"Maybe there are no more jellyfish, just sharks circling out past that sandbar!" I joked. Ten minutes later, the sorority girls in the house two doors down kindly let us know that when they were out on the sandbar, they saw a shark go by. Ha! We never saw anything of the kind, and we didn't let this rumor ruin our fun of bouncing the Waboba ball on the clear Gulf water.
After a long day of building sand castles, Friday night called for more 2006 Connundrum- but not until after we'd had a bottle of Cakebread! For dinner, I made baked salmon served on chocolate linguini with vanilla-habanero cream sauce. I think Chip and I liked it more than the rest of the group, who were still self-flagellating over the stick of butter we had consumed the night before. (Note to self: No more cream sauces for the Chockleys.) Fortunately Roy ran out and got salad fixins at the last minute, so they all had something to eat while I shoved pasta down my gullet.
Saturday was sunny and perfect also. We spent the day trying to get as much sun as possible without burning, which is a difficult task. You know you have to skip the 50 SPF sunblock, but do you just go to 30? Or all the way to 15? I stuck with 50 on my face and chest, because I look old and haggard enough as it is. Other people forgot to apply any lotion at all to various parts of their anatomy, as witnessed by the reddish/purple color of Chip's face and Chris' feet.
The kids dug them a hole, and then filled it up again. But they weren't too tired for a nice dinner out at the Old Florida Fish House. Everything about the meal was great, including the sushi Chip, Chloe and I fought over, until the end. Our bill was overcharged, and we naively pointed that out, thinking it could be quickly fixed. Half an hour later we were presented with the "fixed" bill, which was now more than the original. Wary of another half hour wait, we paid the extra and got out of there while we could. No worries, though- running around the restaurant was way more fun than packing up stuff back at the house. No one wants to think about leaving the beach a minute sooner than they have to!
Back at home for the last night, we went up on the roof with our glow-in-the-dark bracelets and signaled passing ships. Because the moon was almost full, we were able to go down to the beach for a while as well, keeping a safe distance from the lone heron prowling the shoreline. We finally came in when Brandon and his girlfriend came by to say hi- turns out their costal vacation was starting on the very day ours was ending. And the circle of life is complete.
I am already busy planning our next trip to the coast (Spring Break! Who's with me?) and trying not to cry when I realize that I'm back in Memphis. (I asked Mom what I missed while I was gone and she said, "Oh just people shooting each other and killing babies- nothing interesting.") I just hope my post-vacation blues fade before my pathetic excuse for a tan does. See you next time, Emerald Coast!
1 comment:
I'm in!
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