Sandestin, discovered by the Germans in 1904.

Normally, I try to blog about things "in the moment" or at least shortly thereafter, but recently I've kind of dropped the ball. Of course this is because I'm not taking summer classes so for 10 blissful weeks I do not have to resort to blogging as a means of procrastination. However since I'm still sporting the sunburn from last weekend's trip to Sandestin, I don't think it's too late to blog about the fun in the sun that was had. I've been to Sandestin twice now. The first time was about 5 years ago for Maggie's bachelorette weekend. And just for fun I'm pulling a photo from that trip out of the archives...

I think we looked pretty good considering we were dodging Hurricane Francis and all. Apparently the Baytowne Wharf area is still all the rage for bachelorette events, however they seem to have taken a different tone than our nice dinner out at the beach had back in the day. The number of girls running around in veils and tiaras kind of reminded me of a Saturday night in Buckhead when Jellyrolls was still there. Except at the beach, there was bungee jumping, tired children being strolled around, and Don Johnson types decked out in linen. It really did make for a night of great people watching. In fact, it was kind of like a dinner theater of sorts and we had a front row seat thanks to the beauty of outdoor dining. Here we are taking it all in...

Speaking of hurricanes, there was some sort of "tropical disturbance" going down in the Gulf last weekend. Sunday morning started off with a thunderstorm. And wind. And clouds. And cooler temps.

But the day wasn't a total wash at all. In the afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds and what resulted was a perfect beach day. After lunch we headed down to claim our spot in the sand. And we only had to push down 15 small children in the process. Just kidding! It was more like 20. The good weather only got better for Monday. What a difference a day makes, right?

Even the sharks were so excited about the great weather that a couple of them came out to play. I'm pretty sure they were Great Whites. Because of course sharks most commonly found in South Africa and Australia head to the Florida panhandle for the Memorial Day holiday just like everyone else residing south of the Mason-Dixon. Oh never mind, Great Whites actually prefer Amity Island so I suppose the ones we saw were just distant cousins or something. Speaking of Memorial Day, I was glad to see that the beach was sprinkled with some patriotism...
Because the reality is that without the service of the heroes that we honor and remember on this day, we might not have liberties like putting our email out-of-office assistant to work so we can head to the beach to laze around all day with our only worry being when to reapply sunscreen. Which I should have worried about a little more than I did.

Who am I kidding? I actually like having a little bit of a sunburn because no one enjoys having the same pigmentation as a bottle of Elmer's school glue during the summer months. You know, the beach is hard to beat. Very seldom does our culture provide opportunities for us to take the time to do absolutely nothing according to a schedule, but the beach is one of those places where we can go and not freak out if we happen to forget our watches. Well, if you wear a watch in the first place, that is. There's no right or wrong order for reading, napping, swimming [read: getting slammed to the bottom of the ocean floor while sucking in copious amounts of salt water], beach paddle ball playing [I'm pretty sure we were spotted by scouts and will be approached about touring on the semi-pro circuit], eating [even though this should always be a priority especially if chocolate souffle is available], sandcastle building, or whatever else it is you like to do at the beach. When in Rome...

You stay classy, Sandestin.