Lizzy and I had the great pleasure of going to Panama City in Florida for 5 days this past week without our children. We were invited on the company retreat for Loma Homes, the company founded by our friend Jeff Brown. They own and manage a bunch of short term rentals all over and a few of them are in Panama City and were available for the company to use for the 10 employees and a few spouses. I have been working with Loma Homes on a product called Intellihost and so was invited to the retreat with Lizzy. We were able to talk Lizzy’s sister Anna into flying out and watching our kiddos while we went.
The townhome we stayed in was a block from the white sand beaches. Everyday we’d wake up and have breakfast with everyone. Then I would go to company meeting for a few hours, then we’d all go down to the beach or to another planned activity. We played a ton of beach volleyball, spike ball, and played in the surf.
The 3rd day there we drove inland to a spot called Morrison’s springs. Reportedly, it was a spring that fed a large pond/river area and was beautifully clear. We unfortunately came at a bad time when the water was at an unusually high level and so the water was dark. However, it was still a fun park and we enjoyed swimming there.
Our last full day in Florida we rented a pontoon boat and drove to a few secluded beaches nearby. It was incredible! We saw two small pods of dolphins and a sea turtle while riding down the bays to the beaches. When we stopped, we went snorkling and saw crabs, fish, and some sea urchins.
We ate amazing food everyday and were exhausted every night. It wasn’t a restful vacation but it was unbelievable and a once in a lifetime trip.
By all reports, the kids enjoyed their time with Anna as much as we enjoyed Florida.