How I Spent My Summer Vacation – Day Four

Day four was the final full day at the condo, but since the yoots didn’t make it to Big Kahuna water park the day before, their primary mission on arising was to get to the water park as near to opening as practical (for Number One Daughter, who tends to sleep late). SWMBO and I dropped them off around ten or so and then headed back to the condo. I only spent a small amount of time on the beach, instead using most of the time to work on the last paper needed for my business finance class (final results a 95 and an A for the class). SWMBO spent a little time down at the beach and we ate lunch in the condo.

Around four in the afternoon the kids called and said they had finished with their water park fun, but had one more ride they wanted to do. Number One Son and Number One Daughter were going to the Cyclone and wanted to know if we wanted to watch. Actually, I would have preferred to be forever in denial that they would get on such a contraption as this thing, but ended up going and watching. The Cyclone is basically an eighty-foot propeller with buckets stuck way out on the each end. Passengers (two per bucket) are loaded on and it spins in one direction for a bit, then spins in the other direction. While the seat does pivot, leaving the slight possibility that you could rotate all the way around and the chair would pivit to keep you upright, it appeared to me that upside-down is just as common a position on this ride. In the picture here, clickable for a larger version, you can’t get a feel for how high up it goes or how fast it spins but suffice it to say I cringed wondering about little things like bolt strength, preventative maintenance routines, and the quality of the workmanship. But what you gonna do? They, of course, loved it.

Afterward we cleaned up and then made a trip out to a place called the Village of Baytowne Wharf, a collection of shops, restaurants, and clubs in Sundestin, a bit east of Destin. I really didn’t want to go and griped about it a fair amount -- yeah, I’ll admit to acting a bit of an ass about going because I didn’t really want to do a lot of walking around, but keep that to yourself -- SWMBO isn’t aware that, upon occasion, I can be a bit of an ass; it’d shock her should she find out. However, after arriving, it was an interesting place and I’ll plan to go back the next time we are in the neighborhood -- but it was a lot of walking.

My walking ended once we got to the restaurant where we were planning to eat that night, a place in the Village called Poppy’s Seafood Factory. They had an outdoor bar (as well as an indoor bar) along with the restaurant, so I put our name down for a table, plopped down at the outdoor bar, and had a couple while the rest of the gang did some Baytowne Wharf site-seeing. After a bit of a wait, we got a table outside where we could watch and listen to the live band, playing Margaritaville style music with a lot of Jimmy Buffet covers.

The best part of the night, though, was Number One Daughter’s first try at a whole lobster. Now, Number One Daughter can’t even handle shrimp at the table when the head is still on but somehow got the idea that she wanted a whole lobster ($30/lb, but that’s another story See note below). So our server brought one out for Number One Daughter to approve -- which, of course, Number One Daughter couldn’t do, couldn't even look at the thing. The reason she couldn’t approve any lobster was because she couldn’t, personally, sentence the poor bugger to death (never mind the fact she was sentencing some mud bug to death when she ordered it; these are her rules not mine). She told the server to pick one for her but to not let her see it ahead of time.

The second picture you see above is her reaction to the lobster when served, along with Number One Son showing a little brother’s heartfelt empathy for her plight. But as the last picture shows, she did manage to finally dig in; it was an interesting time getting to that point. As for the rest of us, we had various seafood thingies and enjoyed the meal and the music. It was late by the time we finished the meal, so it was time to wrap it up and call it a night.

Note: SWMBO and I discussed going somewhere like Ruth Crisp or the Copper Grill for some really nice steaks but I decided it would be too costly; as I told SWMBO, we would end up spending close to three hundred by the time the meal ended. When all was said and done, the total cost at Poppy’s Seafood Factory? $366.68. Never try saving money -- when will I ever learn?