More Florida Trip

Day 8

Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Sam being his normal ornery self. He just found a button on the helicopter that would make noise and is saying "Just a minute". At the Gulfarium.

So still, we've been here since last Saturday, and all is still well. On Wednesday, Shannon, Stephanie, and Sue took the kids to the Gulfarium. I wanted to go, too, but I had plans to go check out some fishing boats with Daniel, so I stayed at the condo, and played World of Warcraft. True, I could have been out in the sun, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Moreso than normal because I can look up from the screen at any moment and see the beautiful waters of the gulf. Anyway, I now have a level 50 human mage and level 25 drenai hunter. Sweet.

But back to the Gulfarium. We all went last year, and it was fun, but the kids were pretty cranky so it was not quite ideal. This year apparently the kids were pretty cranky so it was not quite ideal. The dolphin show and seal show were not as good as last year, and the entire place could use a serious makeover. It's 50 years old, and apart from several coats of paint, it looks as though not much has been done to update. (Well, the crocodile and bird part are pretty nice, I admit).

Erin and Anne Marie at the Gulfarium

So Daniel and I headed to Destin. We had lunch at McGuire's, a very interesting place. It's a pub with some good home brewed beer. I had their Irish Red and found it to be excellent, and the fish and chips were easily the best fish and chips I've ever had. (At least the fish was, the chips were better than normal). They also had an interesting feature, that people have signed dollar bills, and they hang them up, so the entire place is covered with dollar bills. They have over 500,000. Oh and I loved their restroom signs. I walked up to one that had a huge sign that said "MEN", but in smaller lettering around it, it said, "Absolutely no admittance MEN this is the ladies room." There was a similar sign on the men's room.

Just as we fineshed lunch, it started to POUR down rain. We had planned on walking around Destin harbor and checking out the boats, but chose against that. We ended up finding a charter service right off and signed up for a boat to leave at 6 am Thursday morning.

The fishing trip was GREAT. It was the first time I was able to catch a fish (I've been trying all summer at home), and it was the first time I've been out on the open water. Yeah, I threw up twice, but I still had fun.

The boat we went out on was the Knight Rider.

Me reeling in my first fish. I caught a cobia.

The final catch. We threw the Cobia and Shark back, these are all bonita and mackerel. Notice the half mackeral that got cut in half by a barricuda on its the way to the boat.

The crew at the end. I'm horrible with names, and I don't remember the names of the guys who went with us. I'm on the left, Doug is in the middle, and Daniel is on the right. The guy in the Lindbergh shirt lives in St. Louis and the other guy lives less than a mile from my house. It's a small world.

So Thursday I spent quite a bit of time sleeping once we got back. Getting up at 4:30 was a bit much for me. Anyway, We it stormed pretty good, so we just hung out in the condo, ordered pizza out from Merlin's (which is excellent, by the way), and watched SpongeBob.

Friday was the clearest day, both the sky and the water. It had been pretty before, but Friday the waster was pristine. I spent quite a bit of time out in the water. The waves were a bit rougher, though and got tired of chasing my hat so I met with the family back in the pool.

We went out to eat at AJ's on the harbor over in Destin, and that was good, too. Plus the sunset was the best of the week! I thought for sure it would be cloudy again, but it wasn't. I really enjoyed watching the boats going by as we ate. It has just been a great trip.