[ericsballin255]

I will be relocating to Mary Esther this year. I was just wondering about how it is there. Lifestyle, pretty much. I'm from Houston, 19 and single (just some extra info).

[ericsballin255]

Anybody?

[TXRyan23]

19 and you want to leave a city like Houston for a city like "Mary Esther"

You'll have fun for Spring Break... You'll be extremely bored the rest of the time.

[beachmouse]

When someone starts the description with "Hurlburt Field', they're probably relieved that they aren't getting stuck with Minot or somewhere even more BFE as a posting.

It's less of a party area than Panama City/Tyndall would be, but there are still entertainment options appropriate for the 18-24 age group. West of Hurlburt is pretty much all the married with children set- more options for the singles and young couples eastward into Ft. Walton Beach. The tourist crowd means you get more entertainment options than you'd usually get in an area of about 200K people, don't even think of buying a boat if you can rent one from MWR for a day or have a friend who has one, and the beach weather by local standards generally runs from late March to early November. New Orleans is about 3.5 hours one way if you just need to have a big city experience for a couple of days.

[Memphis1979]

Originally Posted by ericsballin255

I will be relocating to Mary Esther this year. I was just wondering about how it is there. Lifestyle, pretty much. I'm from Houston, 19 and single (just some extra info).

Lots of bars in downtown Ft. Walton. The Salty Duck is my favorite because of the beer choice.

Summer time means tourist season, go down to the beach and hit the swamp for some decent concerts, AJ's, KJ's, the electric cowboy, Helen back pizza lots of beach bars with tourist night life in the summer.

The off season is a completely different animal. Lots of service industry workers looking for someone to stay with is all you'll find out then.

You're in for a massive adjustment from Houston, but there are places to go and things to do. Hulburt has a lot of special stuff that happens there. They filmed transformers 3 there this summer, kind of cool.

[ericsballin255]

@TXRyan23 I'm in the military so don't really have a choice.

@BeachMouse I will probably be heading over to Panama City often, seeing how everyone loves it there, and it's only 1.5 hours away.

@Memphis I will probably also be heading to Ft. Walton beach since it's pretty close to the base, see what that's like.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by ericsballin255

@TXRyan23 I'm in the military so don't really have a choice.

In that case, There are worse places you could be stationed..

[Memphis1979]

Originally Posted by ericsballin255

@TXRyan23 I'm in the military so don't really have a choice.

@BeachMouse I will probably be heading over to Panama City often, seeing how everyone loves it there, and it's only 1.5 hours away.

@Memphis I will probably also be heading to Ft. Walton beach since it's pretty close to the base, see what that's like.

PCB is really not worth the trip, IMO that often. Unless there is a special event or something like that going on.

Pensacola is closer, Seville quarter has some awesome concerts and is usually party central during the summer.

Panama city is really touristy, I mean really touristy and thats saying a lot for the area. I'll go over there about three times a year just to hit the mall or if there is something special going on.

[beachmouse]

The clubs in PCB do get some name brand musical acts, especially during spring break season, but those same acts seem just as likely to book The Swamp in Ft. Walton Beach these days if they want an under 3K venue. Pensacola Civic Center gets the bigger players that can sell 8-11K tickets, and also has a few smaller niche market venues for live music.

[hffam10]

If you're going to stay on base in the dorms, be careful for bears! They are all over the place here. When you come in they will tell you there are bears in this part of florida, they will not tell you that they come out every.single.night.

Do not run or walk at night, especially with headphones on!

I can't tell you how many trash cans we lost, how many times fence had to be fixed, how many times I've ran back in the house after walking past my tree with a mom and 3 cubs sitting in it and looked out my window to see a bear cutting through my front yard on hurlburt field! I even had a face to face encounter with one that weighed 467 pounds. Not a fun experience! :P

Just wanted to give you a heads up on that one because the base won't.

But like other posters said, there's a lot to do if you head east towards fort walton and destin. Trust me, the young military folk have lots of fun! You won't be at a loss for things to do, especially in the summer.