life with the beach

lise and i are trying to decide if we're gonna make a summer trip to the beach or not.

taken over christmas last year, our trip to pensacola ended up being the best vacation we've ever had.

why? truth is, we've never taken conventional vacations in our 16 year marriage. we usually take a couple days, fill the gas tank and just go driving, stop randomly, hang out, then move on. we've never gone someplace and stayed for several days. ever.

we got a condo right across the street from the gulf of mexico and it was gorgeous and perfect. we hit the beach every late morning and found hundreds of seashells and sand dollars (brought back 5 gallon-sized bags full of them) and got our feet very cold in the water (outdoor temps were in the upper 50's, lower 60's and the water temp was about 60 - but hey! when you're from cincinnati where the avg. december temp is 18....). drove around the city of pensacola (and quickly realized: the beach is more interesting). rushed to the beach every day at 4:45pm to snag pictures of the sunsets (absolutely the best sunsets we've ever seen). hung out at the condo later in the evenings and watched movies and had dinner. ate at flounder's our last night there (the key lime pie was the highlight).

simply put: it was the best vacation ever.

well, the condo we stayed at is available for the third week of august and amazingly at the same price as we paid back in december! almost $300 less than peak season of July! what does this tell me? pensacola beach empties out by mid-august, which would be perfect for us!

we've asked our good friends travis and sarah if they'd like to come with us this time. negotiations are pending. obviously money is the biggest issue.

but for 5 days on an incredible beach? it's worth it.