Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Florida Vacation - Day 2

Tuesday - Day 2 of our vacation started with sleeping in late, eating breakfast, and packing up the car bound for the beach! After all, this is a beach vacation isn't it? Loaded with suntan lotion, towels, chairs, umbrella, and Crunch-n-Munch.... we were off to famous Daytona Beach - only 55 minutes away. It was a gorgeous day - not nearly as hot - even slightly overcast! We drove past the famous Daytona Speedway, then across the bridge to the Wyndham Oceans Walk resort (next to Daytona Lagoon water park). We made a note to talk our friends (the Hubers) into using their Wyndham time share points there next summer for a return visit and joining in on their fun. The resort is also adjacent to colorful shops, including Bubba Gumps, where we ate lunch and had shrimp, of course!


After lunch we hopped in the car and drove right onto the beach (they charge $3 for this experience now). We parked, hauled our gear closer to the shoreline and hit the surf. The wind was blowing such that we had some great waves and all of us swam out to the sand bar and dodged waves for quite a while. And you know how some folks "catch a wave"? Well, we "caught a fish"! Yes, a small fish surprised Lisa, Caleb & I and flopped up on our raft! "This is the best vacation ever!" squealed Caleb. There was one hysterical moment (as it turned out) that I must share. Right after one of the larger waves slammed into us, Caleb started crying and had such a look of fear on his face. So, Terry lifted him high above the waves to calm him. We all thought he had gotten scared because of the size of the wave that caused him to go under water. So, as Terry is taking him ashore for a break, he yelled back to Lisa & I that he knew why Caleb had gotten so frightened. Just before that large wave hit (and almost caused Mary to lose her favorite $5 Premier Designs sunglasses), Lisa had been telling us about the TV special where some expert said that if you pee in the ocean it would attract sharks. Are you figuring it out now? Yes, Caleb had just peed in the Ocean right before Lisa told us this harrowing piece of news! Lisa and I laughed so hard that I almost attracted some sharks myself!

As we drove out of Daytona, sandy and slightly sunburned (suntan lotion works better when you actually put it on), Terry pulled into the Krispy Kreme amid cheers from everyone in the car. Today's mishap: My favorite Casio Exilim camera broke! (Pam F. can I buy yours?) Right after we took the Bubba Gumps photo above, sand must have gotten into the lens because it won't open or close. Thank goodness Terry grabbed our old camera right before we left our house in Kansas. Too bad though that he left it in the car at the Kansas City airport. Guess I'll be borrowing Lisa's tomorrow. I couldn't help but notice how much nicer Daytona is than the somewhat seedy memories I have of the area from my days in college. I had also forgotten how nice the waves are on the East coast. Great beach. I'll be back. We rounded out the evening with the reality-addicted adults watching the premier of "America's Got Talent" and the kids swimming with Kaley in the salt-free lighted pool. Another perfect end to day 2 of our Florida Vacation 2009. Tomorrow we're off to Cocoa Beach!