Beach and Lulu's!

Thursday July 3^rd

We have beach day!  WHAT?? At the BEACH??   We pack up the cooler with lunch stuff and a few drinks (Dana ever the rebel packs glass bottles which are not allowed)..  That white building behind Dana is our condo, we’re on the 4^th floor in the middle.   We’ve gotten into a routine of eating lunch on the beach or in the condo and then getting reading and going out to eat for dinner – today we’re planning on heading to Lulu’s for dinner!  It’s been on our list because Lulu is Jimmy Buffet’s sister, and not sure if you’re aware, but Patti is a little bit of a Buffet fan.  And it’s just a fun place to go. 

We get there and it’s apparent that this isn’t just a restaurant, this is a compound – this is an event. The parking goes on for miles and there is even a guy in a golf cart transporting people from the parking area up to the compound.  We walk in and it’s just fun party atmosphere – there is live music, games, a big gift store, cold and frozen drinks..  and a 2 hour wait.  But that’s ok, gives us time to explore.  

We check out the gift shop first and I will say that I know I hold an unusually strong opinion about T-shirt designs on the back of the shirts – it gets me crabby pretty quickly when I find a really cute/cool design that I want, and then find out that it’s on the back of the shirt.  I’m just not a fan of the plain shirt in front and the little pocket design (with or without said pocket) on the front – that’s a boy shirt IMHO, and I’m not up for it. 99% of the shirts at Lulu’s are back designs, and as I’m checking one out that had hope of being a front design, I’m just carefully check to see where the tag is, Miss Dot comes up behind me and starts a conversation.. “It’s ok if you take it out and look at it, we love folding these shirts.. “ – Miss Dot is the supervisor on the floor and despite the humidity of the day, she has perfect southern lady hat helmet, we suspect she has stockpiles of Aquanet somewhere in her root cellar.  I explain that I was just looking for a front design shirt and she agrees with me – she wants a front design too, “But they told me, Miss Dot, you’re wrong – that’s not ‘in’ – the young girls tell me that back designs are what’s cool, and if it has a pocket on the front or an anchor in the design, it’s even cooler” – she points out a lime green shirt that has both a pocket on the front AND an anchor in the design and tells me how she can’t keep it on the shelves.  We find some shirts in the “scratch and dent” buckets – Miss Dot explained that they were flooded and that these shirts just had to be washed, some of the shirts have dye from other shirts that bled during the flood, but other than that there is nothing wrong with them.  They’re only $10 each, and for that, even I can tolerate a back design. 

They are true to their word, and it’s a full 2 hours before we’re seated but we have a good time people watching and sampling frozen drinks.  There is a ropes course for the kids for only $14 each, and some inflatable balls that people can get in and walk on water (Jesus balls?).  We see more evidence of St. Louis people (St. Louis Zoo backpack) – and we just enjoy the music and the weather.  Thanks to Hurricane Arthur, the humidity in the gulf is gone.   

The food at Lulu’s is worth the wait – we had a long time to peruse the menu while we were waiting so we’re able to order pretty quickly. We want to try to the crab toast, especially after Dana’s yummy crab dip the day before, so we get that and some fried okra (love the south) – and then I get the shrimp and grits (which I want again, right now – shrimp and tomato cream sauce with endoille and gouda cheese grits), Patti has to try the Cheeseburger in Paradise, Dana puts a twist on her chicken order, jerk chicken with grilled pineapple and homemade honey mustard sauce – Amy’s blackened fish is cooked to perfection.  We are very happy with Lulu’s food, but not sure if we could do the 2 hour wait again.

Crab toast

Jerk chicken with pineapple

Yummy shrimp and grits

Another relaxing evening back at home – just hanging out and chatting, reading, good times with good people (and we’re not completely sick of each other YET).