pensacola paradise!

THURSDAY:

• waited in anticipation until Dan was done with his class & i finished work
• packed up captain ahab as quickly as we could and dashed out the door
• danced&sang in the car as we marvelled at the muses out our windows
• drive-thru @ church's chicken
• chatted with lovely lovedd ones on the tele
• i got realll tired {grumpy&irrational- i was extremely concerned that we were camping on a tiny little island and was sure we would get eaten up by a tsunami, hurricane, AND tornado} & luckily fell asleep from mobile to pensacola
• crossed over bridge one...
• crossed over bridge two...
• we made it! in the dark of the night... fort pickens national park
• scouted out our camp site, chose the one next to the forest of tall reeds... and definitely not too close to the bathroom.
• threw up our spacious tent & asleep we were [slept on the cold, hard ground {we're hardcore}. dan woke up aprx 12 times {protecting us from the wind&armadillos}]

FRIDAY:

• woke up with all sorts of aches, pains, & like surprises [back, tummy, etc.]
• danny made a delicious breakfast of eggs, hash browns, and bacon using our dutch oven & fire
• first stop: the beach! blue. clear. beautiful. inviting. delicious. we walked/explored since it was a little too early&chilly to swim.

• hi-jacked internet off the holiday inn so dan could do his organic chemistry lab assignment. this was anextremely difficult task to complete while only minutes from the beach... torture i might say. i had to help him refocus several times, but we made it.
• went to walmart. purchased 2 sets of spectacular goggles and bought $15 worth of candy& sugary goodies. [the essentials]
• stopped by innerlight [gawked over surfboards] &saw yancy (one of the yancy's)
• SWIMMING in the OCEAN! we were a little nervous at first because it felt chilly on our tootsies. but we dove in & were the giddiest of little children swimming and splashing and looking at the fishies. we are fishies too. made dan play tea party and mermaids with me.
• FORT PICKENS! the most fun elaborate place to explore. fort built originally in the 1830's to protect the gulf [pirates] we were running through the caves, enjoying our self-guided tour, and taking lots of fun pickeys.
• ventured to the pier [the little fort pickens pier] and saw....... DOLPHINS! and lots of jellyfish. and bait fish. they were beautiful and perfect and i was literally screaming and jumping up and down because i was so excited. it was just marvelous. the pier was filled with lots of local fisherman who were quite the spectacle themselves.

[by this point we were just simply giddy and thrilled at every moment that occurred. we are so in love with vacationing and florida and the beach.]

• dinner at our campsite. steak and corn. ate in the dark.
• we really had our hearts set on a hot tub... but staying at a hotel with a hot tub is a lot out of our price range. so we decided to be adventurous and sneak into a fancy hotel and use their hot tub. the margaritaville was such a disappointment; they didn't even have a hot tub. (lame, i know) dan was a little nervous ["i'll just wait here in the laundry room..." "that is the MOST conspicuous thing you could do!!"] but we managed our way into the hilton and made all sorts of friends. little did they know we were sneaky camping beans. we felt so relaxed and rejuvenated and fulfilled our hankering for a coozi.
• tuckered out & hunkered down for night #2 [slept a little better this time]

SATURDAY:

• ate breakfast, took down our tent, & cleaned up our campsite... on to bigger and better things.
• rented a kayak from 'the FUN store.' they gave us a deal, a couple extra hours for free! :) we strapped it onto our trusty little toyota and drove across the street to the beach.
• kayaking, paddling, looking down into the ocean with our goggles, exploring the ocean, front row seats watching the fisherman pull up the big dogs (not literally) from off the pier. we got a little nauseous rocking around. we had to head back to shore every once in a while to get our land legs. [have you ever heard that expression? dan threw it out there like it's no big deal and i thought it was the FUNNIEST & said it at least ten more times] ps- soo many jellyfish out there. we were nervous about them.
• dan was catching the waves on the kayak, it was impressive. he was carving and crashing and all sorts of fun. we met a couple surfer friends on long boards. this caused dan to have an uncontrollable urge to go get his board from the FUN store (collateral) and surf.
• we had to lift the kayak onto the car... by ourselves... this was the MOST weight i have ever lifted in my LIFE. i was soooo proud of myself. [no need to mention my grunting, screaming, falling, dropping, etc...]
• now... surfing! it was delightful. husband is the happiest in this moment (which means i am happiest in this moment) :] we were catching the waves. [wished they were bigger, but we still loved]
• swam some more, with our friendly friends, the school of fishes. {they were literally swimming all around us in every direction; it was magical} played ariel & scuddle.

[are you capturing our love for swimming and the beach? the love is overpowering all else at this point]

• said our goodbyes to the wetter version of the skies. with love! be back soon!
• motel hunting. [it's our tradition to stay in a motel on the last night of our camping trip, it's only fair. it's wonderful to have showersinktelevisioncableHBO(we have nothing of the sort at home either)bedetc] we went back & forth between two after looking for a nonexistant best value inn.. dan had some sort of connection with the russian girl at bay beach inn and we got the military discount. {dan worked his magic. she knew he wasn't in the military}... so we got $15 off and stayed in the fanciest of orange motels with complimentary breakfast, our own personal beach, bright teal walls, and HBO (!!we were so amused by this contraption called HBO!!)
• settled in, fancied ourselves up, and headed out for a night on the town
• mcguire's irish pub- over a million dollars in one dollar bills on the ceiling, costume party at our service, most delicious everything, EIGHTEEN CENT black bean soup (really, it's 18 cents if you buy it with something else & $18.00 if it was the only thing you bought), delicious brown bread clothed in butter (icing we thought), pink lights, best bathrooms, we could go on... this restaurant was most certainly featured on the FOOD NETWORK's outrageous foods. (they have a hot fudge sundae burger... and a $100.00 burger, IDK!)
• feeling adventurous- headed to seville quarters. picture disneyland like shops/restaurants on one street with lots of dancing and eating and drinking and partying and... it was their halloween night party and was MUCH more than me, or my asthma could handle. i am so disgusted by the rising generation. we didn't stay too long... i get legitimately scared of people in their halloween costumes (&movies, and anything really) on halloween
• back over the bridge and pleasantly plopped ourselves back at the bay beach inn, so thankful. so tired.

SUNDAY:

• church in pensacola, they were soo hoping we were moving in (so were we). we had to be such disappointments and only visit. sunday school was mostly hilarious and cute. the teacher was having serious back pain issues.

[here comes the part where we had to drive home and the trip ended, don't worry we're still happy as those two kids playing in the gulf]

• driving for longer than we would have liked (maybe 4.45 hours)
• passing the most hilarious humongo depictions of lochness monster, tin man, & other creatures just for fun... it's hard to explain, you'd have to just see them.
• me being "13" according to dan. and "i can just picture you and ashley being like this..." i was covering my teeth with tootsie rolls and being obnoxious.
• pondering about the meaning of hanging gourds
• philosophizing about life, dreaming about the future... the usual

we came to the determination on this trip that... we would rather have vacations that cable, internet, a second car, going out to eat, and other like luxuries. which is why we don't have those luxuries... but we fully luxury-ize and maximize vacation fun as often & fully as possible. they are so rejuvenating and really help us to be as in love as two little clams. we just forget all our cares and love life! we still feel like a million bucks and if we are not reminiscing about our perfect pensacolian getaway, we are planning out next adventure......

we were out where that little red star is... :P

love to match in our tee-shorts

supermodel?! i think so.

schnagglerock hair

dan was doing his part to save the whales

i most certainly went into the men's room

xoXO-

d&r