PDA

View Full Version : Back from the Florida Vacation!


alittleoffkey
10-14-2009, 06:56 PM
...and I'm on fall break!

To recap, my Nana had never seen the beach, so my mother, aunt and I took her to the beach for the weekend on short order. We had a blast! There aren't many pictures of me in this set, because all the pictures of me are on my Aunt's camera at her house. :rolleyes:

Here's my favorite picture of Nana from the trip - her very first time seeing the ocean!
http://inlinethumb47.webshots.com/44334/2046628290033485505S500x500Q85.jpg

Nana and my aunt hurrying to take their shoes and socks (Nana was wearing hose!) off to get down to the beach - Mother and I were smart, we wore sandals. :D
http://inlinethumb05.webshots.com/11332/2525149040033485505S500x500Q85.jpg

Mom, Nana and my aunt. Nana's first time walking on the beach, at sunset no less!
http://inlinethumb64.webshots.com/42431/2088934480033485505S500x500Q85.jpg

I don't remember what we were laughing about...
http://inlinethumb11.webshots.com/22666/2670160370033485505S500x500Q85.jpg

Nana didn't have 'waves' experience, but that one even got my aunt:
http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/5799/2474051810033485505S500x500Q85.jpg

Then we had to leave Destin, because they only have ONE hotel on the beach, and we wanted a room facing the beach. So we started driving along the beach. We went through ritzy areas and sketchy areas, and eventually we found a hotel with a room two roads inland because Nana was getting tired of us thinking that our complete inability to find a room was hysterical (reservations are for wimps!). It was after 11pm and we'd been driving since 8am, so we were a little punchy. :hysterical:

We wound up in Panama City. My aunt's family goes there fairly often to stay at St. Andrew's State Park, so we went there and went to the beach... we also saw an alligator in Alligator Lake (so I made Nana take a picture with it... it's that little lump out in the water close to shore):
http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/44313/2308931320033485505S425x425Q85.jpg

Mom, Nana and my aunt at the beach at St. Andrew's. Nana's a quick learner, she rolled her pants as high as they would go. My aunt wound up with wet pants again. :D
http://inlinethumb59.webshots.com/43194/2774840450033485505S425x425Q85.jpg

Pose Nana!
http://inlinethumb39.webshots.com/41766/2292457570033485505S500x500Q85.jpg

It was the perfect beach for Nana's first daytime-ocean experience:
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/44280/2189384090033485505S425x425Q85.jpg

Somewhere, there's a picture of me doing this, too:
http://inlinethumb12.webshots.com/45131/2087393710033485505S425x425Q85.jpg

We went and found a great hotel on the beach, hung out, napped, ate some more (as we're rather apt to do in my family), then went out to a pier, because Nana'd never seen one of those either:
http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/44405/2998514610033485505S425x425Q85.jpg

It got dark while we were wandering the 1/4 mile long pier, and I got this awesome picture. There's actually about 12 people in it:
http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/45332/2836654890033485505S500x500Q85.jpg

We got up the next morning at 6am to pick up seashells and head back home around 8, because I had a final presentation at 6pm and was supposed to meet my partner at 5. I was only 20 minutes late (it poured part of the way in Georgia, and we had to stop to eat a couple of times, you know, :whistle:). It was awesome and all four of us had a great time!

Remali
10-14-2009, 06:59 PM
Beautiful! Look how clean and pretty the water is, and the sunsets are to die for! Your Nana looks like such a sweet lady, I'm glad she had a good time and got to see the ocean.

gaited07
10-14-2009, 07:03 PM
Looks like you all had a great time:)

Horseaholic
10-14-2009, 07:08 PM
That's really great that your Nana got to see such a beautiful beach! I bet that was amazing for her. Thanks for sharing the pics!

vicklynn
10-14-2009, 07:11 PM
Very beautiful!! Looks like you all had a great time!

Makes me miss the west coast. Or the east, I just love the ocean...LOL

mare
10-14-2009, 08:13 PM
How fun! Glad you all had a good time, and thanks for sharing your pictures.

Equine_Woman
10-14-2009, 09:24 PM
What a wonderful time you guys must have had!!!!! Those are the best kinds of trips, when people are just happy to be together!!! Gorgeous beaches!!! I'm suddenly homesick for an ocean and I've never lived near one!

natisha
10-14-2009, 10:25 PM
How wonderful for all of you. That is one trip you will always remember fondly. Hopefully you'll get the chance to do it again & for a longer period of time. That area has so much to explore.

gabhainn
10-15-2009, 06:43 AM
This is not a criticism but a curiousity, why did you choose the gulf? the same time fram to the east would have taken you to the atlantic. And I happen to think that Destin and PCB are gorgeous, but so is St. Simon's.Any way I am glad you had fun, and Nana finally got to the beach. Dreams should be realized whenever possible............Kevin

Gypsy Rose
10-15-2009, 06:57 AM
Sounds like you had a fantastic time! Thanks for sharing the pics!

alittleoffkey
10-15-2009, 08:06 AM
Kevin - We wanted to take Nana to a 'sugar sand' beach, and we only had three days (and I had to be back for a final at 5pm the third day). From north GA you can only reasonably get so far in that amount of time. We briefly considered Myrtle Beach, but we wanted to go somewhere warm so we could get in the water. One of my Nana's nieces visits the gulf fairly often, so we thought we could take her somewhere she already had a reference of. The gulf was also having a record heat wave last weekend, so it was in the upper 80s the whole time. It was wonderful! :D

My Nana has one (older) full brother and 15 younger half-siblings (nine that she's close to). All her close sisters are telling their kids "You know, Ida's daughters took her to the beach!" A cousin already complained to my Aunt. :hysterical:

natisha
10-15-2009, 09:04 AM
I'd take the Gulf over the ocean any day. Warm water, calming, dolphins, shells, extra soft sand, old guys in Speedo's-what's not to love?

WashingtonBay
10-15-2009, 09:07 AM
What a great trip with happy people. Looks like a fun time, thanks for sharing it with us!

gabhainn
10-15-2009, 09:31 AM
Kevin - We wanted to take Nana to a 'sugar sand' beach, .
That is a pretty darn good reason...............Kevin