Our 2025 30A Summer Beach Trip by the Numbers

We are home from our favorite place AKA the little strip of beach called 30A on the Gulf of Mexico, and as always, I’m recapping the whole trip by the numbers.  Here we go!

8 – Days we were on our trip

7 – Nights we stayed in the condo

7 – Little beach towns we visited while we were there (Santa Rosa, Seaside, Seacrest, Rosemary Beach, Inlet Beach, Panama City Beach, Blue Mountain Beach – our first time there!)

1 – New-to-us beach town we visited while we were there (Blue Mountain Beach)

3 – Times we saw Georgia fans and shouted, “GO DAWGS!” at each other

15 + 1 pitcher of margs – Adult beverages consumed (this was spread out over eight days between Brian and me.  As I always say, we do not drink this much normally… only on vacation!)

19 – Ice creams consumed (this was spread out among four people, although, I didn’t participate a couple of times)

24 – Donuts consumed (This will always be our magic vacation number of donuts… we heart The Donut Hole!)

1 – Time we got takeout for dinner and ate in the condo (our typical Saturday night Angelina’s Pizza!  It’s become our arrival day tradition.  We don’t arrive until 4-5-ish CST and we’re always too tired to go out, so it’s always the perfect way to ease into things!)

7 – Restaurants we ate at on this trip (Great Southern Café for dinner, LaCo for dinner, Duos at The Big Chill for dinner, Canopy Road Café for brunch, Pineapple Willy’s for dinner, Mimmo’s for dinner, and Old Florida Fish House for dinner)

4 – Times we ate outside at a restaurant (Great Southern Café, Duos at The Big Chill, Pineapple Willy’s, and Old Florida Fish House)

3 – Times we ate inside a restaurant (La Cocina, Canopy Road Café, and Mimmo’s)

2 – New restaurants tried on this trip (Canopy Road Café in Inlet Beach and Mimmo’s in Blue Mountain Beach)

5 – Times we made lunch in the condo (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday – this year lunch consisted of sandwiches, green protein smoothies, scrambled eggs, Spaghettio’s, fruit, chips, etc.)

27 – Hours spent on the beach during the day (I think this might be the most ever!)

3 – Hours spent on the beach in the evening

1 – Fireworks show we got to watch from our condo (that was a first!)

9 – Walks taken on the beach (Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon, Monday evening, Tuesday morning, Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening, Thursday morning, Thursday evening, and Friday afternoon)

10.55 – Miles walked on the beach

7 – Crabs caught on the trip (all during the day in the water)

1 – Sand dollar that I found and kept (it wasn’t alive)

6 – Jellyfish spotted on our trip

3 – Jellyfish that were caught of the 6 we saw

2 – Jellyfish that had tentacles and color… typically when we see them, they are just clear and flat with no tentacles… I’m not even sure if those kind sting, but the ones we saw this time definitely looked like they would sting.

1 – Random Cheeto that we saw laying on the beach all alone… the kids thought this was hilarious, so they wanted me to mention this in the count.  Lol.

1 – Unopened White Claw that washed up on shore right by where we were sitting

1 – Sock we found in the ocean (the kids thought this was hilarious, too… so many random things washing up this year, which is sad)

4 – Large bottles of sunscreen that we went through + part of 2 other bottles

5 – Holes-in-one made during our mini golf outing (1 for Olivia, 1 for Jacob, and 3 in a row for Brian… I almost made one a couple of times, but I was robbed both times.  Haha.)

39 – Brian’s final mini golf score (1st place)

41 – Lindsay’s final mini golf score (2nd place)

44 – Jacob’s final mini golf score (3rd place)

46 – Olivia’s final mini golf score (4th place)

4,707 – Tickets won at Dave and Busters (we beat the record from last year!)

10+ – Times the kids hit the big milk jug 1,000 point bonus in the milk jug toss at Dave and Busters.  I lost count between the two of them!

20 – Small shops visited on the trip (Duckies, Moda, The Seaside Style, Onward Reserve, Quincy Avenue Art and Things, Central Square Records, and some other random unnamed shop in Seaside – Sugar Wave at The Big Chill – Toy Kingdom, Accessories on the Boardwalk, Hy’s Toggery, Lilly Pullitzer, Paradise Found Souvenirs, Irene and Company Boutique, and I Love Sugar in Pier Park – Coastside 30A Beach Boutique and Bentley’s Bungalow at Old Florida Fish House, and three random souvenir shops in Seacrest that I forgot to get the names of)  

1 – Time we got Rick-Rolled (they played Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley at Pineapple Willy’s and the kids thought it was hilarious)

7 – Years in a row that Olivia has worn her pineapple dress to Pineapple Willy’s

1 – Time Brian had to take her to the car to change into said pineapple dress because she had forgotten to change into it before we arrived

6 – Cherries our server brought to Olivia in a souvenir cup after she saw her eat the cherry from Brian’s drink

7 – Times that we saw groups of Gen-Z girls (probably late teens/early 20’s) using old-school point and shoot digital cameras… like the ones from the early 2000’s!!  We saw the start of this trend last year at the beach and I was shocked that even more girls are joining in now.  Why oh why is this a thing now??  Every one of those girls had phones that take better pictures than the digital cameras, so I don’t get it.  Haha. 

1 – Famous person we did *not* stalk this year (you may remember that last year we were pretty sure Luke Bryan was in town and hanging out at his cigar bar, so we stalked the place for a while to see if we could see him.  Hahahaha.  This year, there was no Bronco there, so we don’t think he was there.)

3 – Books I read on the trip (If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay, Is She Really Going Out with Him by Sophie Cousens, and This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens)

0 – Time we were asked if the kids are twins (this happens nearly every time we go on vacation, but not this year)

0 – Shark attacks that occurred on the beach while we were there (you may remember last year there were two brutal shark attacks that occurred just down the beach from us while we were in the water.  Both people lost limbs, and it was devastating.  I have been following 16-year-old Lulu Gribbon’s story since she lost one arm and one leg exactly one year ago and she is the strongest person I’ve ever seen.  She has come SO FAR, and she is truly inspiring.

470 – Pictures taken on the trip with my iPhone (after I deleted all of the bad ones)

84 – Videos taken on the trip with my iPhone (after I deleted all of the bad ones)

?? – Shells found and brought home on this trip (haven’t counted them yet!)

70 – The lowest temp we saw during the whole trip (it was chilly a couple of evenings on the beach!)

85 – The highest temp we saw during the whole trip (it was low eighties the entire week… absolute perfection)

1 – Rain shower that rolled in while we were on the beach one day… we ran up to the condo and were able to go right back down about 30 minutes later.

1 – Thunderstorm that we watched roll in on our evening walk… it was beautiful!

3 – Years that Olivia and her beach friend, Evelyn, have been meeting up now.  They met on our beach trip in 2023, played together the whole week, became pen pals during the rest of the year, met up in 2024 for another beach week, pen pal-ed all year long again, and then they met up yet again this year on our trip!  Their family stays in the unit next to ours, and we’re already planning on going back the same week next year!  So sweet!

And that’s it!

As always, I’ll be recapping our trip from start to finish, so be sure to stick around!  And if you missed following along with us, you can always relive the whole trip in my “30A ’25” highlight in my Instagram bio. 

Happy Tuesday, y’all!