Seafood and Seashells
I grew up on the other side of Florida, but I have family on the Gulf Coast too. And luckily they had some really good restaurant recommendations for us. My favorite was Randy's Fishmarket. In fact the next night we went to a different restaurant, walked in, looked around, and quickly said "Let's go back to Randy's!" It was one of the best decisions we made on this trip :)
I had hogfish the first night, then some wonderful Grouper the next. I'm picky about my seafood, and this place really did it right. Plus, their key lime pie was amazing and inexpensive. I just saw on their website that they ship them frozen anywhere in the country... I think I might just have to do that!
On one of the days we found ourselves down at the water for a photoshoot on the beach. It's interesting to have the water of the Pacific Ocean lapping at my feet one day, and then a week later be standing at the Gulf of Mexico.
This area of Florida is usually great for finding seashells. But I've never seen anything like this! There were thousands of beautiful shells in piles that had been washed up the night before. As soon as the shoot was over we all grabbed some good ones to bring home as souvenirs and gifts.