Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The morning started with the Butler’s packing up and heading out to catch the 9:30 am ferry to Dauphin Island. The boat hold 28 cars and Daniel pulled in 29th. Was missing the ferry was foreshadowing what happened later in the day when they suffered a blowout, had to be towed and spent the night in Vicksburg instead of Stuttgart?

We headed out behind them and hit Wal-Mart to pick up some food and other items for the rest of the week.

Don’t Answer It!

Not long after we got back, the phone in the condo rang. We both looked at each other and started laughing at our natural reaction which is to NOT answer the phone because the only people calling that number is trying to sell us something.

I answered the phone and it was someone from the complex needing us to move our car so they could pressure wash the building. Glad I answered.

Southern Hospitality Part III

I had taken garbage out and was heading back in when I heard someone say, “Sir” but it wasn’t until I heard it two more times that I realized it was for me.

Lady: Excuse me sir, would you like some frozen pizzas?
Man: We’re leaving today and we’re just going to throw them away.
Me: Umm, I don’t know. We’ve already got three pizzas that were left in the freezer, but I guess…
Lady: Here there are and you can even have this too.
Me: Oh OK. Thank you. I know my wife will enjoy this.

It was one of those frozen margarita’s that looks like a giant Capri Sun, although I don’t think it’s sposed to be used in that way. hahaha…

Smart Ladies

Tammy and I eventually made it out to the beach, even finding the same spot where we had set up camp the previous two days.

We moved two of our chairs near the waters edge and were people watching when a couple of women walked by.

Tammy: Those are smart big ladies because: A. they were wearing one pieces and B. because they are flattering one pieces. So many times you see people wearing stuff that they so shouldn’t be wearing.

I got up from my chair and walked back to get my notebook from under the umbrella. When I got back to my chair I heard…

Tammy: What was funny about that? You didn’t even laugh.
Me: Just because I don’t laugh doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s funny.  Other people will think that the stuff you say is funny though. I liked that you said they were “smart BIG ladies,” not just smart ladies.
Tammy: Well being big is what made them smart.

Is That Your Doppelganger Hanging Out? Pt. II

Last year at Daytona Beach, we saw the Doppelganger of Jake’s friend, Kevyn Merwitz (aka Ben Seaver) walking along the beach. This year it wasn’t one of Jake’s friends

I saw a guy and girl walking toward us and ran to tell Tammy that Tim Tebow was walking toward us.

She dropped her magazine and nearly broke her neck to find him. For a split second she thought it was him but as he walked by she could tell it wasn’t him. By time they were walking back toward us we had packed up our stuff to go in and I wasn’t able to take a picture.

Poof You Were Gone…

We headed down to The Wharf for a little shopping and dinner and were amazing at how few people were there. I guess because the 4th was on a Monday most people decided to head back on Monday or Tuesday morning because some of the restaurants didn’t look like the were open, some had closed down for good after last year’s oil spill, and there were plenty of parking spaces.

Ridiculously Sassy

Tammy was drawn to Sassy Britches, for the name AND for the hand-drawn sale sign on the door. I quickly found my way to the big couch at the back of the store and starting playing games on my phone while Tammy looked around.

Considering she brought a bag with nothing but shoes and flip flops, I wasn’t surprised that I found her hovering around the shoe section.

Tammy: It’s buy one get one free OR if you only get one pair it’s 25% off. That’s good.
Me: Um-hmm…

She was able to find two pairs she liked (surprise, surprise) AND they had them in her size.

Tammy: Sometimes it’s worth it to upscale a little bit. I got two pairs of shoes for $42 friggin’ dollars! That’s ridiculous!!

I Found Something For Me

We hit nearly all of the stores in search of a “big ring” for Tammy before I found something that caught my attention.

As fun as he and the pregnant version (see below, but wasn’t at the store) look, I couldn’t get the $34.99 expense approved by the Chief Financial Officer (Tammy).

I told her that Mike Metrick said I would be dead to him if I didn’t bring one home. I even told her that because he’s a police officer he could make me disappear and no one would ask questions.

She didn’t care, so if I start not showing up for stuff please start looking Mike and Tammy’s direction.

They Can Survive a Nuclear Bomb

As we were looking at the menu outside of where we were going to eat (Ginny Lane), we saw something scurry across the sidewalk. I couldn’t really tell what it was, and went over to see if I could find where it went.

Tammy looked like a bird had just crapped in her hair.

Tammy: What was that?
Me: I dunno. A grasshopper?
Tammy: I think it was a cockroach.
Me: I don’t think it was a cockroach.
Tammy: I’m seriously like not gonna eat here, but it WAS outside. They are like the grossest things ever.

She regained her composure but quickly lost it when we were seated outside on the patio. She kept looking under the table because she felt like something was crawling up her leg.

Tammy: I just feel the littlest thing and I’m looking around.
Me: It’s fine baby.
Tammy: It’s making me nervous, making me nervous!!!
Me: Is it this thing?
Tammy: Ahhh, yeah. I’m like cockroaches are everywhere!!

Motocross Hippie

After our waiter, Matt, left the table and I asked Tammy if she thought he smoked pot because he definitely had the look and a hippie necklace.

He had that Black Crowes/Georgia Satellites look to him but we found out that he had been racing motocross for the past 11 years, had just moved to Gulf Shores and started working at Ginny Lane in April.

Can’t always judge a book by it’s cover I guess.

Delicious Food and Drink

I ordered a dozen raw oysters and they came out with our drinks. I slurped down a few before Tammy took a sip from her wine.

Tammy: Oh my God, this is SO good. It tastes like Kool-Aid.
Me: Let me try it.
Tammy: Ok… Wait. I don’t want you to ruin it with your oyster mouth.

I didn’t get to taste it.

We ended up being the only people out on the patio AND I had a oscillating fan blowing directly on my back.

We ordered our food and it was amazing. I got blackened red fish topped with crawfish over two fried green tomatoes and Hoppin’ John (rice with black-eyed peas, onion, bacon and salt). I also ordered a side of cheese grits.

Tammy got her wine and started with shrimp and artichoke bisque follwed by got crab legs for dinner.

Tammy: This is the best soup EVER!!

After emptying her cup…

Tammy: That soup was so frickin’ good… mmmm… I wanna come back here and eat again!!

I’m not sure if it was after the first or second glass of wine when Tammy couldn’t contain her excitement.

Tammy: I’m hella happy right now!!
Me: Me too. These are fancy grits.
Tammy: How are grits fancy?
Me: They are in a fancy bowl.

Favorite 4-Letter Word

We were winding down our dinner when the waiter asked if we were going to be in town Thursday night.

Me: Yeah… I know Poison is playing here but my Mom is coming into town Thursday.

He hands me a piece of paper good for four FREE tickets to Poison.

Me: OH WOW!! Looks like Mom may have to come in on Friday instead. That’s awesome!! Thanks!!

We had known Poison was going to be playing there but hadn’t planned on going to see them. But getting to see them for FREE caused us to reorganize our plans.

Doesn’t Get Better Than This…

All in all tonight was nearly perfect, minus the possible cockroach sighting. We were the only people on the patio (did I mention that I had a fan on my back the entire time?), had a delicious meal, including the “best soup ever,” and got FREE Poison tickets.

We headed back with smiles on our faces and full stomachs.

My mind was racing about going to see Poison. I bet Daniel and Dana wish they were still here!! I wonder if Mom will be mad? Will traffic be bad? What time should we leave? How many people will be there? Will it be the original band or the Bret Michaels Band?

This Tastes Weird

We got back to the room and broke out our desserts we brought home the night before from the Original Oyster House.

Apparently Tammy’s Kool-Aid wine was still having its way with her.

Tammy: This doesn’t taste like turtle cheesecake. What’d she say it was?
Me: Praline.
Tammy: Yup, tastes like praline. I thought he said turtle.

We polished off our desserts and crawled into bed.