The Beach

Abby got it into her head several months ago that she wanted to go to the beach. I think she heard Gina and me talking about our past adventures in the Redneck Riviera. Then we were talking one night in early June about taking a summer vacation and I asked Abby her thoughts on the matter. “I’d like to go to the beach, IF SOMEONE WOULD TAKE ME (emphasis hers),” she replied testily. Since she generally gets her way, we started making plans to drive to Destin, Fla. We knew it was short notice and it might be hard to find a decent place to stay, but Gina called the condo in Miramar Beach where we had stayed five years ago and a room was available. It being such short notice they agreed to give us the room at a slight discount from the normal rate. You can never tell if Abby is going to like something that is obviously fun to the rest of the world, so we were prepared to see her balk at going into the ocean. But she ran right in and acted like it was the greatest thing in the world.

The surf was up pretty decently (the red flags were out) and on our second day we went and bought a couple of wave boards and Abby jumped on hers and started belly surfing like she’d been doing it her whole life.

We saw some great sunsets.

Gina told Abby about how you can catch crabs on the beach at night (insert your own joke here) and each evening as darkness approached Abby would start asking if we were going to go catch some crabs. We bought a crab-catching net and headed out the first night. We found several tiny crabs about the size of a thumbnail and I started thinking that the net was overkill. Then a man and his kids walked up and dumped their bucket out on the ground at Abby’s feet and three BIG crabs scurried off. Abby went berserk hopping around with the net and completely failing to catch one. I finally scooped up the biggest one for her, but she wouldn’t come near it to get her picture taken with our catch.

We found this uncrowded beach a few miles from town at Topsail Hill State Park. It was a mile walk from the parking lot, but it was well worth it. Compared to the crowded beach at the condo this was like being on a desert island. We headed on the long walk back as it was getting pitch dark. Abby was tired and started whining, so I hoisted her up to pack her out of there. Luckily, a nice lady park ranger soon pulled up and gave us a ride to the car.