The end in sight ...

Well the last two days here in the Florida panhandle have been nothing short of fantastic. Sunny skies, a brisk ocean breeze, and pounding surf. We leave with countless memories, a little sunburn, and the understanding that we will return again someday. Tomorrow, the trek back to Dallas and reality begins. For those of you that have never come to the Emerald Coast, as it's called here, you really should ... provided you like white clean sand, clear aqua waters and warm sunshine (mostly). Although it has changed over the years, it still has that feel of a well-oiled baseball glove whenever we come. There's a sleepy familiarity and comfort that I don't think will ever leave. Here are a few final shots ... I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Storm Front

Double red flags ... just what we didn't want to see today ... meaning the waters are closed today. Thirteen hours of driving to get away from the Texas heat and here we are, landlocked. Actually, it was more like house-locked today, as wave after wave of thunderstorms pounded through. As I write this, the moon is out and tomorrow is promising to be much better than any of our days thus far here on the Florida panhandle. Today was pretty impressive to the kids, though. Just check out this video of the surf today (and keep in mind this was just from a few thunderstorms. I can only imagine what a hurricane kicks up here):


There were still things to do along the beachfront though. I swear I can walk for miles in the sand and not realize how far I've gone. And every now and then, we'd notice something fun to play with ...



And of course we did some beachcombing for seashells ... which we'll save for a later post as every day Claire and I find something new. But even with less than perfect weather, we know we are surrounded by beauty and wildlife, just a few of the little things that makes a vacation so worthwhile.

In between breaks in the clouds

(As always, click on any photo for a full view)

Crazy weather here today, with tropical thunderstorms coming in off the gulf and every now and then, some sunshine. During one brief respite, we managed to get back down to check out the surf, which was kicking up from the storms. It's good in that they cleared out a lot of the seaweed in the gulf ... but we have to be even more careful now in the heavy waves.

Here's Daniel and Claire doing their best to avoid the undertow ...



Down here, the surf levels are communicated with a flag system, by color; green being calm seas, red being rough waves ... see Seemore the Safety Crab over in the right margin. Well you can see by the waves today where the flags were ...


That didn't stop Super-D though:


When the sun finally popped through this afternoon, I took a nice stroll and snapped a few more pics to share. Here's "Shell Shocked", our home for the week ...


Some views from the top patio in the lookout tower ...



And just some sights from the Florida coast. Can you smell the salt air? Enjoy!

Things we're doing when it's not raining ...

Well Sunday was a beautiful day here, but since then we have had nothing but downpour after downpour!! Every so often, the sun will break through and we'll go run down to the beach, but right now we're in a holding pattern waiting for the sun to break through. Here's a few shots from the other day ...

Claire searching for shells ...


In deep concentration ...


"Did someone see a shark out there?"


"Please! Not the tail feathers!!"


Who's got it better than me!!


Whoa ... wait, is that the sun breaking out? Sorry ... gotta run!! See you next time!!

Sun and Sand '08

Ahhh, the beach!! After 13 hours of driving, spread out over two days, we have settled into our humble abode about 15 miles east of Destin FL. Fortunately, nothing unusual occured on our trip down, where we ran the length of the Louisana boot Friday night to settle into Baton Rouge around 11:30. I have to send props out to Andy for sending text updates of the Red Sox/White Sox game he was attending in Chicago. Thanks Andy!! After every update, Daniel would ask me what inning it was, which was good because around that time I was hitting my wall.

Our humble abode, called Shell Shocked, is just a few steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. While the furnishings are a bit spartan, it gets the job done and has a private pool ... which is a must when you're covered with sand. While we spent most of Saturday just getting everything ready ... grocery shopping, etc. ... today was our first real day to just get out in the sand and bake. Of course, there were plenty of things to see ...except the Blogger site is giving me problems of course now uploading photos. UGH!!! Suffice it to say that at the end of the day we were all bronzed from the sun, bruised by the waves, and all the better for it.

We'll try again tomorrow with this running commentary of Vacation Week '08 ... that is, if we ever make it off the beach!!