Today Bob woke me up around 7am to see the sunrise. I wasn’t sleeping so well due to the sunburn from the previous day and I had to get up to go to the bathroom anyway, so once I finished my business, I went outside to see what I could see. It was cloudy over the horizon, but the sun crept up over the clouds and it was pretty spectacular. There were people walking everything along the beach and a ton of noisy sea gulls and other birds. Once I’d taken in my fill of the scenery, Bob and I decided to go to breakfast. There was an IHOP and a Denny’s just down the street from our hotel. Bob had never graced the doorway of an IHOP, so it was decided that we would go to IHOP. It turned out to be a good decision. Bob ordered a ham and cheese omelet with toast and hash browns and I ordered a black bean and tomato omelet with pancakes. The coffee was good and hot and the food was fabulous and our bill was under $20.
I went to the front to pay our tab and met a woman who looked one cigarette away from death. She was skeletal thin, old, and wrinkly. Her teeth were nicotine yellow and black and her voice was gravelly and smelled of her last cigarette. I asked her and/or the gal taking my money who had won the football game last night; the Panthers or the Seahawks and they said the Seahawks. Go Mike Holmgren! They asked if I was from Washington and I said, “No, Minnesota”. They laughed about it being winter in MN and how cold it is there and that it was supposed to get colder in FL later in the week so it must be our fault. I laughed and said FL cold and MN cold are two mighty different things.
I went back and got Bob and the half of the omelet I couldn’t finish and we headed out. We were stopped in the parking lot by death lady who wanted us to go to a resort open house. She said they would give us a $60 dinner for free and a 5 day vacation in Daytona next year just for stopping by. We chatted a bit and then left. Both Bob and I agreed that we didn’t have it in us to sit through another timeshare presentation, so we baled on that and went shopping. Bob spotted a coin shop he wanted to check out and we also wanted to see what we could find to bring back as thank you gifts for his sister and brother in law.
At the coin shop Bob found a coin he liked, so he got it. I was perusing a case of rings and found 2 that I kind of fancied. Bob said if I found out how much they cost, he would get me one. I asked the guy and he said he’d give them both to me for ten bucks. One is silver with a turquoise star. Turquoise is my actual birthstone and I don’t usually like it, but this ring is cute. The other ring is gold plate with my other birthstone, blue zircon cut in an emerald shape and set with cubic zirconias on the side. I got them both.
After the coin shop, we went looking for a thank you gift at a local gift shop. We found several cute things, but the prices were prohibitive. Also, there were two sales girls working and neither one of them ever said anything to us or acknowledged our presence. So we left. We eventually decided to get his sister and brother in law an American Traveler’s gift card for their cruise next month. Across the street from the gift shop was an ice cream shop called Uncle Bob’s “Home Made” Ice Cream. I laughed and wondered aloud why Home Made was in quotes. It certainly did not make me want to stop in and see why their selections were called “home made”. Yikes!
We traveled back to the motel so Bob could sleep. He hadn’t slept at all the night before and instead had sat out on the terrace watching the ocean and the sky until the sun rose. He was exhausted. Not to mention that he was lobster red and probably not feeling the best because of the heat of his body. I changed into my swimsuit and a T-shirt and went for a walk. My muscles didn’t hurt as much today on my walk. I wish I had an ocean beach I could walk along every day at home in MN. I would have the butt of a Greek goddess! I walked about a mile, found a couple of cool shells and turned around and walked back. Once back, I swam in the sea for a bit before chickening out and coming back in. Also, the ocean water was cold and I wanted to warm up. I arranged a chaise on the motel veranda and read in the sun for a bit. It wasn’t as sunny as it had been the day before so when the clouds would cover the sun, the ocean breeze was a bit much. I decided to go in and change.
Bob was sleeping when I got in so I changed quietly and went to Publix to get some oranges to bring home. I also got change so I could do one load of laundry before we left.
I got back to the motel and made myself some lunch. Then I gathered our laundry and stuffed it in the washer. I was desperate enough to pay $1.50 a load for wash and $1.50 a load for dry, though I ended up having to pay ANOTHER $1.50 for more drying since one course of drying didn’t work.
While the clothes were washing, I read a book in our room as Bob slept. Once the clothes were done, I brought them back, folded them up, and packed them away. I also packed everything else that could be packed and threw away what could not be kept. Then I took a Jacuzzi while I watched the new Kim Possible movie.
Bob was still sleeping, so I decided to take a nap. Bob woke up and woke me up around 6 and he was bummed that he slept the whole day. I told him it was OK since it was cool and cloudy most of the day and I didn’t do much either. We ended up ordering a pizza for dinner and just chilled the rest of the night. We watched the DVD of Madagascar and then went to bed. It was a nice day.
This part of our trip was what I referred to as a vacation from our vacation. It was slower, lower key, less planned and way more relaxing. It took me about 24 hours to feel myself calming down. I kept thinking of things I had to do or places I had to go and there was nothing to do but sit by the ocean or the pool or take a dip or a walk. Or take a nap or rest. It was awesome. I realized that I need to do more of that kind of thing when I get home. I fill my day with so much activity and “must dos” that I miss just being. This part of the vacation was great to just be.
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