Family Vacation on Destin Beach, Part 1
This year’s family vacation was shared with the Hines family (Steve, Amy, Sarah and Emily). This was Sarah’s “last hurrah” before starting her undergraduate in the fall at the University of North Texas. We were happy the Hines family was so willing to share her time with us.
As we crossed into Louisiana with our two cars loaded down like a couple overworked pack mules, I snickered to Lisa that we forgot our passports. (Indeed, Louisiana in many respects is like a foreign country.) A glance through Steve’s rear-view mirror reminded him of looking through a porthole window of a distressed cruiseliner. We kept our speed limit in check this time through Cajun country – the last time we rolled through the state it was not very kind – its state police tagged us going 78 in a 60. Read about our last Louisiana adventure here.
We stopped for the night in Baton Rouge and dined on broiled oysters on the half-shell and fresh catches at Parrain’s. Steve provided the complimentary hotel room using his stockpiled Hilton points and we enjoyed free libations and a cooked-to-order breakfast.
We set out in the morning and upon reaching our destination, a three-story town-home on Destin beach, we hastily unpacked the vehicles to take in the view from the two balconies. The rush of the day simply vanished at first sight of the beach. The Gulf waters boasted a chromatic spectrum of emerald, from pale avocado at the surf to deep peacock-blue at the horizon. The sand was ivory, moist, cool and clean.
Each morning Steve, Justus and I set up our EZ-Up canopy at the water’s edge which served as our home-base for each day’s activities. We would all rotate from canopy to sun, sun to water, water to sun, sun to canopy, and repeat. Scattered throughout this daily affair were naps, reading, snacks, picture taking, beach-side strolls and more eating. Since the town-home was on the beach, we hardly drove anywhere except to dinner and the grocery store. By the end of the first full day, full-blown beach “bumification” was complete.
On Tuesday Steve, Justus and I enjoyed our first-ever deep-sea fishing expedition. We each popped a Dramamine and boarded a fishing boat at 7am with several others. We traveled some twenty miles offshore and caught about two dozen Red and White Snapper between the three of us. Several were thrown back due to size limits. Justus caught two very large cantankerous Triggerfish unfortunately out of season, so they too were released. I fished next to an unassumingly quiet old man who limited-out by the second stop. I broke the silence by asking him his secret. He was kind, but divulged nothing.
Our wives were relieved upon our return. They had experienced thunderstorms on-shore that morning and were afraid that we too were caught-up in rain and lightning. We explained that when we left shore it was sprinkling, but as we reached the open water we enjoyed partly-cloudy skies all morning. On our return to the town-home, we stopped at Sexton’s Seafood market on Harbor Boulevard and bought three pounds of fresh gulf shrimp. That evening we enjoyed a feast of fresh Snapper and shrimp over spicy rice.
The next day, I busted my pinky toe on the corner of the staircase. Steve and Justus heard the pop from across the room. Because of the immediate pain, all I could do was hold my breath, and over the afternoon my little toe swelled up like a red grape on a stick. It’s healed up quickly but now it’s out of alignment and my cowboy boots don’t fit. You know what they say: “First-world probs.”
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