Sunday, June 22, 2008

The vacation write up

Ok, fair warning... this post may be like a bad Uncle Jonathan's slide show for the 70's. Did y'all ever have to sit through one of those? My uncle Bud went to the Holy Lands and one time we had to sit through a 3 hour slide show when we went to his house.


Ok, so last Friday we dropped the pup off at the kennel and headed to Benton to pick up my parents. Then back to Little Rock to pick up Tyler then to Terri's office to pick her up. The drive to Hattiesburg was fun and we were all excited. Got there and checked in and then find out the rooms are on the second floor and there is no elevator. I was warned that Dad would not be able to walk much at all. We take the wheelchair when we have to walk much to transport him around. I decided to take a chance because it was that or smoking rooms. No thanks.

We got to the steps and up he went! He did a great job. 14 steps up and that's a marathon for him. We crashed in the room and there was an Outback just across the parking lot so Terri and the kids and mom walked over there and ate but they also made an order to go and Tyler brought it back over to the room before they got to sit down at the restaurant. Dad crashed sound to sleep after that. It was sort of a sense of peace that the tables were turned. By that I mean I, the son, was watching my Dad sleep and staying to be sure he was comfortable and safe. I couldn't help but wonder how many times he watched me as I slept when I was a kid. It was one of those "life is good" moments.

The next morning we had the hotel free breakfast and heading out around 9:30. Once again, everyone laughing, talking and all excited. We knew we would be on the beach that afternoon!

Around 1 we stopped by Terri's folks in Navarre and took a break and called the condo to see if it was ready. When it's just with the kids we can go on over and hit the beach until the condo is ready but with senior parents you have to be flexible. We drove on over and the condo was still a few minutes away from complete so we drove around looking at the beach homes and then they called and said it's ready!

Oh the fun of unloading a van of stuff! The parking lot looked like a summer camp. Everyone was unloading and all of us dad's were cracking up about how much stuff our families bring but the dad's can fit a week's worth in a gym bag! Ok, I did have a t-a-d more... a bike and riding gear. Em, being the teen daughter she is, had a suitcase the size of a third world country and it was full! I knew it would be even worse going home because she was going to hit the shops.

First morning sunrise

Once we got unloaded we sat out on the balcony a moment and then that was enough of that stuff! Time to head the water! We headed down to the waterline and what was the first thing we saw? Yep, a shark! Swimming along like he owned the place! That was the one and only time I saw one or heard about one all week.My mom holding her sunglasses and having her coffee while watching the sunrise.

The water was almost swimming pool clear all week! Also no rain all week! Yes, that does make it a close to perfect beach vacation.

Sunday: Played on the beach, back and forth to the condo, Crab Trap for Fathers Day, then watching a sunset.

Monday: TATTOO day! I got a "A" with a razorback. I know... photos... I don't have one on my camera but Em might with hers and my niece Melissa took a really funny one. I'll post it, I promise! AND... it's on my manly upper arm so you don't have to worry about what the photo will be of! HA!

Tuesday: Beach - eat - beach - sunset - fireworks - sleep. Yes, fireworks! Every night at 10 there was a family in the building who shot off nice fireworks! It was like the end of the day at Disney!

Wednesday: Beach - Em took me shopping for cool looking Dad clothes. By the way... Sancony running shoes are only 15 dollars at the Silver Sands outlet mall! Terri got some. I hit up Polo, Banana Republic, Nike, and Bass!

Thursday: Beach, family shrimp cook off and back to the beach.

Friday: Let's just say...**repeat**

Now all the other vacation stuff:
There was Tri going on Monday morning! Everyone got excited because we could see a group of folks swimming down the shore line. I thought of all my friends who have gone from cycling to the "dark side". One guy was really smoking the swim! There are some old poles in from of our condo from a pier back before the major hurricanes so it was a perfect turning point. Out of the water and running down the beach they go! I really wanted to go down and cheer them on.

Several mornings I got up and rode my bike along the beach. Sunday morning I was the only road bike and I was bummed. As the week wore on there were more and more. Favorite morning was when I was riding along and Team Jeep came riding up behind me and invited me to jump on. Ok, this was like riding with Fast Girls Slow Guys on Red Bull. OMG!!! These guys were riding along and talking and I'm sucking air so hard the crabs are flying off the beach and straight to me! I had that yummy copper taste in my mouth of lungs begging for mercy. I stayed with them until they stopped to chart their route. Ok, this is all flat land in Destin and I looked down after I bidding farewell and my top speed was 27 mph! I guess I was in the vacuum and just not worrying about the speed because I would have blown had I known that. And I have to admit... there was some nice tail wind.

I also visited Robin (a guy and the owner) and Amy and Lance at Robin's Bike and Fitness. It's on 98 by the Melting Pot restaurant. They are the FL dealer for Obrea so they got all excited when I told them about the place in NLR that houses them. Robin rides and Orca and Amy has a Dive. One of the other locals who happened to be in the shop also has an Orca. They bragged and bragged about the awesomeness of the bike. Oh and Lance... he is the big Boxer. He had a Livestrong dog collar on. Robin's office had all the paper numbers you put on your jersey for event rides. They were the wallpaper border. There were also George Bush with one of the Robin's/Destin jerseys and Bart Starr had been in and bought a bike. Super nice folks so if you are in Destin, look them up! They didn't have a Destin jersey in my size... bummer!


Gotta stop for now but will write more later!

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Your vacation sounds awesome!! I am still debating about the whole tattoo thing..I have been wanting a butterfly forever. I think I'm going to wait until my kids are just a little bigger first!
27 miles an hour on a bike? *whew* I'm exhausted just thinking about it!