That Beach Glow
Ahhh, vacation. . . .what is better than a vacation? Well, how about a vacation to the beach, for a week, with your family and if you think it can't get better than that, I'll add with a three day visit from your best friend and her 5 year old to entertain your 5 year old! YAHTZEE!! See told ya - it was AWESOME!!
Not ALL Sunshine & Coconut Oil
OK, I'll admit, even though it was a great vacation, it wasn't ALL a splendid passing of time - remember I AM retelling this story 9 months later but sometimes situations are SO precarious that they imprint their passing like mini movies in your permanent memory! Ha! AND in my usual style of keeping it real, I wouldn't want you leaving my blog thinking we live some ridiculously unflawed life where everything happens exactly as it's intended - 1. cause that just AIN'T the truth & 2. Because think aobut it - HOW boring would life be if things always worked out!? You would have ZERO memories because no one remembers when stuff works out your cherished memories are usually centered around "that one time when. . . . (fill in blank with memory of any time something out of the norm happened and made said memory so very memorable)
What's That Saying About "The Journey NOT The Destination"
Yeah, well I am here to tell you whom ever coined that little gem was NOT stuck in a mini van for almost 20 hours in what seemed like an ill fated "
JOURNEY" to the beach. (Remember on my blog I generally use italic text to illustrate sarcasm since they have yet to formally designate one). So we knew we wanted to go to the beach, and for us former East Coasters we think of 30A Beaches - that amazing strip of beaches and towns stretching from Panama City, through Seaside, Rosemary Beach to Santa Rosa Beach, Destin Beach, through Fort Walton Beach and even into Alabama's Gulf Shores. Those amazing soft sandy beaches, with crystal clear tropical blue and green ocean water that only comes from the Gulf side beaches - the stuff dreams are made of. If you remember a few years back we drove from GA to TX for a family reunion down at Galveston Beach which technically IS a Beach and technically it IS on that same GULF but it must be on the wrong end of it cause the water was gross, filled with jelly fish and the sand was softish but it was doody brown and NOT at all dreamlike. SO since vacations are not an everyday thing we agreed to make the commitment and drive back to a good beach.
I realize "all is well that ends well" but at the time I seriously had lost hope of EVER reaching the finish line. See planning something and putting said plan into action, rarely, if EVER (in my experience) work out to be one in the same. So TECHNICALLY it was going to be about a 10 hour drive to the beaches of Gulf Shores. We could handle that. We packed accordingly, lots of kid friendly snacks, juice boxes, arranging the seats so that no one could 'reach out and touch someone' and EVERY DVD, ipad, LeapFrog device we could find - I know, I know DON'T get me started on how easy kids these days have it when it comes to transportation related entertainment ~ cause as you know having ALL those things at their fingertips STILL doesn't keep them from complaining 'are we there yet'! ANYWHO - off we go, making GREAT time - that's when we shoulda been suspicious. We made our way east out of Texas, than south and southeast in Louisiana, than pretty much due east in Mississippi, pretty smooth sailing till we hit Alabama - or Mobile, to be specific. Once we got to Mobile we had two choices, sit in city traffic to get on the bridge to cross Mobile Bay OR go straight south to Dauphin Island than catch a 10 minute ferry ride across the Bay and be less than 5 miles from our vacation house. WELL as luck would have it we chose option 2. I mean we could SEE the 6 lanes of backed up traffic waiting to get through Mobile before you even got close to the bridge to cross the Bay and we assumed that would take too long as the traffic appeared to be going a swift ZERO mph. And we could SEE the highway that lead down to Dauphin Island it was vacant and with everyone's patience being worn thin from a day of driving we thought 'what the heck, let's see how this goes'. Our only other experience with a ferry ride had been that trip to Galveston Island and it was a great experience, waited about 15 mins, ferry pulled in, about 50 cars drove on and we cruised over to the Island - again we ASSumed that was how the Dauphin Island Ferry experience would go to - well you guessed it - NO!! That was not at ALL, not even close to how our disastrous ferry ride went.
NOT So Fast Kirk Family!
So, the highway down to Dauphin Island was great, there were few other vehicles on the road and cute beach houses on the Bay side of the street to look at, and the excitement of a ferry ride for the boys awaited us at road's end. And since this wasn't our first rodeo, we had gone on line to check the Ferry Boat schedule and there were 4 remaning departure times - perfect! We thought if we didn't catch the one that left in 15 minutes then we would be on the next one which left an hour or so later, which wouldn't be ideal, but would still leave us plenty of time to drop off our things, go stick our toes in the sand and find somewhere to eat before bed time. HA! SO many times over, HA!!!
We cross the bridge to Dauphin Island, pass some quaint little shops, come to what I presume is the only stop sign on the Island, hang a left and follow the signs to the Ferry. We are on a little two lane beach road and there are lots of cars in front of us, so we correctly assumed that we were not going to make it on the 2:45 ferry, no sweat the 2nd ferry leaves at 3:30. We see a few cars drive up from what we must assume is the arriving 2:45 ferry, the mass of cars moves ever closer to the water and we can now see down at the far end a raised up beach shack and we can see that it is a one stop shop of sorts, ice cream, sodas, assorted concession stand style food options, and also fresh shrimp to steam there or take to go. So we figure once we pull forward we will take trips back and forth to the shack to pass time, allow bathroom trips, etc. As we pull forward the two lane opens up into three rows and a fourth lane which essentially is the U-turn lane to go past the fenced in 3 rows of parked cars awaiting the ferry and turn back towards the one stop sign. SO, now that we are firmly locked into our position in the fenced rows, I took the first trip to the shack with the two BIGs to go to the restroom and stretch our legs and scout the place out. I over hear a few people talking about how much longer the wait will be and if they will make the cut off for the last ferry. HMMMMmmmm, it struck me as odd since it was just barely 3:00 and the very last ferry takes off at 6:30, but I thought maybe they were making a day of it over here, there was a little beach area, and a few piers, boardwalks and the shrimp shack. So back to the Minnie we go, they excitedly ask Dave if they can go back up there with him cause they want to take their shoes off and play in the sand for a few minutes. They go scope it out and return because they see the ferry approaching and wanted to make sure they were in Minnie when it was GO time. Ferry pulls in, 5 or 6 cars drive off, we advance about 6 positions in the holding pen and we watch confused as the ferry pulls away again. SAY WHAT?!
Doth My Eyes Deceive Me?!
It was around this point, as we watched the 3:30 ferry pulling away from the pier, that I noticed the "Wait Time From THIS Spot Is Approximately 2-3 hours" sign. "UMMM, are you joking" I sarcastically asked no one in particular and the inanimate sign more directly. Dave looks over and says "you gotta be kidding". NOW we too start to wonder if we will in fact make the cut off for the last ferry or if we will wait in vain - cause remember we are fenced in on both sides by metal fencing and vehicles on all sides so we ain't going NOWHERE - cause OMG, can you IMAGINE once the 6:30 ferry pulls away how many people stuck in that holding pen are seeing red, breathing flames and have to drive the 40+ mins back up to Mobile, wait to cross on The Bay Bridge then drive the 40+ mins back south and East on the other side. MERCY!! It was about this time that we started seeing park rangers, or at least they were wearing some sort of identifying vest, counting cars and placing giant orange cones. OH DEAR GOD, PLEASE let us make it! 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 ~drop orange cone ~ 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 ~ drop orange cone ~ 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 ~ drop cone * "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Dave quick what number are we parked over?!" As Dave was getting out to check our number one of the vested workers happened by, and he asked her if we were going to make it, she said she thought we might make the 5:00 ferry - Shew!! Wait, WHAT?! It was one of those bizarre relieved and pissed off moments where you can't believe you are excited to hear the news that you are STUCK immobile in that spot for another two hours minimum and YET you are SO happy to be hopeful to be one of the lucky ones who gets ON a ferry! ARGH!
There Goes Another Ferry
As the 4:15 ferry set sail, and we were still more than 20 cars back we were thinking the 5:45 or 6:30 ferry was more likely our option. Plus now that we weren't going to be getting across the bay until 7:00 plus the remaining 7 or so miles ~~ Cause here's another Kicker, according to GPS we were less than 11 miles from our final destination, we just could. not. get there!! ~~ we decided that if there were hot dogs, or pizza or nachos any sort of food that the kids could eat we should go ahead and buy it at that shack so that once we reached the house we could let the boys run around for a while before putting them to bed, cause at this point there was ZERO hope for us, the adults, to want to drive the 15-20 mins past the house into town to get drive thru food. So Dave took off with the two bigs, back to the shack with a plan to buy assorted refreshments, return to Minnie, we'll all chow then *HOPEFULLY* it will be our turn to ferry across the damn Bay. Dax and I were hanging in Minnie, chatting on the phone with my girlfriend Vickie who vacations in Gulf shores a few times a year and is intimately familiar with the cluster f#ck that IS the Dauphin Island ferry, a little late on THAT warning. Ha! So we can see the boys for a while as they walk back to the shack, then they disappear for a bit around the front, then I see them up at the ordering window, then they're gone again, then a few more minutes pass and I get lost playing with Dax when all of a sudden up the lane from me I see Dave carrying arms full of food, and two Kirk Boys one dripping wet from the bottom half down and the other cracking himself up at the memory of what just transpired, and Dave with a smirk on his face. OH BOY, category 5 Kirks strike again!! Apparently at some point K & P were going to help pull the rope that is attached to the mini ferry boat the shrimp shack uses to ferry the fresh shrimp from their floating houseboat to the shore for the customers, well I guess they were holding on to it when the person in the shrimp shack was pulling it back towards them and the boys made it out into the water, Kaiden dropped off before it got too far out, but strong ass Pierce held on for dear life and just rode with the shrimp shack float boat out to the middle and he started to freak, so Dave, who I now notice is ALSO soaking wet from waist down, had to wade out into the muck to retrieve P from the side of the shrimp ferry. OH what I would have paid to witness THAT craptastrophe! BAhahaha!
The Post Shrimp Boat Incident Interview
*~*~*~* I actually have video of JUST after they returned to Minnie, where Dave is interviewing the two BIGs about what happened, and you can see the fence we are stuck in, and Baby Dax and me hanging in the front devouring an amazing BBQ Brisket sandwich and an ice cold Blue Moon - forgot about those little nuggets of awesome, that shack has PRIME location and a captive clientele - anywho, he asks the boys how long we've been waiting and they say "a LOOOOOONG time" and I say "almost three hours now" Bahahaha, then cut to K&P wrestling in the front seat and Dax jumping up and down on my lap while cranking on the steering wheel - OH man I HOPE I can upload the video cause it is CLASSIC Category 5 happenings. *~*~*~*
Dax CHOWING His BBQ Sammy
He Was Re-Energized By His Noshing
This Is Where He Starts Jumping & Cranking The Wheel
Then The Wrestling Starts
P Was Attempting A Purple Nurple - Awesome
K Narrowly Escaped With Said Nurple Intact And NOT Purpled
AND Here's Me With The "What Is Wrong With Yall" Look On My Face. Ha!
FINALLY We Were ON The Ferry!!
The Vested people showed back up, and directed each of us to our designated spots on the ferry and you are instructed to park and turn off the vehicle - alrighty. We were pretty excited when we were in the front spot on the right outside of the boat so we flanked the water and were sorta thinking we would be the first off too - BONUS!
Yeah, YOU KNOW how it goes with The Cat5Kirks, the spot we were parked in was actually PRIME location if your goal was to inhale EVERY ounce of exhaust from the stinking ferry boat! Argh hahaha
P Sitting With Dave & Ocean Gazing
YOU KNOW, now that I am looking back at these pictures I should have picked up on the ominous dark skies and storm clouds looming heavy on the horizon, but sitting in a holding pen for three hours has a way of making you forget your surroundings- ha! We didn't have far to drive once we made it back on solid land, maybe four or five miles, we found our house and went for a quick walk down to the beach to let the kiddos get some more energy out before bed. Once the boys were tucked in in the queen size bed in the bedroom next to ours, we all settled down for the night - we were tuckered out! Daxie in his pack n play at the foot of our bed, and P&K sharing their bed, perfect - right?! Yeah, well it was probably two hours or so into our sleep when the lightning and thunder started, which meant Kman was NOT sleeping in the other room, so I found a few extra blankets, made him a pallet on Dave's side of the bed since Dax was on the other side, and once he fell back to sleep I was just about out myself when I heard BOOM! I knew it wasn't thunder and so I go check on P, and sure enough his crazy butt had fallen out of the bed, so since I knew where the blankets were I whipped up yet another pallet securely on the floor for him and since he never officially woke up post fall, once he was tucked back in, I was free to fall asleep to the sounds of a storm at the beach.
Ahhh, sweet peaceful rainstorm at the beach.
