(Back) From Florida, With Love
Spring Break... such a wonderful feeling. I get to laze about the house doing nothing, ignore the stress of the spring semester and my worrying Chemistry grade, walk the dog, and remind my cat that yes, I still do exist, and no, leaving all week does not mean that you can wake me up at four-thirty in the morning like you always do over the summer.
But first, vacation.
My mother, sister, and I decided to take a girly vacation down to Florida to accomplish three things: get a tan (and curl up with a good book to read), go deep-sea fishing, and collect shells/starfish/sand dollars/etc. while snorkeling. My dad decided to crash it. He immediately ruled out number two while whining about the price (when he wasn't even paying for it), but enough of that.
We got there late Friday, and walked the shoreline since it was getting to dark to do any swimming (my mother is deathly afraid of sharks) and we wanted to stretch our legs after the five-hour car ride. The water around the area was really shallow; we could walk at least ten or fifteen yards and the water was still up to our knees. The water was really calm, too, so we didn't get too wet splashing about, although my sister's capris were soaked. I wore shorts, so I escaped with dry clothing. My mother left around 8 to pick up my dad who called to say he found a ride from a work friend, so my sister and I stayed in the hotel room and watched Enchanted. We also eavesdropped on the couple next door who got into a shouting match on something, so we giggled over that a bit. Since the hotel gave us a free upgrade (Wasn't expecting that, but I liked having a bed to myself!), we had a two-room suite, but the walls were thin. It was really, really awkward later that night when a suspicious rhythmic thunking kept hitting against the wall, so we turned the TV up and tried to ignore it.
Saturday, our only full day there, brought cold winds, high waves, and for me at least, poor health. While I was curled up in bed trying to ignore the pounding headache and generally achy feel, my family was down by the beach. My sister and dad spent the time boogy-boarding while my mother watched them with the binoculars (still adamant that a shark was going to get them). I had planned to go snorkeling that day, but after I began to feel better and made my way down to the beach, I was there for around half and hour before my sister decided she was done and my father wanted to go look at sail boats. We went to Destin at that point and went to the Boardwalk, and I tried to get some shopping done but didn't really find anything that interesting. This is the time when the deep-sea fishing plan was shot down.
It was a little strange how, five minutes down the road, the weather was warm and sunny without any wind, yet in the area we were from it was downright chilly. It was also a bit dissapointing to see how commercialized Destin had become. Back when I lived in Texas for the first time, we would take an annual summer vacation to Destin, and go to this little island by wave runner and spend the entire day there. Now, the entire area is nothing but buildings and shops, and that little island was overrun with other tourists. I miss having a long stretch of beach to run down without tripping over someone every other step, and since so many people inhabit the area now, it was nearly impossible to find shells. I remember finding more coral and sand dollars than I knew what to do with, but now I'm lucky if I find even small shells. A lot can change in eleven years, but I guess I was hoping that it wouldn't change quite so much as it did.
Today, I finally got snorkeling in, but after coming across the same hermit crab five times and finding only two or three good shells, I gave up and decided to work on that tan- only for my dad to say it was time to go not ten minutes after I got to shore. Still, it is Easter today, and my mother told me that as long as I am home for the holiday, I will get a basket, so I get to have chocolate to munch on for the rest of the week, so it isn't all bad; and that hermit crab was cute, if a bit traumatized by my sister and I poking and prodding it, trying to get a good picture of it out of it's shell. I'm a bit waterlogged and road-trip tired, but it was a good vacation all around after I ignored my parents fighting over prices and realizing I won't be able to share my childhood haunts with my own children someday. My sister is also so dark I'm jealous, but at least I got out of there before I could burn... and I get to see my cat again. Nothing can be perfect, after all.
Now, all I have left is to catch up on emails, stories, and sleep. Not a bad thing to be looking forward to, in my opinion :D
But first, vacation.
My mother, sister, and I decided to take a girly vacation down to Florida to accomplish three things: get a tan (and curl up with a good book to read), go deep-sea fishing, and collect shells/starfish/sand dollars/etc. while snorkeling. My dad decided to crash it. He immediately ruled out number two while whining about the price (when he wasn't even paying for it), but enough of that.
We got there late Friday, and walked the shoreline since it was getting to dark to do any swimming (my mother is deathly afraid of sharks) and we wanted to stretch our legs after the five-hour car ride. The water around the area was really shallow; we could walk at least ten or fifteen yards and the water was still up to our knees. The water was really calm, too, so we didn't get too wet splashing about, although my sister's capris were soaked. I wore shorts, so I escaped with dry clothing. My mother left around 8 to pick up my dad who called to say he found a ride from a work friend, so my sister and I stayed in the hotel room and watched Enchanted. We also eavesdropped on the couple next door who got into a shouting match on something, so we giggled over that a bit. Since the hotel gave us a free upgrade (Wasn't expecting that, but I liked having a bed to myself!), we had a two-room suite, but the walls were thin. It was really, really awkward later that night when a suspicious rhythmic thunking kept hitting against the wall, so we turned the TV up and tried to ignore it.
Saturday, our only full day there, brought cold winds, high waves, and for me at least, poor health. While I was curled up in bed trying to ignore the pounding headache and generally achy feel, my family was down by the beach. My sister and dad spent the time boogy-boarding while my mother watched them with the binoculars (still adamant that a shark was going to get them). I had planned to go snorkeling that day, but after I began to feel better and made my way down to the beach, I was there for around half and hour before my sister decided she was done and my father wanted to go look at sail boats. We went to Destin at that point and went to the Boardwalk, and I tried to get some shopping done but didn't really find anything that interesting. This is the time when the deep-sea fishing plan was shot down.
It was a little strange how, five minutes down the road, the weather was warm and sunny without any wind, yet in the area we were from it was downright chilly. It was also a bit dissapointing to see how commercialized Destin had become. Back when I lived in Texas for the first time, we would take an annual summer vacation to Destin, and go to this little island by wave runner and spend the entire day there. Now, the entire area is nothing but buildings and shops, and that little island was overrun with other tourists. I miss having a long stretch of beach to run down without tripping over someone every other step, and since so many people inhabit the area now, it was nearly impossible to find shells. I remember finding more coral and sand dollars than I knew what to do with, but now I'm lucky if I find even small shells. A lot can change in eleven years, but I guess I was hoping that it wouldn't change quite so much as it did.
Today, I finally got snorkeling in, but after coming across the same hermit crab five times and finding only two or three good shells, I gave up and decided to work on that tan- only for my dad to say it was time to go not ten minutes after I got to shore. Still, it is Easter today, and my mother told me that as long as I am home for the holiday, I will get a basket, so I get to have chocolate to munch on for the rest of the week, so it isn't all bad; and that hermit crab was cute, if a bit traumatized by my sister and I poking and prodding it, trying to get a good picture of it out of it's shell. I'm a bit waterlogged and road-trip tired, but it was a good vacation all around after I ignored my parents fighting over prices and realizing I won't be able to share my childhood haunts with my own children someday. My sister is also so dark I'm jealous, but at least I got out of there before I could burn... and I get to see my cat again. Nothing can be perfect, after all.
Now, all I have left is to catch up on emails, stories, and sleep. Not a bad thing to be looking forward to, in my opinion :D