Does anyone else check an atlas online to see just where the others on this forum are from? For those places that you don't already know the location of, of course.
I live in Niceville, across the bay from Destin, a place where we see a lot of folks from your neck-of-the-woods. I've been to Prattville back in the 90's when I was TDY to Maxwell AFB.
My sister lived in Ft Walton for several years when her now x husband was stationed on Eglin AFB. that was back in the early 70s. We have vacationed all the way from Panama Beach to Gulf Shores all my life. Way to many people in all of them now.
If you visit at just the right time, it's not bad. But I hear your comparison to the way it used to be. But I'm willing to bet that in the future, someone will talk about today the way we talk about yesterday.