Florida Beach Time!

Well everyone, my illness, whatever it was, went away at just the right time: Matt and I went on a well deserved vacation to Fort Walton Beach, Florida!

Behold:

This is not my picture. Unfortunately we forgot our camera in our excitement to leave. But we did get to enjoy complimentary beach chairs and umbrella while we were there! SCORE. I can be outside on the beach but stay under the umbrella in hopes of warding off a migraine. It worked. SCORE AGAIN. 

Anyways. We rolled in on Saturday after a 6 1/2 hour drive through the middle of nowhere, Mississippi and Alabama. Actually, both Alabama and Mississippi are states in the middle of nowhere, but whatever. We hung out on the beach that night, and went to Buffalo Wild Wings with our friend Marco, who is stationed at Eglin AFB in Fort Walton Beach. JEALOUS OF HIM. We then worked dinner off with about a mile stroll down the beach to the pier (which you have to pay $2 to just walk on, no thanks) and boardwalk, where we enjoyed some delicious gelato. We then walked back to the hotel and enjoyed some drinks in their ridiculously tiny bar. 

Have any of you walked an entire weekend in the sand? My goodness, MY CALVES! They were screaming at me. Oh, well. Totally worth it. I don't understand how people run on the beach. Their calves must be huge. 

Anyway, we spent all of Sunday on the beach, rotating between hangin' in the water (yes, it's still warm enough to swim!) and sunbathing/reading under our umbrella. It was so nice to just relax and have nothing to do. We drove down to Destin for a visit to their boardwalk, and a trip to a Starbucks right on the beach. There's seriously nothing better than that! And the fact I got within 2 feet of a blue heron without it flying away. LIVING SCIENCE! As long as you didn't try and touch him, he just stared back at you. So awesome.

Marco later joined us again in the afternoon at the beach, and guess what? I SAW WILD DOLPHINS! 

Now, they weren't jumping out of the water like this, unfortunately, if they had been, I probably would have acted even more like an excited 5 year old. I just stood out in the water, watching the dolphins, chasing away jellyfish, and observing the pelicans dive bomb the water. Ah, dolphins! I could definitely live there. Seriously. 

That night, we walked back down to the boardwalk to a restaurant called Anglers. It was WAY more expensive than we thought, and the food wasn't anything special, but it was still really good and you're dining on the beach, so it's awesome. I enjoyed an Angler Freeze Breeze, a pina colada with raspberry and strawberry flavoring swirled in. Delicious. I also tried oysters on the shell for the first time. I was hesitant to eat something raw, but they were actually quite delicious and I got over the whole raw thing pretty quickly. I'm actually not surprised I liked them, considering my love of clams and mussels. 

We left the next morning. We were both so, so sad. I love the Florida beaches. Hopefully we can go back soon!