Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Day 36 - Santa Rosa Beach, FL

Duncan started off the day by making me eggs and bacon. We woke early so that we could meet Neena for some paddle boarding action. I had never been before.
 
Duncan and I strapped two of the paddle boards to the racks on his truck and tossed Neena's into the bed. Duncan said gravity would keep it in there. I didn't believe him so I made him tie it to the rack. After Neena arrived, we all hopped in the truck and took off to a local lake. A few miles down the road, we heard a thump: it was the noise of Neena's board slipping off the tail gait and smacking into the racks above. Good thing we ties it to the racks, because it was dangling about 2 feet from the pavement. If we had not tied it to a secure spot, that carbon fiber piece of art would have been toast.
 
Paddle board was pretty easy. I got the hang of it quickly. Duncan had a little trouble: on two occasions, he collided with a sandbar. While the paddle board had stopped he didn't. I found him, embarrassed, in the water both times. After maybe 45 minutes of paddling, we had to head in, we had other things to take care of. We noticed this sign as we exited the water. I guess the general rule of thumb in Florida is that if there is some water, there will be an alligator in it.
 
The experience gave me the idea to paddle board the entire length of the Mississippi River. It had been done once before. If I can convince Brian to do it with me, it would be quite the adventure!
 

 
After arriving back at Duncan's, him and I set out towards the beach to meet his family for lunch. I helped myself to some beer and sandwiches while I was there, and chatted with Robert and Michelle some more. We took a dip in the Gulf, which was about 80 degrees! Soon, we said goodbye to everyone at the beach and Robert, Michelle, Michael and myself all headed back to Duncan's to hang out at the pool and have a few drinks. We had a great time reminiscing about storied and memories from when we were all younger.
 
Robert and his family left to shower and change before coming over again and having dinner with us. When they returned a few hours later, we all made our way, in Blue Thunder (the golf cart) to Stinky's Fish Camp, a restaurant right down the road. The food was AMAZING. I got stir fried veggies with home fries and blackened mahi-mahi. I also had my margarita fix with a nice, large cup full of frozen margarita. I was in heaven. I can't remember the last time I had food that tasted so good!
 
Duncan and I retired early that night, knowing that we would be getting up early to meet Robert and his family for breakfast.


Total mileage: 0

No comments:

Post a Comment