Destination...Destin {Florida, that is}

Sorry, but the pun on words was inevitable. For Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, we flew to Atlanta to visit Kyle's family and soak in some necessary rays. I'm sure we're vitamin D deficient due to the lack of sun here--for example: it is supposed to be spring (supposedly), but it snowed a couple of inches on Saturday. I don't think spring exists here, though locals have been insisting that it starts around the end of April. At any rate, we didn't have that kind of time to wait around to experience a little flora, fauna, and sun!

We had a splendid week at the Nel's and enjoyed all of the Magnolia trees in blossom, which I didn't even get a picture of {*sigh*} and of course, we went on our favorite trail for trail running! Oh how I've missed it.

One of our goals while we were there was to go to the beach in Destin, Florida {on the Gulf of Mexico side} for you non-easterners, but no one seemed to be able to go. So, we got Kyle's sister and her husband to take off work and take a day trip with us down there.

A day trip includes waking up 3:45 am, throwing clothes on, packing the cooler, and getting out of the house and on the road by 4:00 am. Then, it gets better...7 hours driving through No-Man's-Land Georgia and Alabama (now that's a state I'm glad I'll never boast to have lived in...sheesh!) The Confederate flags were full force there, of course, I don't think they even realize they lost the war.

Once we got to the pristine beaches, we were in heaven and played and sun-bathed all day! There wasn't a cloud in the sky, except for random fighter pilots that would fly overhead occasionally through out the day, VERY CLOSE, to check out the beach bathers--soldiers need motivation too, I guess. Unfortunately, I didn't put sunscreen on vital areas like shoulders, face and chest...we were using oil with SPF 8, so I figured that the oil might only direct more burn to the areas I applied it to, hence I didn't apply it to places I was more prone to burning. Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Of course Kyle didn't put any sunscreen on at all because he wanted to make sure he got a tan--well, he certainly got his fair share of those rays. He started looking like a lobster during the mid-day heat and we started to slather him in sunscreen, but it was FAR too late. Damage done. And he is still peeling on his ears a little 2 weeks later. I didn't get to much of a burn and mine stopped peeling last week...yum!

When dinner rolled around, we were famished and at this point Kyle had been "sun-bathing" in all of his clothes and a towel over his upper body and face . We went to Fudpucker's...many people cannot pronounce this name correctly, as it obviously turns into an explative when you try, so I don't even bother. Nor should have I bothered attempting to eat anything on their menu. It was disgusting to say the least. I had some nasty version of Gumbo and a fish sandwich--I think they ate me more than I ate them...the stomach ache was something fierce...certainly not a place I'd go to again.

As for driving home: we didn't get there until 2:00 am--thank you NPR!

Oh, I almost forgot! We had a Chicago "blow-out" whilst driving home on the ridiculous roads home from the airport downtown...and our tires were BRAND NEW! We had to drive the 3 hours home on a spare on a Sunday night, and couldn't go over 50 miles per hour or else the tire would pop...that made for a very long ride home. We found out after the fact, that if you blow a tire on one of Chicago's horribly unkempt roads, you are supposed to take a picture of the pot-hole and your popped tire and send them to the state department of something or another and they're supposed to reimburse you...when or how much, I don't know. At least our tires still had a warrenty! :D

Stay Tuned for the Next Official Post: MBA Spring Ball {but that's not till April 18th, so we'll see what happens between now and then}