Florida, Ohio...and more

Saturday we arrived in Destin right around noon. The sky was overcast and it looked inevitable that rain was going to ruin our hopes of sun, sand and water. We checked into our hotel on the beach (the same Ramada Plaza that we stayed at on our trip last spring), ate some lunch and watched out the window as it began to pour. Thankfully we had prepared for rain or shine, knowing we were going to enjoy this mini-holiday regardless of the weather, so we hooked up our dvd player and just as we were discussing what movie to watch - or if we wanted to go to a movie at the theater....the rain stopped, the clouds disappeared and the sun came out! We didn't skip a beat putting on our swimsuits and grabbing our beach totes! We were out the door in a matter of minutes...and proceeded to enjoy a full afternoon of hot, hot sun and cool, crisp ocean water! We even saw several dolphins swimming near the beach! I would show you the fantastic view of the water, or the oh-so-delicious shaved ice that I wish we had in Tennessee, the Coast Guard rescuing someone (or maybe just doing a drill? We still aren't sure), or just how close the dolphins actually came to the beach...but I didn't even unpack my camera. That just shows you how lazy I was. I took a picture of the beach with my iphone and that is it. Sorry. You'll just have to use your imagination on this one.

Saturday evening we enjoyed dinner on the upstairs patio of our favorite restaurant in Destin - McGuire's Irish Pub. We took off down the coast after dinner and found a fun, outdoor shopping area that we spent the rest of the evening exploring...and even walked away with a few bargains. A pit stop at Target is always fun - even on holiday, so we wandered the store until they closed and then made our way back to the hotel. We changed into pj's, put on a movie and eventually called it a night.

Sunday morning was another perfect day. It was actually a little bit cloudy, but that was almost better because it wasn't quite so hot, but yet still warm enough to layout and get some sun. We spent the entire morning into early afternoon by the water, and once we'd had our fill, headed back to our room to change clothes and head to the movie theater. We watched the new Sandra Bullock movie, All About Steve. Very cute and funny, definitely enjoyed it. We shopped a bit more after the movie before enjoying dinner by the beach at The Black Pearl. Apparently the sun had soaked up our energy earlier that day because we were all dragging...so tired! So we headed back to our hotel to watch another movie (just going to go ahead and say all of our movie choices were pretty much flops - aside from All About Steve. That tends to be our luck somehow) before falling asleep.

Monday morning was our final day at the beach, so we got up early and spent a few hours by the water before packing up and hitting the road. We ate a late brunch at The Donut Hole (Destin's famous breakfast joint) and then started our way back to Tennessee. Apparently every other person on holiday in Destin had the same plan. It was a sloooooow drive home (you would have thought they were evacuating for a hurricane!), but we were still able to make it in just under 9 hours. It was the perfect way to spend a long weekend...and I can't wait to do it again!

Now it's back to work...and more traveling! This Thursday I leave for Ohio...but I'll save that for another post. Have a great week!