Destin Highlights...

Speaking of highlights, I think my hair became a little blonder while I was at the beach. It reminds me of the days when I used to put lemon juice on my hair when I laid out in the sun. I don't know if that helped to lighten my hair, but I thought it did back then.

A lot of things have changed with my thirty-something self. I found myself doing things at the beach that I would have never done years ago....like staying under the umbrella lathered up in SPF 30, wearing an big-billed granny hat and bug sunglasses into the ocean. And, most geek-ish of all, the last day in the ocean, I wore a white t-shirt over my swimsuit (still donning the hat and sunglasses). Bad fashion for the beach, definitely. Did I care, definitely not! Hopefully when I am old and my skin is less-wrinkly than my former sunbather in the nursing home bed next to mine, I will be glad!


I did have one close call at the beach this year. One day, it was very, very windy. In fact, we were not even able to keep our beach umbrellas up. So Aunt Kathy and I had just gotten down to the beach. I was piddling around trying to set up my chair, etc., and Kathy was trying to set up her umbrella.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a huge umbrella came darting right toward my face. Somehow I managed to put one arm up in front of my face and bat the umbrella away with my other arm. It's a miracle that the umbrella did not take my head off, or at least put one of my eyes out! I had a guardian angel that day is all I can figure! I returned the the umbrella to our very apologetic beach-neighbors.


I suppose I am 2 for 2 on near-death experiences at Destin. Some of you remember my close-call from last year. My shoulder still hurts from that one!

The weather was decent this trip. We were worried that tropical storm Fay would interrupt our vacation, but Monday was the only rainy day. We spent much of the day on the beach Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The water in the gulf was so rough Sunday and Tuesday that we could really only wade out about shin-deep. By Wednesday, however, the water was much more gentle and we were able to play in the water, relaxing on floats and boogie boards.







This is the ocean view from our balcony on Sunday. The picture doesn't really show how rough the water was, but you can see how far back from the shore the waves were breaking.

The water was so smooth by the end of the week. The waves only gently washed up on the shore. The water was crystal clear, a beautiful emerald green.

In water waste deep, I could see the bottom, spot and capture the cutest little hermit crab. I thought about bringing it home, then thought "naaaaaa..." I just put the little crab back in the water and watched it scamper across the sandy ocean floor. I guess it had a lucky day!

Stay posted for more Destin highlights including our trip to Grayton Beach, the Gulfarium, the sunset dolphin cruise, and my favorite discovery of the week!