Back to the ol' grind

We have to go back to work tomorrow, so we had a quick breakfast at Paducha's Denny's, then heading home. Wish we could stay in Florida!

Time to leave!

All good things must come to an end, so we checked out of the hotel.  Before we left town we bought a little palm tree for Jeff at Wal-Mart and had lunch one more time at Montego Bay; the lunch specials are great, lots of food at discount prices. On the way home we stopped at Granny's Fruit Stand again for more fruit.  Then we drove on, stopping just once at Wal-Mart.  We didn't stop for dinner until 9 pm when we got to Corky's, where we had great BBQ, as usual.  But then we couldn't find a hotel because of Memorial Day holiday.  We kept looking for a room all the way to Paducah, where we finally got a room at Inn USA  - it was cheap in price and style, but it was a place to sleep.

Just relaxing today

Randy and I were too burned to be on the beach with Jeff and Toni so we drove around town to Neptune world, Sea Shell World, etc, and lunched on burgers and fries at Checkers.  When it was time for dinner the the guys cooked swordfish and shark, new potatoes and green beans, all of which was very good.  Toni and I cleaned the shells we found by boiling them.

Snorkling

We went to the Jetties, just a little drive from our condo, and Randy and Jeff snorkeled out at the point.  About 15 to 20 feet from them several dolphins were playing.  Toni and I tried to signal to the guys so they could see them, but the guys didn't see us, much less the dolphins.  I tried snorkeling here and loved it!  When I got out of the water, I walked with Toni around the enclosed area while Jeff and Randy continued snorkeling.  Randy and I both stayed out too long and sunburned.  We went to dinner at Captain Anderson's, where I  had grouper and Randy had a cheese appetizer and seafood.  The food was good but I broke my tooth.  I was eating bread at the time and it wasn't hard, so it was just that tooth's time to go.  Fortunately it didn't hurt.

Grayton beach and Panama shopping

Up early; didn't have breakfast, just drove to Destin.  And got there too early to shop.  So we went through a hotel and then drove around the town, which is going through a building boom.  At an outlet strip mall Randy found some shoes, which is always a challenge for him.  On to Gif's Sub Shop for lunch - we had a Double Fighter Pilot sandwich, which was really good.  We all drove to Grayton Beach; it was pretty but there were almost no shells on the beach and the water was too rough to snorkel, so there was nothing to do except tan.  Jeff and Toni did that while Randy and I went for a walk on the beach.  Around 3 pm we packed up and drove back to Panama City, where we went to Alvin's to watch them feed the alligators.  The guys just walk into the enclosure and toss chicken thighs to the gators, who are happy to focus on the food.  Since we were at Alvin's and it's a big tourist shop, we did a little shopping before going home to clean up.  Then out to dinner at Montego Bay where Randy had a shrimp pocket and grouper and I had grouper and shrimp, plus we had a coupon for some chowder.  Drove around to T-shirt shops and bought T-shirds at Le Rue's.  Walked out on the boardwalk before going home.

Dolphin Boat trip

A good day to lay on the beach, so that's what we did.  We also went on a Dolphin Boat trip where we fed cheese puffs to the seagulls and saw a mother and baby dolphin, plus a group of about 4.  Dinner was at the Shipwreck, where we watched the turtle in the pond while we were waiting for a table.  I had swordfish with sauce, Randy had salmon.  Afterwards we relaxed for awhile, listening to the frogs outside.  We went to Wal-Mart next but I felt sick from too much sun.

Beautiful view!

From our balcony we watched six stingrays play around the swimmers in the clear water.  They swam near and between the swimmers, then reformed in a group further off-shore, and swimmers never knew they were there.

I couldn't wait to get outside and stubbed my toe badly on the patio door.  But I hobbled out to the van and we all went to the Jetties, where Jeff and Randy went snorkeling.  I looked for shells along the beach while Toni worked on her beautiful tan.  Afterwards we drove to Marriot'ts to admire yachts, but couldn't find where they had parked them.  So we just went to dinner at the Pizza Hut buffet.  For entertainment we rented a couple of videos and went looking for grits and a "box" of ice cream.  For some reason I forgot the word "carton" and called it a "box" of ice cream; everyone laughed about that and Toni has used that phrase ever since.  But we got what we needed and went back to the condo, where we threw out the shrimp that had gone bad in the refrigerator, had popcorn and watched part of a movie.

Beach!

In the morning we sat on the patio overlooking the water and had breakfast of fresh fruit and coffee and tea - what a wonderful way to start the day!  Then on to the beach!  We had such a good time that we spent the whole day there, skipping lunch and just snacking on what we had, because we didn't want to leave.  

When it was finally time for dinner we went to Bishop's Buffet for crab legs; they were good, even though I spilled the butter.  Not ready for bed yet so we walked around Seaside Village, then went through Wal-Mart and Deschamps.

Boiled peanuts and Grouper

Breakfast at Hardee's, then on to Florida, stopping at Jack's Nut House for some goodies.  We didn't stop for lunch, just snacked in the van.  We did stop at Granny's Fruit Stand to buy fruit and try boiled green peanuts (didn't like those).  When we got to Panama City we checked into the hotel on the beach; our room was high (12th story?) and we had great view of the Gulf.  We went to a local strip mall, looked at rainsticks and I bought a necklace.  We all had dinner at Montego Bay; Randy had steak and grouper and I had grouper and shrimp with new potatoes - very good.  Afterwards we walked through the Christmas Store, then went to Wal-Mart for groceries and snorkeling equipment for Randy.  When we got back to the condo we found there was water on the floor.  We cleaned it up but we were not sure where it came from.

Starting another trip to Florida

We met our friends Jeff and Toni, got into the van we had rented from Enterprise, and got on the road around 6:30 pm.  We had dinner in a truckstop, then got a room at the Budget Inn in Athens.  The hotel was a bit run-down; they had "State of Illinois" towels and a "Friendship Inn" shower curtain.