How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Day Three
Not a lot to say here except “second verse, same as the first” (for you Herman's Hermits fans); day three was another day of lying around on the beach, taking it easy in the condo, and then going out for a nice meal. I ended up doing some work on a paper I had due shortly for an online class I was taking (some two weeks later, class now completed), so spent a fair amount of time working on it in the condo. I did find some time to slather up and lie around on the beach reading, along with some cooler reading in the condo (for day three, it was Vinnie’s Head by Marc Lecard). Lunch was also in the condo, using up some of the bounty we had bought when first arriving.
After lunch, the yoots planned on going to the local (to Destin) water park Big Kahuna; we took them there around three to find out it closed at six, so scrapped those plans and they decided to go the next day. While out, though, we did make a run to the Marble Slab Creamery where we had ice cream with stuff in it. If you’ve never been to the Marble Slab Creamery (or Maggie Moo’s or the Cold Stone Creamery) you choose an ice cream flavor and then some fixin’s - Reese’s cups, Butterfinger, Oreo Cookies, nuts, sprinkles, even gummy bears - and they throw it on a cold slab and smoosh it all together, using all the smooshing around to keep your attention diverted from the price you pay. But it was good.
Therefore the afternoon was more beach time, which included Number One Daughter, with minimal help from the other yoots, building a massively small sandcastle.
Even had a family of itty-bitty hermit crabs moved in, the wife crab would have been complaining within two days of a lack of storage space, and quite honestly there was no room for a decent workshop to Bondo up a dent in one of the family's shells.
That night we went out to Rick’s Crab Trap for seafood. An interesting place. The thought I had after leaving is it is a family-run business run by a somewhat mentally challenged family. We were told there was an hour wait, but figured what the heck. We waited at the bar and noticed one section was completely empty, the rest half empty. While we were waiting, another fellow came in and was told they were closed (it wasn't yet 8:30). I think we were told of the wait to discourage us from staying because after about twenty minutes, we were seated. I also think we were why the hostess switched to "we're closed," deciding some folks just can't take a hint.
We tried for the crab cakes all around as an appetizer, but after taking the order our server was back shortly with news that it was a no go. A couple of us decided against an appetizer while the rest went with seafood gumbo (which, having a bite, I’ll vouch for being pretty good). I had the steamed plate which included some crab claws, some oysters, a whole crab, some shrimp, and an abundance of mussels. Number One daughter went with Alaskan King Crab – apparently the local crab wasn’t good enough, so she had to order from as far away as you can get and still be eating an American crab. Two grouper sandwiches and some fried shrimp rounded out the entrées. All of it was pretty good except the fried shrimp which had a doughy, not crisp batter. I had to ask for assistance on the crab, where upon the server picked it up off my plate and broke it in half and showed me how to pull out the meat. After she walked away, Number One Son commented, "I hope she washed her hands." As do I, seeing as how I was the one who ate it.
When we were getting ready to leave, I visited the (unsurprisingly named) "Buoys" restroom. There were two urinal stalls and, though the first was mounted so low as to be nearly on the floor, the second one was occupied -- so I took the first. I wasn’t sure what the fellow in the second one was up to, but there was a fair amount of banging and bumping against the partition while I took care of business. As I washed up and was opening the bathroom door to leave, a young lady (as opposed to my assumption of a male) stepped out of the second stall.
“I was cleaning” she quickly told me. Since she was wearing a Rick’s Crab Trap T-Shirt (“I Have a Crabby Attitude” as the slogan) and holding a toilet scrub brush, I had puzzled that one out on my own, but I guess she didn’t want me to think she was back there for nefarious purposes. Perhaps the T-shirt and scrub brush were just a disguise so she could hang out in men's bathrooms trying to grab a quick peep. In either case, she didn’t seem particularly embarrassed and I didn’t intend to worry about it. Whether cleaning while customers are using the facilities or trying to catch a quick (and, in my case, probably disappointing) peep show I just put it down as part of the charm of the place.
If I recall correctly, back at the condo there was another walk on the beach but, again, I stayed at the condo and pretended to be lazy. I fake lazy very well - you can hardly tell it from the real thing.
After lunch, the yoots planned on going to the local (to Destin) water park Big Kahuna; we took them there around three to find out it closed at six, so scrapped those plans and they decided to go the next day. While out, though, we did make a run to the Marble Slab Creamery where we had ice cream with stuff in it. If you’ve never been to the Marble Slab Creamery (or Maggie Moo’s or the Cold Stone Creamery) you choose an ice cream flavor and then some fixin’s - Reese’s cups, Butterfinger, Oreo Cookies, nuts, sprinkles, even gummy bears - and they throw it on a cold slab and smoosh it all together, using all the smooshing around to keep your attention diverted from the price you pay. But it was good.
Therefore the afternoon was more beach time, which included Number One Daughter, with minimal help from the other yoots, building a massively small sandcastle.
Even had a family of itty-bitty hermit crabs moved in, the wife crab would have been complaining within two days of a lack of storage space, and quite honestly there was no room for a decent workshop to Bondo up a dent in one of the family's shells.That night we went out to Rick’s Crab Trap for seafood. An interesting place. The thought I had after leaving is it is a family-run business run by a somewhat mentally challenged family. We were told there was an hour wait, but figured what the heck. We waited at the bar and noticed one section was completely empty, the rest half empty. While we were waiting, another fellow came in and was told they were closed (it wasn't yet 8:30). I think we were told of the wait to discourage us from staying because after about twenty minutes, we were seated. I also think we were why the hostess switched to "we're closed," deciding some folks just can't take a hint.
We tried for the crab cakes all around as an appetizer, but after taking the order our server was back shortly with news that it was a no go. A couple of us decided against an appetizer while the rest went with seafood gumbo (which, having a bite, I’ll vouch for being pretty good). I had the steamed plate which included some crab claws, some oysters, a whole crab, some shrimp, and an abundance of mussels. Number One daughter went with Alaskan King Crab – apparently the local crab wasn’t good enough, so she had to order from as far away as you can get and still be eating an American crab. Two grouper sandwiches and some fried shrimp rounded out the entrées. All of it was pretty good except the fried shrimp which had a doughy, not crisp batter. I had to ask for assistance on the crab, where upon the server picked it up off my plate and broke it in half and showed me how to pull out the meat. After she walked away, Number One Son commented, "I hope she washed her hands." As do I, seeing as how I was the one who ate it.
When we were getting ready to leave, I visited the (unsurprisingly named) "Buoys" restroom. There were two urinal stalls and, though the first was mounted so low as to be nearly on the floor, the second one was occupied -- so I took the first. I wasn’t sure what the fellow in the second one was up to, but there was a fair amount of banging and bumping against the partition while I took care of business. As I washed up and was opening the bathroom door to leave, a young lady (as opposed to my assumption of a male) stepped out of the second stall.
“I was cleaning” she quickly told me. Since she was wearing a Rick’s Crab Trap T-Shirt (“I Have a Crabby Attitude” as the slogan) and holding a toilet scrub brush, I had puzzled that one out on my own, but I guess she didn’t want me to think she was back there for nefarious purposes. Perhaps the T-shirt and scrub brush were just a disguise so she could hang out in men's bathrooms trying to grab a quick peep. In either case, she didn’t seem particularly embarrassed and I didn’t intend to worry about it. Whether cleaning while customers are using the facilities or trying to catch a quick (and, in my case, probably disappointing) peep show I just put it down as part of the charm of the place.
If I recall correctly, back at the condo there was another walk on the beach but, again, I stayed at the condo and pretended to be lazy. I fake lazy very well - you can hardly tell it from the real thing.
posted by Rick at 9:11 PM
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