GIRLS PENSACOLA BEACH TRIP AND MY SWIMSUIT FAVORITES

Hello friends, Happy August!  It's already flying by... we are squeezing in a family vacation soon before Emily goes back to school for her Senior year, unbelievable!  This is our first vacay with our new daughter-in-law and we are excited about taking her to our favorite place and showing her around.  Emily and I returned a few days ago from a girls beach trip with our dear friends.  We love traveling with these two and it's been a few years since we've had a trip all together, we had a blast!  I'll share a bit about the trip and where we stayed, as well as some new swimsuits that Emily and I got this season along with a few older favorites that I still wear often.  

We went to gorgeous Pensacola Beach, an easy flight from OKC.  We are used to driving to the beach so packing (we did carry-ons only!) took some thought, and we had to get a few beach things and food there that we normally would have taken with us in the car.  But it worked out great! We had 2:30-3:00 AM wake up calls to make our flight but worth it to be on the beach around noon!   

I have the sweetest long time blog friend that has two condos at PB,  and I was so happy to see that one was available for us to rent when we were looking for a place.  (Larger unit here, smaller unit that we stayed in here- see all of the photos there.)  Julie and her husband have updated both of their units over the past few years, and they just couldn't be cuter.  The beachfront location was perfect and many restaurants and shops were within easy walking distance.  The unit was SPOTLESS when we arrived and the managers were fabulous to work with when any needs came up.  I highly recommend and we all agreed that we will definitely stay here again if we're back in Pensacola.  This was my darling room-

We stopped at a WM Neighborhood Market that was convenient on the way to the condo and stocked up on sunscreen, a few things for the beach, snacks, and simple breakfast and lunch groceries.  

We ate out at these 4 restaurants and really liked all of them- but Emily and I especially loved Tacos Rock and Water Pig if we had to pick favorites.  

Flounders

Fun patio atmosphere on the water with beach volleyball court and live music some evenings.  My friend loved the fish tacos, the rest of us agreed the fish & chips were delish!

Tacos Rock

Short drive across the bridge to Gulf Breeze, literally some of the best Mexican food I've had in a long time. I got the enchiladas- one chicken and one cheese with the green sauce, yuuuumm!!  (When I looked this up to share I noticed there is also a Taco Rock in Pensacola- not the same place! Maybe it's good too but it's not the one we went to, make sure you put an "S" on Tacos Rock.)😂

Water Pig BBQ

The pulled pork and the chopped brisket sandwiches were phenomenal, and the best tater tots came with them!  I'm definitely wishing I could get that exact pulled pork sandwich here at home! (The sunset photo below was our dinner view- gorgeous patio on the bay side.)

Ice Cream Shoppe at Pensacola Beach

Next to Water Pig, darling decor and we all had a yummy scoop

Native Cafe-

Across the street from our condo, we went for breakfast the morning we checked out. Super cute and kitschy inside and good breakfast or lunch. 

We had some time to kill between checkout and our flight on the day we left, Julie recommended Palafox street in downtown Pensacola and it was adorable!  We left a few days before all of the tropical storm warnings started- whew!- but praying for those affected as it moves through now.  

I picked up a few new swim pieces before the trip, lots of good summer clearance sales happening!  Also linking some mix and match pieces that I've had for a few years and still wear regularly.  And I"m including my favorite roll up beach hat, regular hat, and a new metallic ball cap that I got and love- the inside is satin lined! 

My Hat  ||  My Swimsuit  ||  Her Swimsuit  ||  Her Sunglasses

Straw Hat  ||  Blue Ruffle Top  ||  Multi Color Skirt  ||  Packable Beach Hat with Bow Back  ||  Green Ruffle Suit  ||  Polarized Mirrored Sunglasses  ||  Metallic Ball Cap  ||  Hot Pink Tankini  ||  Black Top  ||  Black White Leaf Skirt  ||  Black White Polka Dot Skirt  ||  Multicolor Suit  here and here (brighter in person!)  I'm loving the multicolor floral pieces, see more great suits from the collection here, here, here, and here- most on sale! 

Emily needed some new suits this year too and these are the ones she liked-  we also packed the sand mat shown- it was compact and fantastic to have to spread a towel on or set our bags down off of the sand. 

Her Swimsuit  ||  Similar Red Suit

Green Sporty Two Piece  ||  Blue Floral Two Piece  ||  Reversible Striped Towels  ||  Air Pods  ||  Green One Shoulder Suit  ||  Yellow Floral Suit  ||  Sunglasses  ||  Sand Mat

Have you been to Pensacola Beach?  The white sand and blue/green water are gorgeous.  We went to Gulf Shores on our last girls beach trip and loved that too (Ray and I had gone the previous year).  We've also done a family beach trip to Seaside years ago but nice that PB was a little closer for us with a very similar beach.  So grateful for this sweet time spent together!