Spring break
We spent our spring break vacation in Pensacola on Perdido Key. We rented the Rabby family beach house for the week and tried not the damage any of their belongings. A lot of fun and sun, absolutely perfect weather. Continue reading for a blow by blow of the week’s festivities.
March 20th and 21st, The long road down
We decided to take off on Thursday night to try to limit the amount of time the kids had to sit in the car in one day. We only made it a little past Louisville, KY before we stopped for the night. Friday was a long day. One car accident stopped our progress for a little over one hour. We eventually reached the Beach House on Perdido Key a little after 7:00pm.
March 22nd, Joe Patti’s!
Today we ran into Pensacola to go to a fish market known as Joe Patti’s. You should go if you are ever in the area. Deb and I love seafood and this place had seafood in abundance. Joe Patti’s is right on the docks, the shrimp boats are pulled right along side of the market. The market not only has any seafood you could want but also anything that you could think of to cook with it. We ended up buying about 6 lbs of shrimp, a couple of pints and crab claws and fingers and 25lbs of whole oysters. The shrimp was for Easter brunch but upon returning home, we immediately started shucking oysters. Between just two couples we managed to eat all of the oysters minus about a dozen which we devoured the next day. That evening, Steve and Marsha took us on a little tour of the river on their pontoon boat.
March 23rd, Easter, and Glenn’s birthday
There is truly nothing like spending your birthday and Easter eating seafood and enjoying your friends company. We had a Shrimp boil for our brunch with many yummy sides. After eating our full, the men went across the street to some dunes on the way to the beach to hide Easter eggs. Both of the kids had a great time but Jameson was a little more energetic than Hattie which caused some unhappiness on Hattie’s part. In the end it took all of the adults to make sure that we hadn’t littered the beach with our little Easter finds. To end the day, there was a large fire in one of the neighboring condos. Luckily, no one was hurt but the one condo was a loss. We watch the fire burn for over two hours. Over 14 pumper trucks showed up with 4 paramedic squads on site as well. The amazing end to the story is that when we looked at the damage the next day it was as though someone had cut one condo out of the six or so in the group. There was no front wall or roof. But… by the day we left to come home, the condo not only was completely reframed, it also had siding on the front and the roof was completely redone. From the outside, there was almost no indication that there had been a fire.
March 24th, Grumpy old man day
Very little happened today other than the usual went to the beach type of activity other than… We went to the grocery store that morning to pick up snacks before we went to the beach. I ran in while Deb and the kids stayed in the car since we only needed a couple of things. When I came out a few minutes later, Deb was waiting in front of the store. While I was unpacking the items into the back of the van, an old man came up and started giving Deb a tongue lashing for parking in a supposed road. Deb in her wisdom smiled and thanked the man. Oh, if only I had her restraint. I followed the geezer up to the front of the store to ask him what the problem was. For the next few minutes we argued over the fine points of “stopping” vs. “parking” and what on earth could have made him so nasty at 9:30 in the morning. My only suggestion is that if you find yourself at a Winn Dixie in Pensacola Florida, be on the lookout for grumpy old men.
March 25th, The beach
The middle of the week found us lounging about the house and the beach.
March 26th, The Blue Angels
Typical of Deb and I, we woke up this morning with no plans around 7:00am. About half way through a cup of coffee, Deb suggested that we check out the Blue Angels. The Navy base is about 15 to 20 minutes away and the Blue Angels had a public training session today from 8:30 to 9:30. So within the period of about 5 minutes we decided to go. Rushing around the house, getting us and the kids ready we got out of the house around 8:15. At this point I am thinking that this could have used a little more planning. We surprisingly got to the base slightly after 8:30 and found getting on to the base fairly painless. “Here to see the Blues?”, “Yep”, “Down this road about 3 miles on your left behind the aviation museum.”
Once we rounded the bend before the museum we noticed that we were not the only ones who had this idea. I am guessing about 2,000 people showed up for the practice. The viewing area was behind the restoration hanger and in front of the runways. By the time we even reached the parking lot, the sounds of the practice was hard to ignore. Jets screaming only a hundred feet above the ground in giant loops heading back to new formations over the runways. The pilots are absolutely amazing and I would highly recommend a visit if you ever get the chance. We didn’t end up spending much time in the museum because the pilots were signing autographs giving reason for almost everyone to stay around.
Unfortunately after getting back to the van, we found that the crews from the base had parked us in. Now this wouldn’t necessarily be a story in itself unless you were me. Because the kids hadn’t eaten, and I had a limited amount of coffee, I was ready to go to the beach house. I had already taken the steps to have the information desk announce that someone had parked us in. While I was stewing, I had the thought that I could alter my situation. We were parked in between a car and a fire hydrant. The hydrant was actually several feet from our car but it was protected by pilings. I had the thought that I might be able to pull one of the pilings out of the ground. Now I started to do just that and was making progress when I noticed that a couple of good old boys from the base giving me a not so approving sort of look. So in my wisdom I thought now would be a good time to talk to them. I chose to continue trying to remove the post after a long discussion of one guy telling me not to do it and the other guy saying that he didn’t really care one way or the other. After only a few seconds of walking back to the post one of the guys had followed me back. He said that he would help. I warned him that I wasn’t concerned about pulling it out but I had doubts that it would ever go back in the same hole. In the end he decided that it was too much work and got a forklift and a chain to pull the post. We did in the end get the post back in the hole but not quite back to its original level. The rub to this little tale is that seconds after the forklift pulled it out, the van next to us left which would have given us enough room to leave. Ah, such is life.
March 27th, McQuire’s Irish Pub
Another day of fishing and laying around on the beach. Today ended up being the only day that Glenn caught any fish. The elusive Pompano was finally seen, unfortunately, the fish was too small to keep. The other fish we believe was a gulf kingfish, known locally as a whiting. It looks like a bright silver carp for those of us from the North. The entire family got way too much sun but it was a wonderfully relaxing day. The wind and the surf had picked up considerably making the beach a little more crowded.
That night we went out to dinner with Marsha and Grady as well as Christopher, Denise and Olivia to McGuire’s Irish Pub. The wait was short and the food and company just devine. Quite a large restaurant and known for the dollar bills stapled to the ceilings. Just imagine dollar bills, stapled to the ceiling on only one end so that the other end just hangs pendant from the ceiling. Now imagine not being able to see the ceiling because of the dollar bills. Pretty awesome.
March 28th, The Florabama
Another lazy day. Because of a little too much sun, we decided to stay away from the beach. We lounged around the beach house and went to lunch at the Florabama. The Florabama sits on the Florida and Alabama state line. Most of the original structure was wiped out in the Hurricane but they have rebuilt and are doing a grand business. A boardwalk allows beach access and upper level decks allow seeing the ocean without getting your toes sandy. One of the surprising finds was the fact that they carried Yuengling beer. Now this is truly surprising since Yuengling apparently doesn’t brew enough beer to distribute it to Ohio. At the same time, you can find it almost anywhere in Florida. Now to truly appreciate this you should know that Yuengling is brewed in Pennsylvania. Apparently there are too many drunks in Ohio. 🙂
March 29th and 30th, The road home
We left around 2:30 after a short lunch at the Oyster House right before the bridge leaving Perdido Key. The day was your usual, “Dad I have to pee” sort of day. Progress was slow but by around 8:00 we were trying to decide when to stop for the evening. Unfortunately, a running water sound came from the back seat that expedited our plans. Turns out the sound came from Hattie and she was none too happy about her condition. Mom and dad come to think of it weren’t too thrilled either. After trying to avoid the rain while cleaning Hattie and the car up, we started looking for a hotel. We finally found a hotel around 9:30, the last room they had and it was a smoking room. You truly forget how nasty smoking rooms can be. Lucky for us we were sleepy and didn’t smell much better than the room. We left the hotel about 8:00am and reached our lovely little home around 6:00pm.
All in all a wonderful vacation. The ride is always long but the kids travel so well. Steve and Marsha made wonderful hosts and Bo and Ruth were gracious enough to left us rent their family beach house for the week.