Daycation

Day 151 (Written Friday May 11) ~

A nice long vacation can do wonders for whatever ails you. As wonderful as seven days by the sea or up in the mountains might be, you can’t always take a week to unwind. Those opportunities usually only come once or twice a year, but the need for a little R & R almost always comes more often. This is the situation the Brittons found themselves in today. The last several months have been busy, filled with thousands of miles of traveling and the stress of relocating. This week we have been getting the house set up, unpacked and organized. Monday I will begin working at Latin American Missions full time, the next three months will be much more travels (Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama), so that leaves us with today. It would be fun to take a week long vacation, but we don’t have a week, we have today, so instead of a vacation, we decided to take a daycation. One day, not even twenty-four hours, to rest, relax, unwind and have fun. A lot of people would have opted for a staycation (stay at home vacation), but not the Brittons, we are a restless and rambling bunch. The alarm went off at 5:30 am and we were out the door and on the road at 6:26. Our decided destination was Seaside, Florida. If you don’t know about this town, you need to learn quickly. I grew up going to Panama City Beach (the Redneck Riviera) and Destin, but since adulthood, Seaside has been our favorite destination. No high rise condos, no go carts, no mini golf, just a picturesque, perfectly manicured village by the sea. It looks like a town right out of the movies (which it sort of is, since it was the setting of the Jim Cary movie, The Truman Show). I’ve lived 36 years of my life over seven hours away from the Gulf Coast, now I live one and a half. Seaside is actually three hours away, but that is plenty close enough for a daycation. Some of you may be thinking that is too far for a one day trip, but you must understand the Brittons can do a four hour drive like its a ride to the grocery store down the street. Both of my boys spent many long hours on the road beginning when they were babies. You throw the word beach in the sentence and three hours isn’t even an issue. We arrived in Seaside at 9:00 am (we went from Eastern to Central time zone) and decided to walk around the shops for a little while before heading to the water. Our first stop is my favorite store in all of Seaside, the book/record store. Downstairs is a bookstore and upstairs is a record shop, selling both new and used vinyl. I told Po that the guy running it has a dream job, selling records looking out over the ocean. Nice way to begin the day. Next we decided to hit the shore. The weather was perfect, not too hot, the water was crystal clear and calm. We sat and looked at the ocean, buried Po in the sand, waded out into the water and of course, dozed off. Some of us listened to music, some of us read books and some of us did nothing. The beach portion of the day ended in a very interesting way. A couple had been sitting ten feet from us most of the day. We had noticed them, but paid no attention to them. While we were getting ready to leave Jade pointed out how beautiful she was and how, not beautiful, he was. She said he looked like an old rocker and she must have been a groupie. When she said that it clicked in my mind why the guy looked familiar. It was 70’s shock rocker Alice Cooper. He looks a little older and fatter than I remembered, but it was him. The oldest and Po went over to him and asked if they could get a picture which he gladly did. He was very nice to them and we took off to Seagrove Market for shrimp po boys (some of the best we’ve had anywhere). With our day at the beach behind us, we decided to head back home, but we were going to take the scenic route. We drove back toward Lake Park along the Florida coast. Mexico Beach, Bay Saint Joseph, Appalachicola, Summer Camp Beach, and Panacea. It was nice to see parts of the coast I had never seen before, and even nicer to have nowhere to be and no regard for the clock whatsoever. We took the long way home because we were in no hurry. We spent the next three hours with the windows rolled down, the wind blowing through our hair and smelling the fresh air of pine trees and sea breezes. I got to see a nice sunset over the water too before stopping in Tallahassee for some good Cajun food at Coosh’s Bayou Rouge. They have Abita Root Beer! We pulled into the driveway near midnight, sunburned, exhausted, covered in salt and sand, but relaxed, happy and thankful. I doubt we will be able to take a week long vacation this year, but I have no doubt we will be enjoying another daycation before this year is over. We’ve seen the Gulf already, so I’m thinking maybe the Atlantic next.