GoofyMom's Great American Road Trip to Florida - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Bill had to work tonight. He was working night shifts from 6 pm to 6 am. Bill took Abby to her room to put her down for her nap, and he didn't come out for a while. Dan & I figured that we'd just leave and hit a beach somewhere so that Bill could have a good nap too so that he'd be ready to work all night. So we left.
Where to go? Where to go? Dan wanted to go back to the first beach, Navarre. We climbed in the van and started to drive. I don't think either of us remembered it being as far away as it was, but eventually we arrived there.
Driving over the bridge to whatever island Navarre Beach is on.
Navarre Beach water tower
Basically at the foot of the bridge, there was a public beach access. We figured that was as good a place as any! After we parked the van, we noticed this:
Hmmmm.. Daiquiri Shack, eh? Might be worth checking out later!
This entire trip, I was blown away by how friendly and nice complete strangers were to us. Sad to say, but here in Winnipeg, people seem to go out of their way to not talk to people they don't know. But we had barely set foot on the beautiful white sand when a really friendly lady struck up a conversation with me. She and her husband had retired to Navarre beach from Ohio. I chatted with her for a few minutes figuring that either she would rob us blind or keep an eye on our bag while we were in the water! (She was more apt to keep an eye on things for us, trust me)
We plunked ourselves down on our beach towels and started to soak up some rays.
Donna In Paradise!!
That's Dan's head bobbing out there
Now that Summer was pretty much over, the beach wasn't very crowded
I guess this pier is closed...
After an hour or so, we decided we had enough, so we packed it up and headed over to the Daiquiri Shack. It was pretty hot out and a nice icy drink sounded pretty good. Dan had a beer and I ended up with a bucket o' rum! It was the "gimmick" drink called Voodoo Juice - a few flavoured rums and fruit juices in a small plastic pail. It was pretty good.
We figured that Bill and Abby should be waking up from their naps by now, so we headed back to the house.
Leaving Navarre
I forget what this area is, but Bill said it has been closed since Hurricane Ivan.
I was really enjoying this weather!
We got back, Bill got ready for work, Jan came home from work, we chilled out for the rest of the evening.
Bill in his green "Pickle Suit" , ready for work
Some of Abby's buddies, waiting to be played with.
Not much to add here. Labor Day is a zoo around here, and, like Donna said, We chilled... I did have to work that night (regular pay PLUS time and a half... OH YEAH) so when I put Abby down for a nap I just crawled back in the recliner in her room after putting her in her crib. We napped for over an hour, all I needed for the night shift...
I went to work Monday night and caught a little nap when I got home Tuesday morning. We headed back to the commissary for some food items I forget the other day and then chilled some more. Once again, when I put Abby down for her nap, I crashed too It's so much easier to sleep in the recliners, I'm not a day sleeper, never have been and probably never will be. In a bed, I can't sleep during the day.
Anyway, when we woke up, we found that we had the house to ourselves, Dan and Donna ditched us. So, Abby and I played with each other (finally, someone I can relate to and effectively communicate with ) It's so nice dealing with someone on MY level
Anyway, Donna and Dan returned, I got ready for work and headed out.
As for the pickle suit, we recently changed our uniforms from green pants and gray shirts to green and green. We nicknamed the new combination the pickle suits because some of our folks really do look like dill pickles
No pictures this update, there really aren't many from me either. We were too busy having fun
I have absolutely no idea what we did today!! I have some dumb pictures of me sitting in the living room playing with one of Abby's plush toys. That's it. More than likely, it was a beautiful day spent hanging out in the backyard on the swing. Despite the beautiful beaches all around us, the backyard swing was my favourite place to hang out. Shady, breezy, calm & peaceful. Bill & I hung out there a lot.
Thursday September 6
Today, Bill drove us down the shoreline quite a ways. I had expressed an interest in seeing Seaside, which is the pretty little town that the movie The Truman Show was filmed at. So that's where we were headed.
Bill drove us through heavily treed areas. The whole time I was there, I was surprised by how many trees there were in the area where Bill & Jan live -- especially how many deciduous trees there are, rather than palm trees.
There was no place to access the beach from, so we continued on.
Dan was used to riding in the back by now, so I didn't even have to call shotgun anymore!
Oh! There's the plam trees!!
We passed this funny-looking place on our drive
We ended up in Panama City. We hunted around for a spot to park. It's weird -- there were all these public accesses to the beach, but there was no place to park! Anyway, Bill spotted a place, pulled a u-turn and parked us.
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Alrighty, so we have a parking place finally!! Time to hit the beach
A lot of buildings are built on stilts. Obviously to let storm surges pass through, causing the least amount of property damage possible. I thought this was kind of cool, that you could see the Gulf peeking through under the buildings.
Another surprise! When you think of Florida, you think of beaches, palm trees, oranges and .... prickly pears?!!! Well, I don't, but this one seemed very happy.
All the beaches we went to had flags to indicate water conditions. Usually the yellow and purple flags were flying. You might be able to see some of the flags in some of the photos I have posted so far. Or you might not because the pictures are so teeny.
This was the first time I'd seen anything about how to escape from a rip current though.
We had packed our bathing suits in our bag, and as soon as we were on the sand, Dan had me hold a towel around him while he changed. I was not so brave, so I just rolled up my capris and figured I'd just splash around right on the shoreline. Silly Donna (that's foreshadowing...).
There were some pretty good waves, and Dan headed out to play in them.
Waving at Auntie Donna
The resorts at Panama City in the distance
There weren't a lot of people on the beach today. It was so windy and Summer (and therefore Tourist Season) was basically over. And I guess, it was a Thursday too.
Depsite the waves and currents, we couldn't keep Dan out of the water!
Now, as for me... I did not go into the water past my calves. However, some of the waves were huge as they hit the shore! I ended up soaked to the crotch. So when we got back to the truck, Dan held a towel around me and I finally changed into my bathing suit bottoms. Better late than never, I guess.
All dry and sand-free, we hopped back into the truck and headed back towards Destin.
So we were in the truck, heading back towards home. Bill took us back via a different route, and we came into Destin passing right beside the monstrously huge Bass Pro Shop. Dan and Jason (the neighbour) had spent many of the nights that we chilled out hanging out together, chatting. Apparently Jason told Dan that the Bass Pro Shop has a large aquarium inside and Dan asked Bill if it was ok to stop and check it out. Bill said sure.
I handed my camera to Bill and he took these pictures:
Dan took Abby to stand in the bubble window
This was quite the store! There were boats and fishing equipment and clothes and I don't even know what else!!
We left that store and decided to explore the shopping village adjacent. It's quite a cute set-up -- they had a little tram and a splash fountain for the kids.
Now Bill will tell you that I may not eat a lot at meals, but I can always eat . We passed by a Johnny Rocket's and I twisted everybody's arm into stopping there for lunch! We ordered a bunch of wonderful really-bad-for-you food and our waitress made us little ketchup smily faces when she brought our meals.
I asked Dan to take a few pictures inside, and he managed to snap this one right before the camera battery died.
Dan tried to put a nickel in the jukebox on the table to play some music, but the nickel kept being spit back out. Oh well. *shrug*
After our lunch, we headed back to the truck. Bill pulled over to a little parking area so I could get some photos of some guys kite surfing.
And then we headed back home. And you know the routine by now.... we chilled out.
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(She was more apt to keep an eye on things for us, trust me)
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Looks like you had a great time on the beach 
It's so much easier to sleep in the recliners, I'm not a day sleeper, never have been and probably never will be. In a bed, I can't sleep during the day. 
) It's so nice dealing with someone on MY level 
More than likely, it was a beautiful day spent hanging out in the backyard on the swing. 
Despite the beautiful beaches all around us, the backyard swing was my favourite place to hang out. 
Anyway, Bill spotted a place, pulled a u-turn and parked us.
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Well, I don't, but this one seemed very happy.
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