Having spent most of my pregnancy apart, something we couldn’t wait for when I booked my trip to America was our babymoon 🥹
A babymoon is essentially a couple’s last romantic getaway before baby arrives, a chance to spend quality time together and enjoy the excitement before your lives are changed forever by little human 😅
They say the best time to go is during the second trimester and I would definitely agree with that! By then I was around 22 weeks along, the morning sickness and first trimester exhaustion were long gone after what felt like an eternity, and I had finally entered my ‘burst of energy’ phase, and looking more obviously pregnant but not yet too large and uncomfortable for a 10-hour flight – it was ideal. I had spent those early weeks wondering if my ‘glow’ would ever arrive and my appetite ever return – by this time in early July, they did and I felt amazing 😍
I had visions of a babymoon spent wallowing in Florida’s crystal clear turquoise waters, indulging in copious amounts of seafood, and romantic strolls along the shore with my love. I had never been to Florida before and luckily the Panhandle, its northwestern strip, is only around a 4-hour drive from New Orleans, so we planned to do some stops sampling the beaches in and around Destin and Navarre.
But before venturing into Florida, I had found a darling place to stay in Alabama, which was on the way and meant we could also stop off at Orange Beach. So we set off on the road to our first stop: Gulf Shores, Alabama. We checked in to our dreamy B&B in Magnolia Springs (more on that later) before driving on to the beach.
I’d had very a last-minute hunt around New Orleans for maternity swimwear but had no joy, but found this one on sale at H&M that I really liked. I sized up and luckily it did the trick!
We spent hours on the beach that evening with our Afrobeats playlist blaring from Chaz’s stereo, building a sand-sofa with a little spade he’d brought with him and paddling in the clear water. We even spotted dolphins playing on the horizon 🐬
We then headed into Foley for a lovely dinner at Local and Company, before heading back to the B&B. Tucked away off the beaten path in the charming dwelling of Magnolia Springs, the Magnolia Springs Bed & Breakfast is one of the loveliest places I’ve ever had the pleasure of staying. Run by two lovely gentlemen and their two cats Ginger and Tiger, the historic home is filled with mahogany, antiques and good old southern hospitality. There’s an incredible homemade three-course breakfast every morning, which we enjoyed on the gorgeous wraparound porch surrounded by brilliant oak trees, and delicious freshly-baked cookies every night as a turn-down snack (which I devoured in the bath) 🥹
It’s honestly just so romantic and homely, and I can’t wait to stay there again.
The setting was so idyllic we even squeezed in a little maternity shoot before checking out 🥹
Wishing we had booked two nights at the B&B instead of one, we headed into Foley for tacos at Taco Fiesta Street Tacos. They were so good I had to get my own order after I nearly ate all of his 😅
We also stopped by the Coach in the Foley designer outlet, where Chaz very generously treated me to some babymoon / 30th birthday gifts 🥹
Before heading on to Destin, Florida, where we spent our first night on Miramar Beach.
We spent the next day flitting between Fort Walton Beach and Henderson Beach State Park, doing our best to dodge intermittent thunderstorms (we did get caught in one downpour) before heading back out on the sands.
As much as we loved all these beach days so far, the absolute highlight of our babymoon came on the third day when we reached the stunning beaches of Navarre in Florida. We were completely blown away. This was also where we discovered East Bay Crab House. After some frantic Googling for dinner options that night we decided to give it a try. I had never had key lime pie before and theirs blew me away. It’s one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten, so good we tried to go back to get some the next day for the road but were devastated to find they didn’t open until after 5pm 💔💔💔
After a night at Sunset Harbor Palms we woke up early to head across the road to this beach that I can’t remember the name of, but there are lots of public access points off White Sands Blvd where you can park your car, so it was one of those 😅
We had it pretty much all to ourselves for quite a while before the rest of the area starting to wake up. The waters were a bit more choppy here so we just had a quick dip in the very shallow part, chatting the morning away.
We were going home later that day but there was one last beach I wanted to visit, Navarre Beach. When we got there we realised we had definitely saved the best until last 🥹 It’s one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. The turquoise water is crystal clear and shallow for ages so you can venture quite far out from the surf and the water is still only waist-deep, the waves are big enough that you can have fun jumping around but not too big that it’s too much, and the sand is soft, powdery and white.
The UV index was insane that day and despite lathering on the sunscreen, I did get a little sunburnt on my face and shoulders, so re-camping underneath the bridge and out of the sun in between frolicking was an excellent shout from my husband-to-be 🌞 I couldn’t stay out of the water for long though, just look at it!
Faced with a long drive home for Chaz (who had heroically done all the driving), we pulled ourselves out of the heavenly water and got back on the road.
We had J Hus’s new album on repeat, and stopped off at Buc-ee’s, a huge gas station turned hypermarket that I can only describe as America in microcosm, where you can get everything from caramelised pecans, brisket sandwiches and toys to home furnishings, fishing gear and BBQ pits. It even has a friendly baseball cap-wearing beaver for its logo and sells its own merch (which people actually buy). Like I said, America in microcosm 😅
We got back to New Orleans later that night with glowing tans, full stomachs and happy hearts, ready to try making our own key lime pie the next day 😍
