Sunday we were going to get up in time to watch the sun rise from the beach. Of course, when the alarm went off, I turned to Sara and asked "Do you still want to get up?" The response was "murflemurflemurfle" which I took to mean, "No thank you, please!" and so we slept blissfully for another couple of hours.
Hey, the sun comes up every day. We'll watch it another time.
When we finally did get up for realsies, we got ready to head down to the beach. That day had been set aside for all beach, all day! Woo-Hoo! We packed up our cooler and our chairs and all of the other accoutrements, and drove down to the shore. One of the surprisingly awesome things about this beach is that it is wide and flat enough that they allow driving and parking right out on the sand. Normally I would hate that, I think, but there was so much room that the cars didn't get in the way and it was very convenient to have your vehicle so close by. I didn't understand the desire to drive along the length of the beach, but I guess people need to cruise somewhere.
Once we got settled, we sat for a while and watched people come and go. It was really very nice. Well, except that Sara's chair (provided by the Air BnB place) had a rip in it that kept getting bigger and bigger until she was barely hanging on for dear life. We read for a while, and then I left her behind to walk around a bit. I didn't feel like swimming, so I only got into the water up to my knees, but it was nice to just be there. It wasn't that hot, and it was a bit cloudy, but it was wicked humid out there. I'd look down and water would have condensed all over me. It was really strange!
We hadn't been there for long, but when I went back to our spot, Sara was looking kind of pale. She wasn't feeling well, and after a few minutes of trying to convince her that I wouldn't be upset if we left, she allowed us to pack up the car and drive back to the apartment. Dunno what was wrong, but she must have felt terrible. When we got back, she fell asleep and stayed asleep for a long, long time. In the mean time, I showered and changed, and sat by the bed reading and hoped she wasn't going to die. Granted, that's a huge overstatement, but I was worried! I finally went out on the balcony so as not to disturb her and I fell asleep out there, myself. Naps are awesome!
I have no idea how long I was out there, but Sara was awake and feeling much, much better, so we decided to drive around a bit and get lunch. We ate at a place called "Yellow Dog Eats" and it was wonderful. They have great barbecue and our waiter looked a lot like Jesus, so it was awesome! We drove around a bit after that, just talking and looking around, until we decided it would be a good idea to go back and clean the place up. That's one of the rules, to clean up after yourself, so we did so and then packed up what we could before the next day so it wouldn't take us as long in the morning.
We decided to eat much later in the evening, so we searched around until we found something still open and settled on the NSB Seashack, which was delightful, even if their live music was, eh...coffee shop level at best. We still had a good time!
Unfortunately, this was our last night there and just like any trip where you're having a good time, the fact that we were leaving the next day loomed. Boo! We resigned ourselves to the fact and went to bed. I wished we'd had several more days, but until I can become independently wealthy and not need to go back to work, I suppose all vacations will have to end at some point!
Showing posts with label Beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beach. Show all posts
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
BLOGGED AFTER THE FACT: PART 3 - BEWARE THE WHITE MYSTERY GOO
Saturday morning we got up early so that we could make it to the local farmer's market that was being held not very far from where we were staying. Actually, almost everything we did was not very far from where we were staying, which was nice, because driving when you don't have to sucks!
The market was fairly small, but it was much more varied than any other one I'd ever been to. There was food, of course, but mainly the rest of the booths were crafts and things. I really enjoyed it. We did one circuit around the place before we bought anything, and once done, we shopped in earnest. Well, Sara shopped in earnest and I instigated her shopping, haha! We had a lot of fun, though. I did buy some yarn made by a local alpaca farm (because of course I did) and got a beautiful lotus shaped candle holder from a local potter. We didn't want to buy any food, because it wouldn't have traveled well, and for that I'm sorry, because there was some awesome fruits, veggies, and prepared foods for sale there.
One incident at the farmer's market has to be told, though, because it's so stupid. Scratch that, I am the stupid one. I think you'll agree. One of the stalls at the market was some kind of hippy-dippy couple selling powdered clay of some kind. I don't remember what it was called, but I think it was supposed to be used as a cosmetic mask. I wasn't sure, because I got distracted by another thing they were selling. They had a small table off to the side that held what looked like small bottles of lotion. There was a sign that had the name of it (I'm not going to put it here, because I don't want anyone googling it and finding this entry) and it had a list of many, MANY, special benefits that included aligning your chakras, finding your soul mate, lucid dreaming, levitation, telepathy and the like. Basically, it was your run of the mill hocus-pocus BS, but I was intrigued. I asked the guy behind the table what it was (to be polite) and he started trying to explain it to me. I asked him if it was a lotion, and he said "No, you put it under your tongue, want to try it?" Now, normally, I'd never, ever do that unless I knew what was in it. However, I was in "Adventurous Vacation Mode" and didn't even think before I scooped some up and put it in my mouth. As soon as I did that, my brain kicked in, and I immediately regretted my decision. It's pretty solid advice NOT to put random white mystery goo into your mouth when it's offered to you at a farmer's market, or really anywhere else, to be frank. It could have been ANYTHING, y'all, and I had voluntarily put it in my mouth! Blerg! He offered it to Sara and she was all "Hell No!" which made me feel even stupider. So for the duration of us standing there talking to these people, I couldn't swallow or spit, so I had this mystery substance in my mouth for what seemed like a year. Do you have any idea how hard it is to spit without anyone noticing? I do! I finally managed to spit it out, and I don't think I absorbed much of whatever it was, so I didn't meet my soul mate and my chakras still feel in the same position as they were before. I'm not convinced that it was a real thing. I guess I'll never know. :)
We left the farmer's market and had breakfast, and then we moved on to Flagler Ave, which was the main street of where we were staying. It was lined with shops and restaurants, so we spent the next few hours of the day walking, talking, shopping and eating. It wasn't so much about spending money or eating, though, we were just enjoying hanging out. It was great fun! I'm pretty sure several of the shop keepers we met thought we were an adorable lesbian couple (and I mean, we would be if that was the case) so that was kind of hilarious! Eh, that's fine with me. Sara should be so lucky! Haha!
I'm not sure how long we were out, just that by the time we got back to the apartment, we were tired. At this point we probably could have just hung out for the rest of the day, but there was one thing that Sara wanted while we were in Florida that we hadn't found while we were out. She told me that when she was a kid, she was never allowed to buy one of the cheesy, air brushed vacation shirts that seemed to be so ubiquitous when we were kids, so she wanted to get one as an ironic souvenir. Used to, air brush shops were everywhere at the beach, but we had to drive 30 minutes away to Daytona Beach to find a place that still did it! That was a mess. I don't know how many of your have been to Daytona Beach, but it's a big, skeezy, crowded tourist trap surrounded by enormous hotels and restaurants that pretty much obscure the ocean view, but it's a POPULAR big, skeezy, crowded tourist trap. We drove down the strip and around and around all of the places trying to find the air brush shop, but we couldn't find it! Sara, who was driving, got angrier and angrier because we couldn't find a place to park, or even a place that resembled where we were going. We almost gave up, but decided to call the number on the facebook page and see if they could help us. Turns out we were driving right by it, over and over, but it blended in with all the rest of the neon, so we never saw it! We finally managed to put our shirt order in, but it was going to take an hour and a half, so we spent the next little bit continuing to drive around and around and around and up and down Daytona, until we stopped at a beach ramp to walk out and take some pictures. We should have done that much earlier, because about three minutes later, the air brush shop called to let us know that our shirts were ready. Oh, they were glorious. You can see the final design here:
We've promised that these will never be worn as functioning clothing, although I'll admit, I wore mine to a drive through window after I got home, but mainly these are just for funzies and to remind us that we are classy through and through! Haha!
It was late by the time we made it back to New Smyrna Beach and we were starving, so we found an open restaurant, which was kind of a bar, I think, and had delicious hamburgers for dinner. Next to us was a family with small children. In a bar. Let that sink in. We were wiped out when we got back to our apartment, and so we got ready for bed and sat up and talked for a long time before we fell asleep.
The market was fairly small, but it was much more varied than any other one I'd ever been to. There was food, of course, but mainly the rest of the booths were crafts and things. I really enjoyed it. We did one circuit around the place before we bought anything, and once done, we shopped in earnest. Well, Sara shopped in earnest and I instigated her shopping, haha! We had a lot of fun, though. I did buy some yarn made by a local alpaca farm (because of course I did) and got a beautiful lotus shaped candle holder from a local potter. We didn't want to buy any food, because it wouldn't have traveled well, and for that I'm sorry, because there was some awesome fruits, veggies, and prepared foods for sale there.
One incident at the farmer's market has to be told, though, because it's so stupid. Scratch that, I am the stupid one. I think you'll agree. One of the stalls at the market was some kind of hippy-dippy couple selling powdered clay of some kind. I don't remember what it was called, but I think it was supposed to be used as a cosmetic mask. I wasn't sure, because I got distracted by another thing they were selling. They had a small table off to the side that held what looked like small bottles of lotion. There was a sign that had the name of it (I'm not going to put it here, because I don't want anyone googling it and finding this entry) and it had a list of many, MANY, special benefits that included aligning your chakras, finding your soul mate, lucid dreaming, levitation, telepathy and the like. Basically, it was your run of the mill hocus-pocus BS, but I was intrigued. I asked the guy behind the table what it was (to be polite) and he started trying to explain it to me. I asked him if it was a lotion, and he said "No, you put it under your tongue, want to try it?" Now, normally, I'd never, ever do that unless I knew what was in it. However, I was in "Adventurous Vacation Mode" and didn't even think before I scooped some up and put it in my mouth. As soon as I did that, my brain kicked in, and I immediately regretted my decision. It's pretty solid advice NOT to put random white mystery goo into your mouth when it's offered to you at a farmer's market, or really anywhere else, to be frank. It could have been ANYTHING, y'all, and I had voluntarily put it in my mouth! Blerg! He offered it to Sara and she was all "Hell No!" which made me feel even stupider. So for the duration of us standing there talking to these people, I couldn't swallow or spit, so I had this mystery substance in my mouth for what seemed like a year. Do you have any idea how hard it is to spit without anyone noticing? I do! I finally managed to spit it out, and I don't think I absorbed much of whatever it was, so I didn't meet my soul mate and my chakras still feel in the same position as they were before. I'm not convinced that it was a real thing. I guess I'll never know. :)
We left the farmer's market and had breakfast, and then we moved on to Flagler Ave, which was the main street of where we were staying. It was lined with shops and restaurants, so we spent the next few hours of the day walking, talking, shopping and eating. It wasn't so much about spending money or eating, though, we were just enjoying hanging out. It was great fun! I'm pretty sure several of the shop keepers we met thought we were an adorable lesbian couple (and I mean, we would be if that was the case) so that was kind of hilarious! Eh, that's fine with me. Sara should be so lucky! Haha!
I'm not sure how long we were out, just that by the time we got back to the apartment, we were tired. At this point we probably could have just hung out for the rest of the day, but there was one thing that Sara wanted while we were in Florida that we hadn't found while we were out. She told me that when she was a kid, she was never allowed to buy one of the cheesy, air brushed vacation shirts that seemed to be so ubiquitous when we were kids, so she wanted to get one as an ironic souvenir. Used to, air brush shops were everywhere at the beach, but we had to drive 30 minutes away to Daytona Beach to find a place that still did it! That was a mess. I don't know how many of your have been to Daytona Beach, but it's a big, skeezy, crowded tourist trap surrounded by enormous hotels and restaurants that pretty much obscure the ocean view, but it's a POPULAR big, skeezy, crowded tourist trap. We drove down the strip and around and around all of the places trying to find the air brush shop, but we couldn't find it! Sara, who was driving, got angrier and angrier because we couldn't find a place to park, or even a place that resembled where we were going. We almost gave up, but decided to call the number on the facebook page and see if they could help us. Turns out we were driving right by it, over and over, but it blended in with all the rest of the neon, so we never saw it! We finally managed to put our shirt order in, but it was going to take an hour and a half, so we spent the next little bit continuing to drive around and around and around and up and down Daytona, until we stopped at a beach ramp to walk out and take some pictures. We should have done that much earlier, because about three minutes later, the air brush shop called to let us know that our shirts were ready. Oh, they were glorious. You can see the final design here:
Good Lord, how big is my forehead?
It was late by the time we made it back to New Smyrna Beach and we were starving, so we found an open restaurant, which was kind of a bar, I think, and had delicious hamburgers for dinner. Next to us was a family with small children. In a bar. Let that sink in. We were wiped out when we got back to our apartment, and so we got ready for bed and sat up and talked for a long time before we fell asleep.
Friday, August 25, 2017
BLOGGED AFTER THE FACT: PART 2 - TEQUILA BAD
Friday morning we got up relatively early and set off towards New Smyrna Beach! Sara drove, thank goodness, and time seemed to go so much faster with someone to talk to! It only took us about three hours to get there, so we got there well before we could check into our apartment, but that was fine. We drove around and got to know the area a bit.
We stopped and got provisions for the apartment, had lunch at a tiny place called Cafe Verde, and wondered about until it was time to check it. We LOVED the apartment. It was small, to be sure, but so cute and perfect for what we needed. We got settled and changed clothes, and decided to ride one of the provided bicycles down to the beach to check it out. Unfortunately, that didn't go so well. There were quite a few bikes in the little shed, but none of them were in great condition. They weren't anything fancy, just regular bikes like we rode as kids, but Sara had not ridden a bike in a very long time. I'd peddled one of the bikes to the end of the driveway to wait on her, when behind me I heard a crash. Sara, bless her heart, and gotten on and promptly fallen off of her bike. It was too tall for her, and the gears were rusted from exposure to salt (I assume) so when she tried to pedal, the bike hadn't gone too far. Oops. To my credit, I never laughed. Ok, yes I did, but only after the fact. She scraped up her leg pretty good, but she got it cleaned up and we walked the 80 or so yards to the beach. Screw you, rusty bicycles!
The beach was beautiful, of course! We walked around and stepped out into the very warm water, and I looked for shells. There weren't that many there, so I don't know if that is normal, or if it's the time of year, or what, but I found a few. We'd brought some beach mats with us, so Sara sat and rested while I walked around some more. It was very nice. We had accidentally sat our mats down too near the edge of the surf, so once I came back and sat down next to Sara, a wave came and surrounded us! It almost made off with my shoes! Haha. After that we decided that we would save the beach for another day and go get something to eat.
We went back to the apartment and looked in the little travel book for a restaurant. One of the great things about New Smyrna Beach was that there weren't any (that I know of, anyway) chain places around, so we'd get to try something new each time! That night we picked Blackbeard's Inn, which seemed to be a very popular local place, and we had such a good time! We also had cocktails, which might have been part of why we had such a good time. Sara said hers didn't seem to have any alcohol in it, but mine sure did. Yikes. Ok, look, y'all, I like tequila. I just do. Pretty much anything else is gross to me, but I like tequila, so I got two margaritas. That was too many for me, due to my low alcohol tolerance, but at least I didn't do anything embarrassing. I did, however, tell Sara all of my secrets and now I can never make her angry, or she'll ruin my life. :) Everything got very fuzzy for a bit and I had trouble walking to the car, but I didn't take off any of my clothes and I didn't French kiss a stranger, so at least there was that! Thankfully, even though the alcohol hit me pretty hard, it didn't bother me for long. By the time we'd made it back to our place, I was only just a little silly and we sat up and talked for a long time before finally going to sleep.
We stopped and got provisions for the apartment, had lunch at a tiny place called Cafe Verde, and wondered about until it was time to check it. We LOVED the apartment. It was small, to be sure, but so cute and perfect for what we needed. We got settled and changed clothes, and decided to ride one of the provided bicycles down to the beach to check it out. Unfortunately, that didn't go so well. There were quite a few bikes in the little shed, but none of them were in great condition. They weren't anything fancy, just regular bikes like we rode as kids, but Sara had not ridden a bike in a very long time. I'd peddled one of the bikes to the end of the driveway to wait on her, when behind me I heard a crash. Sara, bless her heart, and gotten on and promptly fallen off of her bike. It was too tall for her, and the gears were rusted from exposure to salt (I assume) so when she tried to pedal, the bike hadn't gone too far. Oops. To my credit, I never laughed. Ok, yes I did, but only after the fact. She scraped up her leg pretty good, but she got it cleaned up and we walked the 80 or so yards to the beach. Screw you, rusty bicycles!
The beach was beautiful, of course! We walked around and stepped out into the very warm water, and I looked for shells. There weren't that many there, so I don't know if that is normal, or if it's the time of year, or what, but I found a few. We'd brought some beach mats with us, so Sara sat and rested while I walked around some more. It was very nice. We had accidentally sat our mats down too near the edge of the surf, so once I came back and sat down next to Sara, a wave came and surrounded us! It almost made off with my shoes! Haha. After that we decided that we would save the beach for another day and go get something to eat.
We went back to the apartment and looked in the little travel book for a restaurant. One of the great things about New Smyrna Beach was that there weren't any (that I know of, anyway) chain places around, so we'd get to try something new each time! That night we picked Blackbeard's Inn, which seemed to be a very popular local place, and we had such a good time! We also had cocktails, which might have been part of why we had such a good time. Sara said hers didn't seem to have any alcohol in it, but mine sure did. Yikes. Ok, look, y'all, I like tequila. I just do. Pretty much anything else is gross to me, but I like tequila, so I got two margaritas. That was too many for me, due to my low alcohol tolerance, but at least I didn't do anything embarrassing. I did, however, tell Sara all of my secrets and now I can never make her angry, or she'll ruin my life. :) Everything got very fuzzy for a bit and I had trouble walking to the car, but I didn't take off any of my clothes and I didn't French kiss a stranger, so at least there was that! Thankfully, even though the alcohol hit me pretty hard, it didn't bother me for long. By the time we'd made it back to our place, I was only just a little silly and we sat up and talked for a long time before finally going to sleep.
Monday, May 22, 2017
BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY - JERSEY GIRL EDITION - May 19, 2017
We slept in a bit longer than we meant to this morning, and when I got out of bed everything hurt. I had no idea that walking that much would hurt all of my bones. Mostly it was my feet. Even though I have been wearing sensible shoes, my feet are swollen up from all the walking/running we did. Boo!
We actually ate breakfast this morning before leaving again. I"ve just realized we hadn't done that all week. Huh. This time we didn't bother trying to find a train anywhere. We were going to Liberty State Park so that we could catch a ferry to visit the Statue of Liberty and just decided to drive it! YAY! We'd gotten tickets online earlier in the week, so we were all set!
This time, driving out that way was a lot less nerve wracking, although I still do that thing where I cringe and squeak when I don't think Steve is going to slow down in time. He hates it, but I can't help it. His driving makes me nervous, and riding with me in the car makes him nervous, so it's a trade off. :) We made it a lot more quickly than we thought we would, and got a chance to walk around for quite a while before we boarded our ferry. On that ferry was also what seemed like 600 school children. Look, kids one at a time are usually OK. Small groups of children are sometimes OK. Large groups of children are just evil. That's all I'm going to say about that.
We landed on Liberty Island and saw the statue! It was so beautiful! When you come into the docking area, you are at the back of the statue, so we took the long way around to go and see it. It was so bizarre! I've seen it a million times in a million different ways, but never in person. I kept staring at it thinking "I'm actually here looking at this thing! It's not a movie or a picture, but I'm actually here looking at it!!!!" I was so excited. We had to brave a very large crowd, but luckily the statue is on a big platform and so it stands above everyone and no one can really get in your way. I even managed to get a couple of pictures with Steve (haha, take that!) and we got a very good look at her. It was a lot of fun, even though we didn't take a tour inside the base, or up into the crown, as it cost extra. That's kind of the one thing that sucks, but as I worked in the tourism industry once upon a time, I do understand that getting people to pay for things in stages is a thing. After getting our fill of pictures and looking, we departed on another ferry (I love the ferries!) and headed back to our car.
We'd thought about going into Brooklyn for a bit, but Steve wanted to head down to Red Bank, NJ to visit a comic book shop that he knew about. Why drive to Red Bank, which is an hour or so away from NYC, to look at a comic book shop you may be asking? Well, it isn't just any comic book shop! It was Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, which is owned by Kevin Smith and has it's own "reality" type show called "Comic Book Men" that Steve regularly watches. He wanted to look around and try to meet some of the guys that are on the show. Me? I didn't think that they'd really be there. I assumed that they were only there to film, and then other not-on-television guys worked there the rest of the time. I was wrong! We walked in, and three of the four guys from the show were there! I immediately went into freeze up mode. Number one, this was Steve's thing and not mine, so I got shy. Number two, these guys were doing there thing and eating lunch, so I felt weird approaching any of them just to say "Hey! You're that TV guy!" and the thought of that made me feel very awkward. Being awkward in a store leads to breaking things and breaking things leads to paying for things. I stayed in my own zone. Number three...well, there is no number three, but three is a better number when you're listing things.
Anyway, I looked around and they really did have an interesting collection of stuff from the various Kevin Smith movies, as well as some cool pop culture memorabilia and comics. It is a store, after all, and they do sell stuff. I just kept to myself. I give Steve props, too, he was very cool about the whole thing, and he got to meet two of the guys without seeming weird or intrusive, which is more than I can say about another guy who walked in. I met one of them, Mike I believe his name was, because I asked a question. He was very nice and helpful, and when I asked how offensive he thought "Buddy Christ" would be to Baptists, he said he hoped very, and gave me a gratis sheet of stickers of the character for my desk when he found out I work at a church. Heh. Steve bought a couple of things and we left. He was happy and I got stickers, so it had been a productive visit!
Red Bank is really a cool place, but we didn't stick around for long after visiting the store. I had wanted to see the beach situation there. I was thinking more about finding out if New Jersey had the same kind of cheesy shops and culture that you see around the gulf, so we went towards Sandy Hook which the map said had a beach. The drive out there was so interesting. There were so many gorgeous and HUGE houses out that way, and they weren't like anything I had seen before. We knew they were worth some serious coinage, because the ones for sale weren't being sold by Maggie Bee, your friendly neighborhood real estate agent. They were being sold by Southby's and Christie's, which I didn't know had a hand in real estate. When we finally did make it out to the beach area, there weren't any houses at all. Nor were there shops or restaurants, just beaches. We tried to drive to the end where an observation deck was, but that was closed off for some reason, so we stopped by one of the public beaches and walked out there. I hadn't thought about the act of actually going to the beach, even though I knew we were going to do that, so I was wearing blue jeans! I rolled those suckers up and took off my shoes. The sand area was really wide and full of rocks, so getting out to the water was like walking on hot Legos! Haha! We walked to the surf and I looked for shells. Weirdly, I didn't find very many sea critters. I found lots of polished rocks, but only found shells up in the dry area of sand, so I figure that someone else must have pulled then out of the water and left them there. Eh. I accidentally stood too close to the water and a wave hit me, getting me soaked, so we turned back fairly soon after that. I was hot, sandy and wet, but I had some shells and my little baggy of sand! I was happy!
We had thought of going to a few other places after getting back towards NYC, but we were tired. I hated to just go back to the hotel, but by the time we got back, my feet were sore and I was messy from the beach and I was hungry! We ordered room service for dinner and packed up our things. We are leaving early tomorrow morning, so we have to go to sleep soon. I'm honestly ready. I really have enjoyed my stay here, though, and I'd like to come back one day and see a bit more!
Goodnight!
We actually ate breakfast this morning before leaving again. I"ve just realized we hadn't done that all week. Huh. This time we didn't bother trying to find a train anywhere. We were going to Liberty State Park so that we could catch a ferry to visit the Statue of Liberty and just decided to drive it! YAY! We'd gotten tickets online earlier in the week, so we were all set!
This time, driving out that way was a lot less nerve wracking, although I still do that thing where I cringe and squeak when I don't think Steve is going to slow down in time. He hates it, but I can't help it. His driving makes me nervous, and riding with me in the car makes him nervous, so it's a trade off. :) We made it a lot more quickly than we thought we would, and got a chance to walk around for quite a while before we boarded our ferry. On that ferry was also what seemed like 600 school children. Look, kids one at a time are usually OK. Small groups of children are sometimes OK. Large groups of children are just evil. That's all I'm going to say about that.
We landed on Liberty Island and saw the statue! It was so beautiful! When you come into the docking area, you are at the back of the statue, so we took the long way around to go and see it. It was so bizarre! I've seen it a million times in a million different ways, but never in person. I kept staring at it thinking "I'm actually here looking at this thing! It's not a movie or a picture, but I'm actually here looking at it!!!!" I was so excited. We had to brave a very large crowd, but luckily the statue is on a big platform and so it stands above everyone and no one can really get in your way. I even managed to get a couple of pictures with Steve (haha, take that!) and we got a very good look at her. It was a lot of fun, even though we didn't take a tour inside the base, or up into the crown, as it cost extra. That's kind of the one thing that sucks, but as I worked in the tourism industry once upon a time, I do understand that getting people to pay for things in stages is a thing. After getting our fill of pictures and looking, we departed on another ferry (I love the ferries!) and headed back to our car.
We'd thought about going into Brooklyn for a bit, but Steve wanted to head down to Red Bank, NJ to visit a comic book shop that he knew about. Why drive to Red Bank, which is an hour or so away from NYC, to look at a comic book shop you may be asking? Well, it isn't just any comic book shop! It was Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, which is owned by Kevin Smith and has it's own "reality" type show called "Comic Book Men" that Steve regularly watches. He wanted to look around and try to meet some of the guys that are on the show. Me? I didn't think that they'd really be there. I assumed that they were only there to film, and then other not-on-television guys worked there the rest of the time. I was wrong! We walked in, and three of the four guys from the show were there! I immediately went into freeze up mode. Number one, this was Steve's thing and not mine, so I got shy. Number two, these guys were doing there thing and eating lunch, so I felt weird approaching any of them just to say "Hey! You're that TV guy!" and the thought of that made me feel very awkward. Being awkward in a store leads to breaking things and breaking things leads to paying for things. I stayed in my own zone. Number three...well, there is no number three, but three is a better number when you're listing things.
Anyway, I looked around and they really did have an interesting collection of stuff from the various Kevin Smith movies, as well as some cool pop culture memorabilia and comics. It is a store, after all, and they do sell stuff. I just kept to myself. I give Steve props, too, he was very cool about the whole thing, and he got to meet two of the guys without seeming weird or intrusive, which is more than I can say about another guy who walked in. I met one of them, Mike I believe his name was, because I asked a question. He was very nice and helpful, and when I asked how offensive he thought "Buddy Christ" would be to Baptists, he said he hoped very, and gave me a gratis sheet of stickers of the character for my desk when he found out I work at a church. Heh. Steve bought a couple of things and we left. He was happy and I got stickers, so it had been a productive visit!
Red Bank is really a cool place, but we didn't stick around for long after visiting the store. I had wanted to see the beach situation there. I was thinking more about finding out if New Jersey had the same kind of cheesy shops and culture that you see around the gulf, so we went towards Sandy Hook which the map said had a beach. The drive out there was so interesting. There were so many gorgeous and HUGE houses out that way, and they weren't like anything I had seen before. We knew they were worth some serious coinage, because the ones for sale weren't being sold by Maggie Bee, your friendly neighborhood real estate agent. They were being sold by Southby's and Christie's, which I didn't know had a hand in real estate. When we finally did make it out to the beach area, there weren't any houses at all. Nor were there shops or restaurants, just beaches. We tried to drive to the end where an observation deck was, but that was closed off for some reason, so we stopped by one of the public beaches and walked out there. I hadn't thought about the act of actually going to the beach, even though I knew we were going to do that, so I was wearing blue jeans! I rolled those suckers up and took off my shoes. The sand area was really wide and full of rocks, so getting out to the water was like walking on hot Legos! Haha! We walked to the surf and I looked for shells. Weirdly, I didn't find very many sea critters. I found lots of polished rocks, but only found shells up in the dry area of sand, so I figure that someone else must have pulled then out of the water and left them there. Eh. I accidentally stood too close to the water and a wave hit me, getting me soaked, so we turned back fairly soon after that. I was hot, sandy and wet, but I had some shells and my little baggy of sand! I was happy!
We had thought of going to a few other places after getting back towards NYC, but we were tired. I hated to just go back to the hotel, but by the time we got back, my feet were sore and I was messy from the beach and I was hungry! We ordered room service for dinner and packed up our things. We are leaving early tomorrow morning, so we have to go to sleep soon. I'm honestly ready. I really have enjoyed my stay here, though, and I'd like to come back one day and see a bit more!
Goodnight!
Saturday, January 03, 2015
BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: NEW YEAR AT THE BEACH
January 1, 2015
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Again!
I was right, we didn't make it to midnight, but almost. I think I fell asleep reading at 11:45. I'm such a party animal! :)
We were going to be going home today. It was a really, really short trip, and I am disappointed that we couldn't stay longer, but at least I got out of the house for a little bit. Sometimes you can't ask for more than that, right?
I woke up this morning and went out to the beach. This time I knew what the weather was going to be like, so I had my coat, my hat, and I was wearing my high boots. Granted, I wouldn't recommend wearing your good boots to the beach normally, but I was already dressed and refused to change my shoes. Besides, weirdly enough, it was easier to walk on the sand in those boots than it was to walk in my sneakers! I left Steve to pack up and walked up and down the beach for about an hour and a half! Luckily, no weird thoughts about how easy it would be to drown myself on purpose popped up this time, so I enjoyed myself a lot more, even though it was freaking cold out there! Again, I picked up shells and walked as far as I dared to, and I totally enjoyed myself in the process. While getting ready, I accidentally scratched my eye while messing with my contacts, and the wind coming off of the gulf was making that eye water like crazy, so I'm sure there were a lot of people wondering why the sad lady with the funny hat was crying, but it was just the wind, I promise!
Once I got back inside, I got my things together and we checked out of the hotel. We drove back to The Wharf so that I could buy something that I'd seen the day before and forgotten to get, and then we headed over to the Foley outlet mall to look around. I'm truly beginning to wonder if outlets are really worth going to. The prices don't really seem much different than buying the stuff online, and I think some things are even more expensive than buying them in regular stores! We found a couple of things, and then headed to our last stop: World Market. It's probably a good thing we don't have one of these in Huntsville, because I always kind of go crazy in there. We always stop by one while we're out of town, just for the international candy! I should be set for Japanese gummis for a while!
After that, we made our way back home. It was very dreary and rainy, but be it ever so humble and all that!
It was short, but it was fun! Can't wait to do another one sometime!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Again!
I was right, we didn't make it to midnight, but almost. I think I fell asleep reading at 11:45. I'm such a party animal! :)
We were going to be going home today. It was a really, really short trip, and I am disappointed that we couldn't stay longer, but at least I got out of the house for a little bit. Sometimes you can't ask for more than that, right?
I woke up this morning and went out to the beach. This time I knew what the weather was going to be like, so I had my coat, my hat, and I was wearing my high boots. Granted, I wouldn't recommend wearing your good boots to the beach normally, but I was already dressed and refused to change my shoes. Besides, weirdly enough, it was easier to walk on the sand in those boots than it was to walk in my sneakers! I left Steve to pack up and walked up and down the beach for about an hour and a half! Luckily, no weird thoughts about how easy it would be to drown myself on purpose popped up this time, so I enjoyed myself a lot more, even though it was freaking cold out there! Again, I picked up shells and walked as far as I dared to, and I totally enjoyed myself in the process. While getting ready, I accidentally scratched my eye while messing with my contacts, and the wind coming off of the gulf was making that eye water like crazy, so I'm sure there were a lot of people wondering why the sad lady with the funny hat was crying, but it was just the wind, I promise!
Once I got back inside, I got my things together and we checked out of the hotel. We drove back to The Wharf so that I could buy something that I'd seen the day before and forgotten to get, and then we headed over to the Foley outlet mall to look around. I'm truly beginning to wonder if outlets are really worth going to. The prices don't really seem much different than buying the stuff online, and I think some things are even more expensive than buying them in regular stores! We found a couple of things, and then headed to our last stop: World Market. It's probably a good thing we don't have one of these in Huntsville, because I always kind of go crazy in there. We always stop by one while we're out of town, just for the international candy! I should be set for Japanese gummis for a while!
After that, we made our way back home. It was very dreary and rainy, but be it ever so humble and all that!
It was short, but it was fun! Can't wait to do another one sometime!
BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: NEW YEAR AT THE BEACH
December 31, 2014
I woke up as early as I could today so that I could go outside to the beach. I wanted to watch the sun come up, but my body said NOPE. The sun was well up by the time I got out there, but at least Steve came with me this time! I wanted a picture of us together out there, but no one else was around, so I had to break my selfie rule and take it myself. OK, well, it's more of a guideline, but still...
The picture turned out cute. Shut up.
Anyways, we walked around out there and I picked up sea shells. That is my favorite thing to do! I know I look like a hobo scrounging around on the ground, but I don't care. I filled up the pocket of my fleece with sand and the discarded husks of dead sea creatures, which means I'll never get the sand out of that jacket. Heehee! I did learn something new while we were out there, though. Steve doesn't like walking on the beach. Like, at all. He says that he likes sitting out there and dozing when it's warm, but walking around picking up shells bores him silly. So no romantic walks on the beach for us, I guess! It's such a shame. Oh, well, my next husband will like it, I'll make sure of it! It'll be one of the requirements. :) Also, it was FREEZING out there. My ear-tips felt like they would snap off if I bumped them on something, so we left and I decided that I'd come back in the afternoon when it was warmer.
Today would be our only full day here, so we were going to drive around and find things to do. We had breakfast at Hazel's, which was delicious and plentiful. Can't beat a buffet, right? After that, we went to souvenir shops, which was actually a lot of fun. Not all of them are Alvin's Island like, although a lot of them sell the same kinds of stuff. We found a place called Souvenir City, which had been open since 1956 and you have to walk through a giant shark's mouth to get it. It's pretty much the most awesome souvenir shop ever. The place is HUGE. I have no idea how long we spent in there, but there were so many things to look at! One thing I was looking for specifically was a hat I could wear on the beach, because dummy me didn't think to bring one. I own a million hats, custom crocheted by yours truly, and I was going to have to buy one. Oy. I couldn't find one I wanted because I didn't want anything with words on it, or anything that looked like a maw-maw hat, I just wanted a stocking cap that would cover my ears! No dice, though. I wound up buying some sea shells (non-native ones, which I wouldn't be able to find on the beach) and a Christmas tree ornament that I will hang in my mermaid bathroom. Across the street was a surf/skate store called Blonde Johns. That was not exactly our element, but Steve was trying to find a sticker for a surf company like one he used to have on his truck (or maybe the Mustang, I have no idea) and that seemed like the most likely place to have it. We were greeted by a skater-dude in full on skater-boi regalia, which was about as anti beach as you can get. He and the other skater dude guy who worked there were very nice and helpful, though. They told us about all the New Year stuff that would be going on in town. I felt like a fraud walking around in there because A) I can't skate, surf or skim (whatever that is) and B) I couldn't pull off any of the clothes they sold, BUT I did find a bright blue toboggan in there that didn't have words on it, so I got that to cover my ear-tips on the beach! Now I've got a cool skater hat! Yay! Steve, however, didn't find his sticker. Boo. We went to a lot of different places and it was really fun! There were several places with art from local artists, which I'd have loved to buy, but the stuff I liked was way too expensive. The stuff I could afford wasn't to my taste. We also have come to the conclusion that unless you have a giant house, or a lake or beach house, most of the stuff you can buy down there really isn't suitable for real houses. If you have a big house, some of that stuff would blend in, but in our house, a giant chandelier made of seashells really would clash. You know? We decided to eat lunch at a place called Lulu's, which had come highly recommended, but when we got there, there were so many people we wouldn't have gotten to eat for a couple of hours. Seriously, they wouldn't even give us a wait time. They said there were about 50 parties ahead of us, though, so we left and had lunch at Tacky Jack's! We got something called Mexican Garbage, which was a giant plate of nacho's served on a garbage can lid. Nom.
The weather got really nice and a bit warmer, so we went back to the hotel and I got my hat and coat and headed back out to the beach while Steve took a nap. Once I was out there, though, I realized it was too warm for either my hat or my coat. Of course. So I just tied everything around my waist and set off walking and picking up shells. On that walk, I decided that several of my life goals involve living at the beach. Also, I'm going to have to become independently wealthy so that one day I can drive down to the pointy bit of Texas and just start following the coast all the way around the Gulf of Mexico, go around Florida and up to New England, stopping at different coastal towns and seeing what they're all like. Sounds like a Travel Channel show. Oh, hey, I could totally host that! If anyone from the Travel Channel reads this and wants to make that happen...I'm game!
I don't know how long I stayed out there, but I got a sunburn I wasn't expecting. I also really only went back to the room because at some point, while pondering the meaning of life and such, I realized how easy it would be to drown yourself. I mean, I'm not suicidal or anything, I swear, but that's where my mind went and it got stuck there. I don't need that kind of negativity going on in my head while I'm at the beach, so I went back in. Steve was awake by then and we decided to go back out. We were going to The Wharf with the intention of staying until midnight to watch them drop the marlin. We stayed there for a while, but realized we probably wouldn't have enough to keep us occupied while we waited for midnight, so we left. It was getting cold outside again, and we were both tired, so (because we are old now) decided to go to Wal-Mart and pick up some snacks, and just ring in the New Year from our hotel. I really didn't mind, although it would have been nice to see some fireworks, but I kind of like spending my new year's eve somewhere quiet, so it was a good idea! On an embarrassing note, guess who forgot that people in the pool and hot tub can see straight into our room when we don't close the black-out curtain? Also guess who gave them all a great view of me in my underwear as I changed for bed? To everyone who saw me, I'd like to apologize for that! We are watching movies, and I've been reading, and I seriously doubt that we are going to stay awake till midnight! Happy New Year! :)
I woke up as early as I could today so that I could go outside to the beach. I wanted to watch the sun come up, but my body said NOPE. The sun was well up by the time I got out there, but at least Steve came with me this time! I wanted a picture of us together out there, but no one else was around, so I had to break my selfie rule and take it myself. OK, well, it's more of a guideline, but still...
The picture turned out cute. Shut up.
Anyways, we walked around out there and I picked up sea shells. That is my favorite thing to do! I know I look like a hobo scrounging around on the ground, but I don't care. I filled up the pocket of my fleece with sand and the discarded husks of dead sea creatures, which means I'll never get the sand out of that jacket. Heehee! I did learn something new while we were out there, though. Steve doesn't like walking on the beach. Like, at all. He says that he likes sitting out there and dozing when it's warm, but walking around picking up shells bores him silly. So no romantic walks on the beach for us, I guess! It's such a shame. Oh, well, my next husband will like it, I'll make sure of it! It'll be one of the requirements. :) Also, it was FREEZING out there. My ear-tips felt like they would snap off if I bumped them on something, so we left and I decided that I'd come back in the afternoon when it was warmer.
Today would be our only full day here, so we were going to drive around and find things to do. We had breakfast at Hazel's, which was delicious and plentiful. Can't beat a buffet, right? After that, we went to souvenir shops, which was actually a lot of fun. Not all of them are Alvin's Island like, although a lot of them sell the same kinds of stuff. We found a place called Souvenir City, which had been open since 1956 and you have to walk through a giant shark's mouth to get it. It's pretty much the most awesome souvenir shop ever. The place is HUGE. I have no idea how long we spent in there, but there were so many things to look at! One thing I was looking for specifically was a hat I could wear on the beach, because dummy me didn't think to bring one. I own a million hats, custom crocheted by yours truly, and I was going to have to buy one. Oy. I couldn't find one I wanted because I didn't want anything with words on it, or anything that looked like a maw-maw hat, I just wanted a stocking cap that would cover my ears! No dice, though. I wound up buying some sea shells (non-native ones, which I wouldn't be able to find on the beach) and a Christmas tree ornament that I will hang in my mermaid bathroom. Across the street was a surf/skate store called Blonde Johns. That was not exactly our element, but Steve was trying to find a sticker for a surf company like one he used to have on his truck (or maybe the Mustang, I have no idea) and that seemed like the most likely place to have it. We were greeted by a skater-dude in full on skater-boi regalia, which was about as anti beach as you can get. He and the other skater dude guy who worked there were very nice and helpful, though. They told us about all the New Year stuff that would be going on in town. I felt like a fraud walking around in there because A) I can't skate, surf or skim (whatever that is) and B) I couldn't pull off any of the clothes they sold, BUT I did find a bright blue toboggan in there that didn't have words on it, so I got that to cover my ear-tips on the beach! Now I've got a cool skater hat! Yay! Steve, however, didn't find his sticker. Boo. We went to a lot of different places and it was really fun! There were several places with art from local artists, which I'd have loved to buy, but the stuff I liked was way too expensive. The stuff I could afford wasn't to my taste. We also have come to the conclusion that unless you have a giant house, or a lake or beach house, most of the stuff you can buy down there really isn't suitable for real houses. If you have a big house, some of that stuff would blend in, but in our house, a giant chandelier made of seashells really would clash. You know? We decided to eat lunch at a place called Lulu's, which had come highly recommended, but when we got there, there were so many people we wouldn't have gotten to eat for a couple of hours. Seriously, they wouldn't even give us a wait time. They said there were about 50 parties ahead of us, though, so we left and had lunch at Tacky Jack's! We got something called Mexican Garbage, which was a giant plate of nacho's served on a garbage can lid. Nom.
The weather got really nice and a bit warmer, so we went back to the hotel and I got my hat and coat and headed back out to the beach while Steve took a nap. Once I was out there, though, I realized it was too warm for either my hat or my coat. Of course. So I just tied everything around my waist and set off walking and picking up shells. On that walk, I decided that several of my life goals involve living at the beach. Also, I'm going to have to become independently wealthy so that one day I can drive down to the pointy bit of Texas and just start following the coast all the way around the Gulf of Mexico, go around Florida and up to New England, stopping at different coastal towns and seeing what they're all like. Sounds like a Travel Channel show. Oh, hey, I could totally host that! If anyone from the Travel Channel reads this and wants to make that happen...I'm game!
I don't know how long I stayed out there, but I got a sunburn I wasn't expecting. I also really only went back to the room because at some point, while pondering the meaning of life and such, I realized how easy it would be to drown yourself. I mean, I'm not suicidal or anything, I swear, but that's where my mind went and it got stuck there. I don't need that kind of negativity going on in my head while I'm at the beach, so I went back in. Steve was awake by then and we decided to go back out. We were going to The Wharf with the intention of staying until midnight to watch them drop the marlin. We stayed there for a while, but realized we probably wouldn't have enough to keep us occupied while we waited for midnight, so we left. It was getting cold outside again, and we were both tired, so (because we are old now) decided to go to Wal-Mart and pick up some snacks, and just ring in the New Year from our hotel. I really didn't mind, although it would have been nice to see some fireworks, but I kind of like spending my new year's eve somewhere quiet, so it was a good idea! On an embarrassing note, guess who forgot that people in the pool and hot tub can see straight into our room when we don't close the black-out curtain? Also guess who gave them all a great view of me in my underwear as I changed for bed? To everyone who saw me, I'd like to apologize for that! We are watching movies, and I've been reading, and I seriously doubt that we are going to stay awake till midnight! Happy New Year! :)
Friday, January 02, 2015
BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: NEW YEAR AT THE BEACH
December 30, 2014
Today we are celebrating the fact that Steve is officially no longer working and heading off on a beach adventure! Well, celebrating is probably not the right word. Taking advantage of the fact, might be a better way of putting it. Basically, I asked if we could take a quick trip somewhere and he picked Orange Beach, Alabama out of a list of places I'd mentioned I'd like to go! We are using a bunch of the points that he'd amassed from his business travels (not sure how that works, but it's paying for our hotel) and celebrating the new year at the beach!
We left a lot later than we planned because he had to go by his former workplace to fill out some paperwork. Apparently they were very much not on the ball because they didn't have whatever it was he was supposed to sign, but they told him they'd email it to him, so we finally got on the road. It wasn't a very eventful drive down, but we both like taking road trips, so it wasn't that bad. It's pretty much a straight shot down the state until you make one turn and then continue south again!
Our first stop was Lambert's Cafe, Home of the Throwed Rolls! No, seriously, that's what it's called. Most people around here might be familiar with the place, but in case you aren't, this is a huge restaurant where they will throw rolls at you. Not randomly, or anything like that. They don't just peg you in the head with a roll while you aren't paying attention. Just periodically throughout your meal some dude comes out of the kitchen with a wheeled cart and yells "HOT ROLLS!" and if you want one, they throw one your way. Yes, it's weird, but the food is good! The servers also circulate around the restaurant with big pots of side dishes that you can get some of if you want. It's kind of like eating at a grandma's house where people are constantly trying to give you more and more food, even if you've got a full plate, only no one gets in trouble for throwing bread! I had eaten at one of these places before when I was on an FFA trip in high school, but I didn't remember the roll guys throwing nearly as hard as our roll guy did. When he got around to us, he sent a fast pitch at me, and with my stellar catching skills, I managed to get pegged in the neck with a sizeable yeast roll. Youch. It tasted good, though!
From there we went to our hotel, which wasn't quite ready for us yet, so we took the opportunity to look around Orange Beach a little and get our bearings. There isn't much to it, really, but we were ok with that. It's next door to Gulf Shores, which has all the cheesy beach stuff you could ever want, so we aren't far from anything we might want to do! We did accidentally drive into Florida, which we had no idea was as close as it was! When we returned, they let us up to our room and after dropping off my stuff, I immediately went out to the beach! Steve didn't come with me, as he was getting settled, but I couldn't wait! It was cold, y'all. I knew it wouldn't be warm, but geez. I was wearing three layers and the wind went through all of them! I didn't care though! I was at the beach! BEAAAAAAAAAAAACH!! (If you aren't aware, I enjoy visiting the coast of pretty much anywhere. Just FYI.) I walked around and took some pictures for a while. It's really beautiful, even if it's not bright and warm. I think I could just stand and listen to the waves for hours, regardless of the weather.
I thought Steve would come out, but he never did. I got cold waiting, so I finally went back inside. Steve had fallen asleep while I'd been out there (he must've been tired!) and so I took that opportunity to get myself settled. Our room has been changed from what we were supposed to be in, so we are on the second floor, right over the pool. The pool is indoor/outdoor and our room is right above the archway where it goes from indoor to outdoor, so we can go out on our balcony and look straight down to see who's in there. The bad part of that, though, is that because of where we are A) the pool light shines directly into our room, and B) anyone in the pool or hot tub can see into our room if we don't have the black-out curtain pulled. Oh well, I don't really care. I didn't want to wake Steve up, so I sat back to read for a while and dozed off myself! Oops. Well, when on vacation, I guess! We both woke up later and realized that we were hungry again, only it was getting kind of late. One thing about visiting a beach town during the WAY off season is that not a whole lot of things stay open late. We did find a good Italian place called Franco's, which had some awesome food. We closed the place down, which I felt bad about, but they seated us when we came in, so I guess they didn't care!
We weren't tired after our nap, so after dinner we drove over to Gulf Shores to look around. It was practically deserted, but that was fine. We were only going to be spending one full day down there, so we were finding places we wanted to see the next day. We did make one stop, to an Alvin's Island, which was still open. If you've never been to an Alvin's Island before, it's one of those ubiquitous (and I mean that literally, because wherever I've been to a beach, there have been numerous Alvin's Island stores in each town) souvenir stores where you can get anything from hermit crabs to knee boards. Seriously, any brightly colored, airbrushed, carved from a coconut thing with a stamp from whatever city you're visiting at the time you might want, they have it. It's the kind of place where you can find a tee-shirt for the "FBI: Female Body Inspector" or whatever pop culture slogan that is popular that year (I saw a lot of YOLO things, although I thought that had become passe by now.) You can also usually find skimpy bathing suits and slutty dresses upstairs, you know, for those who forgot to bring their own from home. It's the kind of place I equate with teenage girls making bad decisions while on vacation, or someone who thinks "Crap! I forgot to get Uncle Cleatus a souvenir! Oh, this mug shaped like a naked boob with the nipple you can drink out of, with Gulf Shores (or wherever) stamped on it will be perfect!" I won't lie, though, we visit one usually every time we are near. You kind of have to. It's tradition! :)
After that we came back to our hotel! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and our only full day down here, so we are going to bed so we don't sleep all day!
Today we are celebrating the fact that Steve is officially no longer working and heading off on a beach adventure! Well, celebrating is probably not the right word. Taking advantage of the fact, might be a better way of putting it. Basically, I asked if we could take a quick trip somewhere and he picked Orange Beach, Alabama out of a list of places I'd mentioned I'd like to go! We are using a bunch of the points that he'd amassed from his business travels (not sure how that works, but it's paying for our hotel) and celebrating the new year at the beach!
We left a lot later than we planned because he had to go by his former workplace to fill out some paperwork. Apparently they were very much not on the ball because they didn't have whatever it was he was supposed to sign, but they told him they'd email it to him, so we finally got on the road. It wasn't a very eventful drive down, but we both like taking road trips, so it wasn't that bad. It's pretty much a straight shot down the state until you make one turn and then continue south again!
Our first stop was Lambert's Cafe, Home of the Throwed Rolls! No, seriously, that's what it's called. Most people around here might be familiar with the place, but in case you aren't, this is a huge restaurant where they will throw rolls at you. Not randomly, or anything like that. They don't just peg you in the head with a roll while you aren't paying attention. Just periodically throughout your meal some dude comes out of the kitchen with a wheeled cart and yells "HOT ROLLS!" and if you want one, they throw one your way. Yes, it's weird, but the food is good! The servers also circulate around the restaurant with big pots of side dishes that you can get some of if you want. It's kind of like eating at a grandma's house where people are constantly trying to give you more and more food, even if you've got a full plate, only no one gets in trouble for throwing bread! I had eaten at one of these places before when I was on an FFA trip in high school, but I didn't remember the roll guys throwing nearly as hard as our roll guy did. When he got around to us, he sent a fast pitch at me, and with my stellar catching skills, I managed to get pegged in the neck with a sizeable yeast roll. Youch. It tasted good, though!
From there we went to our hotel, which wasn't quite ready for us yet, so we took the opportunity to look around Orange Beach a little and get our bearings. There isn't much to it, really, but we were ok with that. It's next door to Gulf Shores, which has all the cheesy beach stuff you could ever want, so we aren't far from anything we might want to do! We did accidentally drive into Florida, which we had no idea was as close as it was! When we returned, they let us up to our room and after dropping off my stuff, I immediately went out to the beach! Steve didn't come with me, as he was getting settled, but I couldn't wait! It was cold, y'all. I knew it wouldn't be warm, but geez. I was wearing three layers and the wind went through all of them! I didn't care though! I was at the beach! BEAAAAAAAAAAAACH!! (If you aren't aware, I enjoy visiting the coast of pretty much anywhere. Just FYI.) I walked around and took some pictures for a while. It's really beautiful, even if it's not bright and warm. I think I could just stand and listen to the waves for hours, regardless of the weather.
I thought Steve would come out, but he never did. I got cold waiting, so I finally went back inside. Steve had fallen asleep while I'd been out there (he must've been tired!) and so I took that opportunity to get myself settled. Our room has been changed from what we were supposed to be in, so we are on the second floor, right over the pool. The pool is indoor/outdoor and our room is right above the archway where it goes from indoor to outdoor, so we can go out on our balcony and look straight down to see who's in there. The bad part of that, though, is that because of where we are A) the pool light shines directly into our room, and B) anyone in the pool or hot tub can see into our room if we don't have the black-out curtain pulled. Oh well, I don't really care. I didn't want to wake Steve up, so I sat back to read for a while and dozed off myself! Oops. Well, when on vacation, I guess! We both woke up later and realized that we were hungry again, only it was getting kind of late. One thing about visiting a beach town during the WAY off season is that not a whole lot of things stay open late. We did find a good Italian place called Franco's, which had some awesome food. We closed the place down, which I felt bad about, but they seated us when we came in, so I guess they didn't care!
We weren't tired after our nap, so after dinner we drove over to Gulf Shores to look around. It was practically deserted, but that was fine. We were only going to be spending one full day down there, so we were finding places we wanted to see the next day. We did make one stop, to an Alvin's Island, which was still open. If you've never been to an Alvin's Island before, it's one of those ubiquitous (and I mean that literally, because wherever I've been to a beach, there have been numerous Alvin's Island stores in each town) souvenir stores where you can get anything from hermit crabs to knee boards. Seriously, any brightly colored, airbrushed, carved from a coconut thing with a stamp from whatever city you're visiting at the time you might want, they have it. It's the kind of place where you can find a tee-shirt for the "FBI: Female Body Inspector" or whatever pop culture slogan that is popular that year (I saw a lot of YOLO things, although I thought that had become passe by now.) You can also usually find skimpy bathing suits and slutty dresses upstairs, you know, for those who forgot to bring their own from home. It's the kind of place I equate with teenage girls making bad decisions while on vacation, or someone who thinks "Crap! I forgot to get Uncle Cleatus a souvenir! Oh, this mug shaped like a naked boob with the nipple you can drink out of, with Gulf Shores (or wherever) stamped on it will be perfect!" I won't lie, though, we visit one usually every time we are near. You kind of have to. It's tradition! :)
After that we came back to our hotel! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and our only full day down here, so we are going to bed so we don't sleep all day!
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