Pensacola Beach Trip Report

Saturday
This time of year is so crazy for us. We throw Derek's birthday party the weekend before we leave on our Spring Break beach trip and then have to turn around and get ready for a week at the beach. We return from the beach, unpack, and then throw Adam's birthday party the following weekend. Easter is usually somewhere in there as well.

We tried to do some packing during the week instead of waiting until Friday night. The boys packed their duffle bags, Helen packed the non-perishable food, and I got some stuff ready so we thought we were somewhat ready - wrong! There was some last minute shopping as the boys had outgrown some of their clothes, the lawn and pets had to be dealt with, and there were still many other things that needed to be packed.

I had a tennis match on Saturday morning. It was a great match and I wish I could have had my head more into it because we ended up losing, but my mind was already at the beach. Helen tried her best to stage things for loading into the van, but she was frazzled when I got home because there was still so much to do. Our plan is always to leave around noon, but by the time we had picked out a bunch of movies at Blockbuster and were headed out of town it was almost 5:00.

The first part of the drive was a breeze - a straight shot down I-85 to Montgomery, but then it started to rain. By the time we hit the Florida line it was pouring and visibility was terrible. We stopped at Waffle House for dinner. It was good and we were all stuffed. Helen ate too much and ended up throwing up just before bedtime.

We arrived at the house about midnight eastern time - about a 7 hour trip. We unloaded the car in the rain and got unpacked with everyone's help. It's such a great feeling to walk into vacation digs at the start of a vacation. The boys love to go scout their new room and see their relatives.

My sister Kelley and her boyfriend Paul were down from Alaska. They drove from Atlanta with my brother Jason and his wife Laine and spent the night around Tallahassee. They checked out that area Saturday morning before driving over to Pensacola.

Jason, Laine, Kelley, and Paul are always nice enough to do the initial grocery shopping so the house is stocked with food when we arrive. When they checked out and the bill came to almost $700, Jason asked the cashier if it was a record and the cashier said it wasn't even close. I guess there's some pretty big grocery bills for people at the beach.

Sunday
The storm had pretty much cleared by Sunday morning, but it was still chilly and windy and the ocean was all churned up. We went on a run and the boys rode their scooters. The sidewalks were messed up to the west as the roads are being rebuilt after the recent hurricanes, but were fine to the east. The east was desolate with miles of dunes and no development. The road led to a national seashore area that's closed since the hurricanes. The boys had fun climbing on the huge dunes that weren't in protected areas.

After my run I was eager to do a little body surfing. I was worried about the rough water, so I went in front of the Portofino where there were other people just in case.

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Monday

The skies were mostly clear, but it was still windy and the surf was still somewhat rough. There were red flags out and the lifeguards were driving up and down the beach telling anyone, except for surfers, not to go into the ocean because of riptides. People, including us, would still go in whenever the lifeguard drove off. We were having a blast body surfing.

However, we were a little more apprehensive after the lifeguard had to make a rescue about 50 yards down the beach from us. It was very surreal. The person in trouble was a healthy looking college age guy. He had friends around and no one recognized he was in trouble, but the lifeguard who ran back to his truck and grabbed his rescue buoy and swam out to pull the guy in. Evidently, the guy thought he was ok, but quickly got in trouble in the rough surf. The lifeguard called the paramedics to check the guy out because of something called "parking lot" drowning where, after a rescue, a person can seem fine, but water gets in the lungs and the person can't get enough oxygen. They appear to be fine and then collapse, so the paramedics have to actually measure their breathing.

My sister, Katie, brought some crab casserole and venison enchiladas that a friend from Baton Rouge made for us. It was very good.


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Tuesday-Wednesday

The weather cleared, the temperatures warmed up, and the surf died down. We spent a lot of time at the beach. At the house, scrabble seemed to be the game of choice, Laine worked on some art school assignments, and the boys had their pick of people to rope into playing games with them. My Mom (Nini to the kids) spoiled us with a big southern cooking feast: fried chicken, country fried steak, mashed potatoes, etc and a pineapple cake for dessert. Helen added to the eatfest with chocolate chip cookies and carrot cake.

On Wednesday morning, the guys (and Laine) woke up early and went fishing. A storm rolled in quickly about daybreak and just about blew us off the pier. We caught some spanish mackerel and saw a number of pompano being pulled in the morning. Helen and the kids arrived to see a guy at the end of the pier haul in a 60lb cobia.


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Thursday

The weather turned colder on Thursday so we took the opportunity to head into Pensacola and check out some things. One group went to the arts district and toured some museums. We went with another group to Naval Air Museum, which is located on the naval air base that is the home base for the Blue Angels. We were disappointed that we missed the practice flights that are done on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Everyone was impressed with the museum. I was expecting a few planes and thought it would be ok, but the museum blew me away! I wish I had a few days by myself to take it all in.

Kelley and Paul got a kick out of the Wake Island exhibit since that's where they met while working for some companies doing environmental work. Paul regaled us with his fishing tales. He said he couldn't get excited about the fish we were catching yesterday since on Wake they regularly haul in a boatload of 80lb ahi tuna and ono. He said you have to reel them in fast, though, otherwise the sharks will get them. He said it's not uncommon to reel in just a head after the sharks take their share.

We were stunned this week when one of the Blue Angels crashed at an air show. It was deja vu for us as we had just visited the NASA museum in Cape Canaveral a few years back as they were preparing for the launch of the shuttle Columbia which disintegrated on reentry.


Friday
It was chilly again. We went to the beach, but it was too cold to really enjoy it. The water and beach were still beautiful. Kelley, Laine, and Katie got in for a while and said it was very nice, but took some getting used to.

We did our traditional photo shoot at sunset and then had a birthday party for Adam and Derek. Nini tried to trick them with a single present of some shirts. They had a hard time not showing their disappointment, but it made it all that much more enjoyable when everyone brought the real presents.

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Saturday

It was nice that everyone stayed and helped us clean the house and get it ready for checkout. It's such a big production for us with the kids and all the stuff we have.

We took one last ride along the beach and Adam cried that he will miss the beach. We all will...until next year.