Gulf Coast Beach Trip

(that's me in the water)

Last weekend I went to Panama City Beach with my sister, BIL, and niece! A couple they know in Dothan has a condo at the beach and kindly offered to let us use it. So I flew down (from Nashville) on Friday, and Debra, Lance, and Niecy met me there.

 

 

Unfortunately, our weekend quickly started to resemble a Griswold family vacation. Both my incoming and outgoing flights were three hours late. The weather was fairly stormy (although we enjoyed a few pockets of sunshine). We couldn't swim very much due to DOUBLE red flags on Saturday - I had never seen this sign before:

We did go to the pool and pose on the beach, though!

On Saturday, Debra and Lance both got really sick. We suspect food poisoning because Niecy and I never caught it, but we also ate a lot of the same things, so it doesn't make much sense either way. I felt SO terrible for them. We actually closed up the condo and went back to Dothan on Saturday night. Sunday was supposed to be Debra's and my Hermanas Only day at the beach, so I was really sad and disappointed.

On the plus side, I got some fun bonding time with Niecy that I wouldn't have had otherwise. She's at a really fun age. I already miss her, but thankfully she and Debra are coming to visit in a few weeks.

By Sunday morning Debra had made a miraculous recovery! So she and I went back to PCB and had our day together after all. We went to the pier, which was lovely.

This sign cracked me up:

And then it was beach time, during which WE SAW DOLPHINS! I didn't attempt to take pictures of them, but there was a large pod about 100 yards offshore. I was ecstatic. I've only visited the Gulf about five times, but I've seen dolphins every time.

So the vacation ended well, and since I was blessedly not sick, I was able to stick to my plan of spending Sunday night with my college BFF Emily and her family in the Nashville area. We went to lunch and hung out yesterday before I headed home, and I spent some quality time with all of her kids, including her new baby. Two birds! One stone!

And now it's a VERY short work week. Yay!