It’s a Dolphin thang – you wouldn’t understand

Monday July 7 - 2014

Today is dolphin day – Dana is a dolphin addict, and she plays along and supports our addictions, so we play along and support hers.  She turns into an excited little girl when she talks about dolphins, and on this trip she’s been very happy, spotting dolphins and running off to follow them, happy at the tiniest sighting of a fin 300 yards away.. we have a lot of pictures of little black spots on the horizon that she promises us are dolphins.   Whenever we make a trip that even threatens to be close to a dolphin, we do something about it.  In Ocracoke we went on a private dolphin cruise which was fun just because it was just us and our cute local dolphin boat boy – and in Dingle Ireland we went on another with Fungi the dolphin – just one dolphin, but he played along side the boat we got some great pics.  I just like being out on the boat, and I’m usually in charge of capturing the moment.  No pressure – get great video of dolphins.  Or else.  We’ve been told that the one we’re going on is the best one in the area.  We’ve seen others for only $10 each, and this one is about $27 each (normally $25 but bumped up a little because we’re doing the last ride of the day and they can call it a “sunset cruise”) – we’ve been advised to go either on the first ride of the day or the last one so that we’ll see more dolphins, so we’ll see.   But whatever else we do today, know that Dana is just thinking about dolphins that she’ll see tonight. 

Before the big event it was a beach day – Dana bought one of these special balls that bounces off of the water.  You throw it toward the water with the same kind of arm action you would if you were skipping rocks, and then it bounces to the person you’re throwing it to.  We saw other people playing with them and they look pretty cool.  She has another water vacation coming up and she thought it would be fun to try at the lake.   There were more “critters” in the water today – big schools of fish swim by, and I mean BIG schools of fish, it looks like an underwater swarm, the whole area gets black and then it just creeps toward you and envelopes you, and with the reports of sharks in the area before we got here, we’re a little skiddish about dark shadows under the water that move toward us.   The first day we were in the water we a school come up on us and my back was to them, along with the shadow that creeps in from below, there are also fish bubbling and jumping at the surface (also disheartening for those skiddish about shark attacks).  Well Patti just screams “BIG FISH!!!”, points BEHIND me, and then runs off away from me.  WHAT?  I jumped, freaked – moved quickly toward her – and she just left me out there for what she thought could have been shark bait.  Just when you think your friends have your back.  She later apologized, she thought it was a shark – um yah, that doesn’t make it better.  You thought it was a SHARK and you LEFT me there to be attacked while you ran off to the shore.  

Patti spotted another guy sporting St. Louis Cardinals gear and tried to talk to him – but he was in no mood to talk to the likes of us.  And actually he’s from St Charles..  we joke later, “Yah, and I moved to get away from St Louis people like YOU – don’t need them on vacation – don’t talk to me, don’t LOOK at me.”  RUDE St. Charles people.. 

We get up to the condo and get ready, shower, get dressed – we have plans to hit some cute shops we saw in the Orange Beach area and then eat at Flippers which is just next to the dolphin cruise. We find the shops, and they’re just what we’ve been looking for.  There have been several places that have been billed as “cute boutiques”, but these places actually are – we find quite a few things that we just couldn’t leave behind.  Some of which we can’t talk about because they’re gifts for other people – but Patti got this really vintage looking clock, Amy got an elephant car charm, Dana found a pearl necklace and anklet, and I found a merman.  I try to find odd things to take home from every trip, something unique that will remind me of that place – and there was this merman ornament calling to me.  He makes me smile – I’m trying out names for him, maybe Marlon? 

A larger version of Marlon (laying down)

A larger version of Marlon's brother - that I left behind

Patti finds this whale photo display (hard to describe, it’s a whale as a base with metal that goes from the body to hold a picture) – she had been looking at this same exact whale at The Hangout but it was $30.  She said that she might pay $12 – but not $30.  She found it here for $10.  There were also these great raised Adirondack chairs – you have to order them and shipping is beast – but I took some pics just in case some creative people out there think that they could make some for me.  They’re super comfty.  I was trying to get pics of them and Patti thought she needed to pose…

After our little shopping excursion we head to Flippers to eat – it’s literally 2 feet from the dolphin cruise.  They said it was close.. but that’s CLOSE.  The food is good, the waitress is pleasant, good times!  We try the seafood nachos – mmm (but a little too much lettuce).. Amy and I have the grouper (again, copying off my food – you see how she is.. ). And some decent cheese grits.   But it’s the main event that Dana is revving up for, and after dinner we still have about an hour to go before the cruise.  

Seafood nachos

We get some pics with the dolphin sign – cute pic of Dana kissing the dolphin – and Dana and I decide to get a beverage, “the Beast” that sounds good (some fruity thing).  But when we order it, the bartender has no idea what that is, and actually asks Dana what’s in it.  Um.. well, it’s on YOUR menu.  So we go back to get a menu to show her, but by the time we get back she has found one of her own, and oh yah, here it is – but she just has a list of ingredients, no idea what ratio to put in them.  She experiments and has us try them before we leave – they’re fine.. who knows how they’re actually supposed to taste.   Amy is whipping her hair back and forth (or something like that) when she loses an earring – and we think that it rolls between the decking and into the gulf below.  But luckily Dana has eagle eyes (really, she has dolphin eyes, she spots those things like nothing) and she see the earring behind a chair.  Nice save! 

There are a lot of people gathering and you can tell that we’re all thinking the same thing.. we should be lining up so we can get on that boat and get a good spot.  As a crowd starts to gather the captain of the boat makes an announcement that there will be two boats going out and the parties have been divided evenly.   He’ll call out names and whoever isn’t called is on the 2^nd boat.  We get on the first boat, one of the first in line, and we make our way to the front of the boat.  We asked the captain where he thought was the best place to stand and he gave us the vague answer that he’s had people tell him the front was the best and others say the back, and others say the middle.  So that’s really helpful.  I’ll you for future reference, if you go on this cruise (and if you’re in the area, you should) that the place to be is the middle of the boat.  I would even stay on the floor of the boat so that when the dolphins switch sides you can switch too, and then just get pics between the railings, not over them. 

Those stairs are brutal to get up and down

She's such a great model for me

This is a dolphin cruise like we have never been on – they promise that we’ll see them jumping and racing and rolling.. and usually the boat just drives around and looks for them and we see them randomly pop up.  But Dana wants movie dolphins, she wants to see sea world dolphin stuff – jumping full body out of the water stuff – and that’s what we’re promised.  I’m a little skeptical, and at first it starts out like the other cruises as we ride around looking for dolphins (Dana is the first to spot them with her special dolphin eyes) – and then they explain that the “show” will always be between the two boats.  When they spot a dolphin they’ll position the boats so that the dolphin is between them and then they’ll both race side by side create this super wake between the boats that looks like a surfer wave.  The dolphins LOVE it – they follow the wave, riding it, surfing it, jumping and playing – it’s everything that Dana wanted to see.  

The only issue that we have is that when you’re in the front of the boat you can’t really see the show because you have to look back, and the people on the sides block your view.   The pics that we have are captured from the video – and if you want to see the video, I suggest clicking on that link.  You’ll get to see them running and jumping, hear them smack the water as they play, definitely worth the extra money for it.  A friend of Dana’s that recommended this said that this cruise used to also be $10 or $12, but they just raised the prices, and I think they were right to do so because this isn’t a ride around in a boat and hope to see a fin pop up cruise – this is a show.   Dana is giddy on dolphins – it’s a good day.  J  

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vRyN6UAfrk

We head home and Patti wants a soda so we stop in at Tom Thumbs – it’s like the local QT, but it’s TT.. That’s not what they call it, that’s just us being silly.   Dana is feeling so good that she buys my drink for me and the attendant (Victor) asks if its because I was “actin alright” – like if I was being nice to her.  Of course Dana has to ruin our little friendship moment and say that I’m never actin alright..  hurts me Dana.  Hurts Dana.  Hurts.

Small side note (I know, most of this is a side note) – as we go in there are beach umbrellas for sale outside and some people are looking at them.  I notice that they have a southern accent and they say umbrella with the emphasis on the first syllable – they want an UM-brella.  This is how I’ve always said it and people “up north” poke a little fun at me saying “um-BRELLA” and wondering why I say UM-brella. I check myself now when I say it and try to say um-BRELLA, but there is always a pause before I say it.  But here, I have found my people.  I’m not weird here.  I can say UM-brella all day and not be the one getting looks.  

We give Dana a little trouble for her dolphin cruises, but it’s all in fun and from love.  This one will be a hard act to follow. 

Lazy Sunday... It is Sunday, right?

Sunday July 6^th -  

I thought we were lazy yesterday.  Dear lord – we have out done ourselves today, and Amy says that’s a good thing, we have reached vacation nirvana because this is a day of true sloth.   I was up early, about 5:30 and hung out on the balcony and just watched the sun come up, the tide roll in and Chance set up the cabana chairs. It is definitely a lazy Sunday, all we need is our Mr Pibb and red vines. 

Patti came out a little later, we chatted, we read.. we moved inside and chatted and ate a little.  When Amy got up Patti and Amy started back on their Justified marathon, and that’s how they continued until about 5:00.   Amy has a love like no other for the Justified theme song – every time it plays (and I think they watched into season 2), Amy does some kind of couch twerk.  She has also somehow injured herself, scratched herself (in our opinion) on her head and is ready to point the finger at everyone except for herself.  This is a pattern with Amy – the other day she lost her phone and she was sure that “someone” must have moved it on her, because that it was right there… later she has it, we ask where she found it.  Oh… well “someone” must have plugged it in – she found it being charged.  Because we all just walk around moving her phone and plugging it in the charger.  It’s not the first thing she’s “lost” – her camera wasn’t where it was supposed to be and it surely wasn’t in her purse because her purse wasn’t heavy enough (but somehow Dana found it in her purse)… and her sunglasses, she had looked everywhere… but Dana found them in the pocket of her beach bag…  well, she is a “woman of a certain age” --

Patti and I had our leftover snow cones in the morning.. and that sugar just knocks me out like Benadryl knocks out Dana – I have a mini nap on the balcony.  It was very relaxing - I do love a sugar coma. 

Amy made mimosas for us again – YUM – but by the time I finished my second one, between the snow cone and the OJ and alcohol, I was ready for my first official nap of the day.  I am happy to report that I slept GOOD - and that's been rare, I go to bed late, get up for a few hours in the night, get up early.. but this nap was like one of those naps you have as a kid where you're just totally out and you wake up a new person.  Amy had a few of those during the day too, as I would walk through to read on the balcony, or read in the bed room, Amy would be snoring on the couch as Patti was reading on the couch.  She says that she has never slept as well as she has here in Gulf Shores.  The only one of us that left the apt today was Dana. She went through the trouble of actually putting on her swim suit and walking 100 feet down to the beach.. then swimming.. then reading in the breeze in the sand..  she went down about 12:30, came back up about 5:00, and had the gall to expect us to be dressed and ready to go out for dinner (we were all still in PJs).  I never!

Patti is excited that it’s Sunday.. there’s all kinds of “Snapped” on when it’s Sunday (she only sees this after they stop the Justified dvd).  And Patti likes to say things like that in the 3^rd person – she doesn’t even know she’s doing it… Patti: “Patti loves her some Snapped on Sundays.. “ … oh Patti does, does she? 

After our "exhausting" day we decide to head down to the Hang Out.  They have live music and look like a lot of fun – parking is also fun.  We drop of Amy and Patti to put our names in and Dana and I finally find parking across the street in their other lot.  It’s like a grass field with lines marked, makes me feel like we’re parking at the fair.  Later we hear about another of Dana’s friends that went to the Hang Out and parked somewhere else and got a $25 ticket – so I’m glad we found the right place.

Dana and I check out shirts at the outdoor T-Shirt stand while Patti and Amy are in the gift shop.  I’m wearing one of my many Gallaudet shirts (I realized that about 5 of the 10 shirts I packed say Gallaudet on them) and the guy working the stand asks me about it. He says that he’s playing a game where you build cities and they had DC attractions available – and one of them was Gallaudet, but he wasn’t really sure what it was.  Interesting!  They have more shirts with the designs on the back, but there are some cute shirts that I’m considering.   Like Lulu’s there is a bit of an event atmosphere, it's like it's own little compound – there is a huge sand pit (pile) for the kids to play on, live music, games, and a couple of HUGE chairs to hang out in.

We’re seated pretty quickly and the band takes a break – the DJ that takes over seems to be on a different sound system and it is LOUD.  It’s a fun place though – they have the birthday people stand up on their chairs and then on the table; there is some kind of race that takes people through the whole restaurant;  they place “What does the Fox say?” and they have a person in a fox suit walking around the place, if you get a picture with him and post it on facebook you get something…  Amy is having quite the time dancing (those same moves she shows off when Justified plays) and I get it on video – you kinda need to see it.  Don’t tell Amy I put it on youtube – she told me to delete it.  Ooops.  http://youtu.be/JmsttuvC-5M

The food was good but we got another waiter that was new, his first week on the job – so when Amy orders “A little bit of everything” – he’s confused… ready to write it down..what little bit of everything would she like…   We’re like no, that’s on the menu, it’s a sampler platter called “A little bit of everything” (and it is, oysters, slams, shrimp) – OH!.. we all get a bit chuckle out of it - Dana gets some great fish tacos and a HUGE chocolate milkshake in a souvenir glass..

Not exactly the glass she was thinking of... 

Amy's "A little bit of everything"

Nice view of the beach!

After dinner we attack the gift shop and I find a shirt that has a front design and a hand (the hang loose sign), and Dana, Patti and Amy all get the same shirt – a really cute one that has their music festival on it.  Looks a little like the Woodstock guitar logo.  I had to be different - Patti and I have enough shirts that look exactly alike, we have to talk about what we're wearing before go places together, 

We make another short trip to wal-mart so that Dana can pick up a cool ball that bounces off the waves, Patti can get some back pain stuff, and we can get some frozen dranks for our dolphin cruise the next day.  They said that we can take a cooler, and we figure maybe the frozen drinks will stay cool for the trip.  It takes forever for us to find the back pain pads – and (this is truly just for us) we are surprised to find that Solanpas is one of the back heating pads available.  This is a word that we say often and randomly all the time that just makes us giggle… “So-LAWN-poss”… because we have no idea what it is – and here it is.  But she goes with a tried and true Icy-Hot.   We get some more snacks and Patti gets a text from Dana and Amy that they found cans of Cheer Wine – she RUNS and skips!  We have looked everywhere and have only found it in 4 pack bottles. Patti LOVES Cheer Wine and can only get it in one place in St. Louis, as a single serving. We had a brush with the 12-pack cans when we found DIET cheer wine at another store – she and Amy get 2 12-packs each to take home with them.  It’s a happy day.   We needed a lazy day to just chill -- tomorrow will hopefully be a little more productive.   Or not. 

One week beach anniversary!

Saturday July 5^th –

LAZY day – and that’s saying something given the fact that most of our days consist of walking down to the beach…  Patti and Amy start a Justified marathon, the internet has become so slow that even those of us on beach time lack the patience for the Netflix to load (That’s what Amy calls it, as in, “I was watchin the Netflix the other day..”), so they’re watching DVDs.  Dana is on dolphin watch, there are 3-5 dolphins that are just off the shore from our condo, popping up and playing just out of reach.  She would be out there swimming with them if she could but they’re a little far out for swimming.  The other day when Patti was down at the beach they were just about where we normally swim.   We have a dolphin cruise scheduled for later this week, but I’m not sure that we’re going to need it, we can just see dolphins here for free. 

It’s MIMOSA day!  Amy packed a couple of bottle of champagne so that we could make our own – We were going to have them on the 4^th, but Dana wasn’t around (out early to visit with Leah and Noah), so we decided to do it today to celebrate our one week Gulf Shores anniversary.  And it turns out Dana doesn’t like mimosas anyway… so more for us!  And they are YUMMY!  We’re a little scared of Amy opening the bottle, but we send her out on the balcony to open it and she comes back with no harm done. 

It’s our one week anniversary in Gulf Shores!   Another week left – Amy laughs and says that when we were talking about a week in Gulf Shores that she was kind of joking when she said, “Why not TWO?” – but we didn’t pick up on that and thought that 2 weeks on the beach sounded like a solid plan.  Others have made fun of her a little and asked what in the world she would do in Gulf Shores for 2 weeks and that we would all be so sick of each other by the end of it.  But we’ve travelled together for longer than 2 weeks, and Patti and I have to put up with each other all the time – so we’re good.  These are the people that you can hang out with and feel no pressure to fill the silence – we’re all good with being chatty and giggly, but we’re also ok with the quiet times, just being and hanging out.  We even expel gases in front of each other – however I have not gotten them to the point where they will stop saying “excuse me”..  ain’t nobody got time for that.  But they all insist that their mothers raised them right and they wouldn’t be happy if they didn’t say “excuse me” – not sure what they’re trying to say about my mother… hmmm..

We’ve been ocean-o-fied to the point that even when we’re out of the water we feel the waves.  As I look at something fixed, like a book or a computer screen, I have the rolling sensation of waves crashing over me.  Pretty cool – it’s another beach day (I know, right?) – and then we scrub ass and wash hair and head to Mikee’s Seafood.  It’s owned by the same people that run The Steamer and it’s pretty close us, we don’t even have to get on the main road to get there, so it’s good. 

When we pull up we see a sign for frozen wine coolers at the place across the street, and I say how much I wish Mikee’s had them because I love frozen wine slushies (had them at Mandy’s bachelorette party and made them on my own since then) – and then we walk up to the place and it says that they DO have them – yay! Happy dances!   They tell us there will be a 45 min to an hour wait, but we’re not going anywhere else, at this time of day all the places will be like that.  But it seems that others have been scared off by this, and there are a string of names that are called that have no response – as a result, we’re seated within about 15 minutes.  The food here is back to the fried, I didn’t even take pictures of it for once – the most interesting thing about Mikee’s was our waiter, Arthur.  We loved him.  He’s from one of the –stan countries (I think Tajikistan) and his Russian accent is THICK!  But he is just so full of fun and excitement to be in America in the Gulf, and this is his FIRST NIGHT waiting tables – he used to cook at The Shrimp Basket (which is another place owned by the same people), but now he gets to try out waiting tables.   We get little pieces of his story each time he comes back to our table – he’s on an exchange program and he wants to see as much of America as possible, so he’s just taking jobs at restaurants and using all of his money on tickets to places.  He was up in the New York area before this, and after this hopes to make his way to California.  He has this huge grin on his face, “Yes, I think that I am very lucky to be here” –

When I want to order my frozen wine cooler Arthur is very confused.  He turns to the drink page and asks what kind of daiquiri I want… no frozen wine cooler..  “I don’t know”..  so he asks another waitress and she asks the bar, and they all tell us that no, they don’t have those.  We start to doubt ourselves and Patti and Amy even start telling us that we were confusing it with the sign across the street.  I send Dana out to get a picture of the sign – it definitely says frozen wine coolers.  But they still don’t have them.  Sadness.

Our food comes and crabby manager is watching over Arthur, tells him (in front of us) to be sure to charge for the extra cheese that Patti ordered.. pull him aside and tell him that.  The food was good, but we see what we really should have ordered being delivered to the table next to us – the cheese sticks.  And then cheese sticks are not normal, they’re the size of sticks of butter – really.  We’re torn between being disgusted at this huge hunk of fried cheese… or ordering 5 orders for us to go. 

I searched for a pic online.. again, for scale, these are all the size of sticks of butter

Since we didn’t get the frozen wine coolers we decide to stop by the snow cone place on the way home – they are authentic New Orleans snow balls.. and the guy that owns the place definitely has his Nawlins accent goin on.  He says that he can hear our northern accents.. he has a real Jimmy Buffet vibe, and it looks like he lives in the house above the snow cone place.  Not a bad set up.  They’re not frozen wine, but they’re good end to the day. 

July 4th at the beach!!

Dana’s July 4^th started MUCH earlier than normal – typically she’s the last one up (but to be fair, she’s the only one of us that has a 9-5 job during the summer… or any time… so she’s taking advantage of being able to sleep in).  But today she’s heading down to the pier to swim and hang out with friends’ family, Leah and her son Noah – they’re picking her up at 8!   I may be up, but I sure don’t want to be dressed by then – and they’re coming from their home, so they had to get up even earlier!   We say our goodbyes to Dana (they were long and tearful), and we get ready for the beach. 

I love going down to the beach early in the morning, love the air – so we get some beach time in, and about 11:00 Dana, Leah and Noah join us.  They went to the pier (the longest in the gulf) and saw people fishing – one guy caught a shark – but you can’t catch sharks, so he cut it lose before Dana could get a close up pic (the one she did get wasn’t bad though).  Before coming down to the beach they had gone to swim in the pool near the pier – Dana kept saying that it was at the end of the pier, and I’m still not really clear on where the pool was, and Dana is sleeping right now so we won’t ask her.

We teach Leah and Noah the wonders of the papasan raft (they fold to the size of an ipad, they blow up in seconds, and they’re easy to get into, very relaxing.. we could sell these).  We’ve seen other creatures in the water – jelly fish are out there (but as Logan said only 2 people got stung, so that’s nothing).. but every time I put my hand in the water and something jelly-fish like touches it, I jump and scream, and I’m not a jumper or a screamer.   People near us have a net and they’ve been catching things in it and looking around the water and pointing at other things – makes me uneasy because we are very near them, and sometimes they point toward us like, “there it goes to eat up those ladies!”… but turns out that they’re catching electric rays – little sting rays about the size of a frying pan that shock you when you touch them.  This Einstein that has one in the net KEEPS touching it and laughs each time, “Oooh, it got me… ohhh it got me again…”  -- Well STOP touching it.   Patti gets to feel the shock herself because she STEPS on one!  Squishy AND shocking.. ugh!!   Dana had talked about stepping on something squishy earlier in the week, and we all say (in turn, as is our way), “Hey Dana, maybe that’s what you stepped on.. “    About 10 minutes later Dana turns to all of us and says, “Hey guys, maybe that’s what I stepped on.. “…  Um…. Yes… we just said that.  To you.   Ten minutes ago.  You were here for that.  Remember?  Oh yah.  But she was just saying that she agreed.  As the week goes on, it becomes one of our lines – if there is a little bit of quiet one of us might chime in as if we have something important to say, “Hey guys!  Maybe that’s what Dana stepped on .. you think?”  --  And again, we acknowledge that this is only funny to the three of us (even Dana isn’t amused), but we’ll laugh each time (mainly *because* Dana isn’t amused).

Our plan for the day is to avoid 4^th of July traffic – could be crazy because the fireworks are going to be down on our beach, and we’ve read news reports on the internet about what roads are going to be closed and we just don’t want any part of that, so we’re doing our meal out early in the day and then going to make up a batch of rotel dip for “dinner”.   Honestly we eat enough at our one real meal of the day to sustain us – we do not go hungry down here, that’s for sure.  Leah had said that they needed to leave about noon to avoid the same traffic that we’re trying to avoid, but they end up extending that a bit, and the three of them walk down the beach to Sea-n-Suds for lunch.  It’s just a “block” or two from us.  The rest of us decide that we should be thinking about getting ready too and we head up and “scrub ass and wash hair”.  Amy loves this saying now, we’re picking up all kinds of “southern” – this family near us was going to head to lunch, but the dad was hungry now, he just wanted to go to a place where they could walk in like this, because if they had to take the time to scrub ass and wash hair, it was going to be 3:00 before they ate.   And he’s kinda right – it’s about that time by the time we scrub ass and wash hair. 

Dana with Leah and Noah

We head to Steamers again – we liked it because there was nothing fried on the menu, and that seems to be the going thing down here.  When other tables get their food delivered it just looks like a big tray of brown fried things.   We also didn’t want to go some place new without Dana and come back and tell her how it was the best place that we’d been so far, and she really missed out (see Dana, how we’re thinking of you?).   And this next part is for Dana too – I find it completely unblog-worthy, but Dana insists that it go in the blog and she wasn’t even there for it.  While we were waiting, I look down at my hands and notice how dry they are – like sea salt dry, you can see the white cracks, the skin is tight, I’m desperate for some lotion.  I had just taken my lotion out of my purse and Amy and Patti were also sans lotion.   So I used another natural lubricant to moisturize – the liquid butter that was on the table.  Just a dollop will do ya… and it was effective.  But now Dana is trying to make the butter catch on as something we say – she insists that the only things we say repeatedly are the ones that make fun of her (not true… but hey, maybe that was a ray that Dana stepped on..)…  It’s just like “fetch” – just not working.  (Mean Girls reference alert).  So there.. it’s the “butta” story.  It may recur.

We share the Royal Reds again – yum!  I get the crab legs boil, and I wanted the potato salad instead of the slaw because the last time we were there I didn’t get it, and it was really good (sampling others’) – but the waiter seems confused, and I am in turn confused.   I want to substitute, but he words it as an “extra” side – so what ends up happening is that I paid extra for the potato salad, but didn’t get my slaw, and not just a little extra to make up for the sub, like full price for the “extra” side, but then they subbed out the slaw too.  It’s weird.  Patti gets the shrimp (can’t go wrong) and Amy gets the lobster with scallops St Joque (or something like that).  She wins because that lobster looks amazing.  My crab legs take forever to eat, but we’re on beach time – and it gives us plenty of time to people watch.  

We’re sitting outside and Amy and Patti are disappointed if “normals” walk down the street toward us – they love commenting on the people who look a hot mess with their mis-matching clothes, drifter looking boyfriends and underwear hanging out.  Something else we notice while we’re sitting here is that these people can’t parallel park.  It’s a disaster watching them try!  And two people even had the passenger get out and direct the parking and it was STILL a mess – we’re literally covering our face waiting for the impact.   Is this a southern thing?  These people thought nothing of having the passenger get out and direct, and these were NOT tight spaces that required special attention, this was just your average parallel parking job and they were NOT up for it. 

The people sitting next to us were recently people that we were watching and talking about - two guys and a girl, and then girl sounds just like Pennsatucky from Orange is the New Black.  My back is to her, so it's eerie - same accent, cadence, phrases.. I'm a little spooked by it.  Patti and Amy can see her, and they say that her mannerisms are similar as well.  

I finally finish that pile of crab legs and it’s about 5:00 – fireworks at 9 – and we head back before things get cray.  Dana has been back for a while and done some dishes and cleaned up (yay! Thanks!).  We hang out and watch some tube.  I’m not sure if you realize this, but relaxing on the beach, in the sun, with the water and the waves can be very exhausting – it takes a lot of down time back in the condo to recover from our morning..   by 7:00 Patti is champing at the bit for the rotel dip (I prefer “champing” although I know many people say “chomping”… “champing” is more fun to say)..   I fire up the crock pot and we get our dip on and then head down to the beach.  None of us brought any red, white and blue clothes and we’re feeling a little “less than” compared to our neighbors who have been wearing flags on and about their bodies all week.  People have their doors decorated with flags, they wear flags on every part of them (swim wear, shirts, bandanas) – and we are lacking.  To make up for it we decide that we can each wear one of the colors and be red, white and blue together – Dana misses that memo and dresses in green.  Patti dons her red and white bandana for her “Patriotic Patti” look – she’s stylin.  

The beach is beautiful at this time of day and it’s a fun atmosphere down there as everyone is getting ready for the show.  We get spots on the wooden loungers, take some silly pics on the beach (the people in the chairs behind us offered to take our picture, but we said “what fun would that be”).  I included the many faces of Patti for your viewing pleasure... 

Red, White and Blue

Red, White and Green (Italy)

The fireworks were shot from a barge out in the gulf, just down the beach from us. We had the perfect spot, beach, friends, no traffic home.. just a really nice evening.   I put together some of the video from the fireworks and posted it to youtube if you want to peek at it. It gets better toward the end – I got their “finale”.   http://youtu.be/_ETX7sUpTf8

After the fireworks we hung out for a bit, but Patti and Amy head up to the condo.  Dana and I decide to take advantage of being down on the beach at night.  We’ve been meaning to come down for crabbing, but gravity keeps getting in our way – we sit down, and it’s really hard to get up and go down there.  We try to copy the methods that we’ve seen others using, but we have absolutely no idea what we’re looking for, where to look or how to look for it.   Should we be in the water, at the edge, just above the water line on the beach?  And I know we’re looking for ghost crabs that are small, but are they like ant size?  Will we know it when we see them?   People just seem to be walking along with their flash light apps on their phones on.   There is a couple coming our way that seems to know what they’re doing, so we ask – oh yah, just look for them along the water’s edge, and if you see one you shine the light in their eyes and they freeze.  They had just seen one up the beach, so we head up to see if we can find him – and we DO!  We were so excited to find one – I used the light on my phone to hold him and Dana recorded and took pics ... which won't load. The video is cooler anyway – here’s the link:  http://youtu.be/vhgm95VqMo0 -  

So we’ve seen one – and then Dana spies another one, and TEEENY TINY one that is like the size of a head of a pin (like a really big pin, but the kind that you would use to mark a spot on map), I have no idea how Dana saw him because he’s barely big enough for his own eyes.  So that’s our crabbing adventure – Dana wants to go back and look for more later this week, so we’ll see how that goes. 

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).