Evelyn Drowne says she had enough of the traffic jams, high prices, crowded restaurants and towering condominiums that have walled off Destin's sugar white beaches.
Drowne believes growth has ruined the Florida Panhandle resort city. That's why she pulled up stakes after nearly half a century and returned to a town in Tennessee where she grew up.
Many residents share her dismay, but newcomers and tourists don't seem to mind. They keep flocking to Destin, which still bills itself as “The World's Luckiest Fishing Village.”
But that slogan dates to a quieter past. Tourists still can wet a line, but most are attracted by beaches, golf, dining, shopping and other resort activities.
And Destin is hardly a village anymore. Its population has gone from 1,600 in the 1970s to more than 11,000, but that's just permanent residents. Visitors can swell Destin's daily population to 65,000.