We get a super early start on our vacation by "waking up" at 3:45am ... not sure either of us got any sleep, ugh. Time to pack a few last minute items and pet the kitties, then it's off to the airport. Luckily we're flying out of Baltimore so it's an easy drive.
This is the first time we'll be flying with Spirit Airlines, or, as they put it "America's only ultra-low cost airline" (comparable to European Easyjet). The base ticket prices are great, but they will nickel and dime you for everything if given the chance and online reviews are a bit disconcerting. Luckily we manage to avoid most of this by pre-ordering our checked luggage and printing our own boarding passes. Even though we didn't opt to pick our own seats the computer picks two seats together so that's great. I also realized, late last night, that the bags we'd planned to bring as our personal item are too big ensuing in a frantic search for baby-sized backpacks. Sadly, that means I wasn't able to bring my DSLR camera for this trip.
So it's with some trepidation that we check in, mounting to a "it's just this one time" as we're getting ready to board, but to our surprise the seats are really comfortable with ample leg room. I can't say for sure whether they recline at all because I immediately got out all my perfect-airplane-sleep-equipment, i.e. eye pad, ear plugs, inflatable travel pillow and neck brace (to keep me from head bobbing myself awake) and manage to sleep through most of the flight. Not so bad after all! I foresee more trips with Spirit in the future ...
It is warm and sunny when we get out with palm trees everywhere. Ahhhhh ... just what we needed!
Spirit offered us a free car rental during the booking process (which somehow actually lowered the amount we had to pay -- still confused about that, but not at all complaining haha) so we are booked for a compact car with Dollar. Except, the only proof we have of this is a few lines on our flight confirmation e-mail. Hmmm?
No line at the rental office, yay! We ask the rep if he has a reservation for us and sure enough; it's on file. He didn't even pressure us to buy additional insurance, GPS, roadside assistance, toll pass, or any of the usual crap. All we owe them is $23 in taxes and we're good to go. Not bad for a 3 day rental!
We have the pick of the litter and choose a sporty-looking, silver Mazda -- much to the dismay of an elderly gentleman that got there minutes later. Kept circling as we were putting our stuff in the trunk and while I was trying to discreetly change into my bathing suit in the back seat, then even asked if we were taking it. Uh, no, we're just putting our stuff in it for the heck of it?! Nice try, no fly.
I quickly browse through my Florida guidebook and program the GPS on the phone to take us to nearby John U. Lloyd State Park, a quiet beach park located on the tip of a barrier island. There's a lot of road work by the airport so as the arrival time gets longer and longer it becomes clear that we're lost, but after a bit of a detour we're back on track.
More road work yet
Old-fashioned drug store
We make a quick stop at Winn-Dixie for water and snacks, then use the phone to find someplace where we can get breakfast. Grampa's Bakery & Restaurant sounds pretty good and when we get there we find out it was actually featured on some show from the Food Network. Promising!
Breakfast starts with a heaping plate of complimentary pastries. I'm no pastry fan, but when I'm hungry I'll eat anything and the apricot one is alright. It's a bit chilly with the air conditioner so I borrow the shirt Sandy's brought to wear to the beach and put it over my legs. Much better! We're happily chatting away and I completely forget about the shirt, occasionally wiping my greasy fingers on my napkin. Oh no! I never had a napkin!!! Covered in bits of sticky pastry I put the shirt back in the bag, but my exclamation of alarm has already gotten me busted. Oops.
We split an order of pancakes and one of scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon since they don't offer any combo meals. Kind of strange. The food is ok; not great, not bad, nothing to write home about.
Then it's beach time! It's a quiet, narrow beach and we settle ourselves in for the day near the dunes where the sand is a bit softer so we can get comfortable. I'm so tired that at times the 75 degree weather feels cool, but after lying down for a while the sun suddenly feels pretty hot and we play in the cool water a bit.
Tranquil
Coconuts!
I slip into my snorkeling gear and my wetsuit vest for added warmth and kick towards where the water is a deep navy color, not knowing whether I will find a seaweed forest (lots of seaweed on the beach) or a coral wonderland. My first impression is a bit of a letdown -- Hawaii has spoiled me! It actually reminds me a bit of snorkeling on Key Largo, which given it's relative proximity should not have come as a surprise. Mostly it's low grassy stuff, some bland looking coral and a lack of fish, but after a while I come across some cool looking types of coral in a variety of color, including a hot purple that looks too cool to be real. Of course, I'm snorkeling less than a minute when something stings me on the hand, arm and leg .... yowza! Didn't see it coming and can't even figure out where it went. My guess is that it's translucent jelly fish and that's why they are flying the purple (dangerous marine life) flag and it takes a while before my paranoia settles down.
Red spot over my thumb and knuckle is where it got my hand
There are actually pretty near fish out there, just not as many. I follow some kind of neon blue puffy looking fish for a while and find interesting "bottom feeders" that blend in with the plants. Also a neon purple & yellow cleaner fish, some parrot fish, schools of needle fish and right at the end a very large school of nondescript fish with a few zebra-striped ones tagging along. How I wish I had an underwater camera with me, but sadly, my last one bit the dust during our last trip to Hawaii.
The water is so clear
My body stays nice and toasty thanks to my vest, but my head is starting to get a freezer headache so I reluctantly swim back to shore and burrow as close to the sand as possible. There's a bit of a breezy now with clouds passing in front of the sun, but to my winter-hardened body it doesn't feel too bad and it's not long before I fall asleep. Ugh, sand so hard I've now cut off circulation to my arm and it's all tingly so I flip over to my other side and repeat until suddenly it's three thirty. I read a few chapters, take a couple of pictures, and just enjoy being outside without wearing more layers than a babushka doll.
I love dune grass
Random picture
The seagulls are moving in as people move out
There's a short, but cute jungle style wooden walkways to the parking lot
It's about a half an hour drive to our hotel for the next three nights: The Winterset. It's well-rated and although the property is located off of a random side street to the beach, it looks really nice with a white wrought-iron fence and palm trees lining the rich blue pool.
Welcome to The Winterset
Oasis by the main pool
Our "room" is more of a suite, complete with a spacious living room with dining nook, a full kitchen, a full bath and multiple closets. This may well be larger than our first apartment haha. All with hardwood flooring and tastefully decorated with neutral furniture with a couple of bright orange accent rugs and polka dot pillows.
Beach access by the hotel
Today's flags: yellow & purple
We're in the fancy-shmancy section of town so our walk takes us past the likes of the Ritz, the Westin and other luxurious hotels with equally exclusive restaurants, but we're not interested in spending beaucoup bucks for two carrots and swirl of champagne infused vinaigrette so we keep walking until we find Lulu's Bait Shack; a friendly beach bar on the second floor of an open-air shopping complex.
Sandy gets the fish & chips, while I order the blackened mahi taco's. Yikes, my pico is more onion than tomato, but after I extract the better part of an onion it's quite yummy. Again, nothing fabulous, but a pretty good meal in a enjoyable outdoor setting.
CVS is right downstairs so we attempt to buy some breakfast items, but despite the size of the store their selection is quite limited. I guess this means breakfast out tomorrow, yay! Speaking of tomorrow; they've now changed the forecast to rain. So not cool!
Cute "graffiti" on a vacant building on our way home
Back at the hotel I decide to swim a few laps in one of the pools. It's a tiny pool, it's late, cool and I'm tired but this might be my only chance if the weather doesn't cooperate so in I go! Not quite as warm as I'd hoped but this is really quite relaxing and the setting is so nice with all the palm trees.
Nice hot shower and now I'm lounging on the couch in the living room with Sandy watching "Love it, or list it" --- a show so scripted, you should never watch it -- on HGTV. BIG cockroach-like creature running up the wall aaaarrgghh! OK, I caught it. I'm sure that was the only one. Right???
Night night!
Breakfast: leftover Subway subs at home
Grampa's Bakery & Restaurant
Dinner: Lulu's Bait Shack
Hotel: The Winterset
Third try, I'm getting rather despared. My password expired so I made a new one.
ReplyDeleteYes me, but it still didn't work.
Florida? It's not hurricane season yet? No, guess not.
I wish Y could sleep in a plane, but you were probably exhausted when you left.
I wish I was there to! I could use some warm weather. Blue monday lived up to it's promiss.
And the sky is so unbelievebly blue ( picture with the crane)
The part about the napkin is hillarious. I suppose Sandy was not amused ( I understood you couldn't take much luggage)
What's a combo menu?
How blue and clear the water is! Are you allowed to swim when the purple flag is out? Couldn't it mean sharks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Winterset looks like a very nice place. I suppose the pool was a big plus. Don't you grow fins yet?
Bye darlings, have a very nice time, enjoy.
Love and xxxxx Joeve
No, no hurricane season yet. They form over warm water and even though it feels comfortable to us now, it needs to be a lot hotter for that to happen.
ReplyDeleteSleeping on the plane is rough (especially on the way back when we kept getting kicked by the toddlers behind us aarghh), but I've had a lot of practice and my travel pillow is pretty amazing!
Combo meal, like eggs & pancakes, or bacon, eggs & hashbrown, or eggs & toasts ... cheaper than ordering everything separately, except this time we didn't have a choice so we made our own combo meal by sharing our orders :)
Yep, you can still go out with the purple flag; it's used more of little ocean pests like jelly fish & sea lice. Of course, there could be sharks any day -- as they told me in North Carolina; "that's where they live!"
The Winterset was great! We've had fantastic luck in finding places to stay :)