of place. Don't even have our AS yet, and already planning trips

Beaubill · 03-12-2015, 05:32 PM

Just left Grayton beach state park, we were in site 55 which had full hook ups , bath house was real nice and clean ,we had concrete pad and a large patio . We really liked it but like Anderson State Park in Destin much better, it has better roads, sites and access to the beach.

Jarrod White · 03-12-2015, 06:29 PM

I assume you're talking about Henderson beach in destin. I've never heard of Anderson. If henderson, it is very nice but hard to get reservations and much more in the action than grayton. Probably just a matter of preference.

**moosetags** · 03-12-2015, 06:46 PM

Henderson Beach State Park is also very nice and the beach is beautiful. It is also directly across the street from the Destin Super Wal-Mart. There's a lot of congestion when you pull out the gate which is cool if that is what you want. Henderson does not yet have any full hook-up sites.

Grayton is one of the crown jewels in the Florida State Park System, and we have been in a lot of them.

Brian