My Uncle Mike, his wife, Suzy, and my cousin, Nick, live in PCB, which is the real reason we decided to go there for spring break. We had a blast visiting with them, and, of course, going to the beach. My uncle is a retired Navy diver, who still works on NSA Panama City as a civilian. NSA Panama City has the greatest MWR outdoor recreation and marina. There are cabins, a small RV park, playground and beach area, and a marina on St. Andrews Bay. We stayed in one of the cabins, which was really cool! We rented kayaks and SUP boards from the marina, and played on the playground and the little beach. The base is also really close to the beach, like less than 10 miles from the beach.
I was so excited to see my uncle and cousins, (my cousins, Aleshia, and Joe, came in to town to see us too.), that I forgot to take any pictures the first two days we were there. Duh. I'm such a bad photographer because I always forget to take pictures.
Friday afternoon, after we arrived, we met with my cousins, Nick and Aleshia, and Aleshia's young sons, Garrett, and Corbin. We had dinner together, and let the kids play on the playground for a while. Then we walked over to the docks in the marina, and found some crabs and fish in a crab trap. We played with the crabs a little, and ran around on the docks a lot. After our long drive there, it was good to get some running around in before we went back to the cabin and went to bed.
Early Saturday morning, Uncle Mike took us to the beach. I had mentioned to him that we wanted to go to the beach early in the morning, before all the college spring breakers were out, crowding the place up. I also said that I thought it would be fun to mess with the spring breakers who had passed out on the beach, and were still there in the morning. Uncle Mike took this to mean that I wanted to see the place where spring break was happening for the college students. What I really meant was that I didn't know there was a part of the beach where the spring breakers weren't going to be, so I was trying to make the best of a yucky situation. So, first thing Saturday morning we went to 'ground zero' of the college spring break scene. It was horrendous! Trash everywhere. I mean everywhere! It looked like someone had over turned a few garbage trucks and spread the contents out over the beach and surrounding area. Nothing like stepping over used condoms, beer bottles, cans, cups, and various other party items on the beach. Once we were finished being disgusted by the mess the college students had made of the beach, (and the part of town close to the beach), we went to St. Andrews State Park. This was MUCH better! Perfect, in fact. Beautiful! Clear, turquoise water, pristine, white sand. Amazing!! After spending a couple of hours on the beach, soaking in the beauty, and having a great visit with my uncle, we went back to the cabin, ate lunch, and rested a little. Saturday evening, we went to Uncle Mike's house for dinner. He made the BEST ribs I have EVER eaten!! We all made ourselves fat and happy on ribs, then sat around and visited, until Nathan decided it was time to go and started screaming and crying and acting like a toddler possessed.
Sunday morning, we all met at a little restaurant at the beach called Liza's. The food was great, the company was even better! I took the first pictures of our trip during that brunch.
After brunch, my cousin, Nick, came back to the cabin with us. I rented two kayaks from the marina, (a two person, and a one person), and Nick took Gabriel and Annalise out in the bay. My kids had never been in a kayak before. They LOVED it!! I took a few pictures of them paddling around by the bridge that connects Panama City to Panama City Beach, but then Nathan needed a nap, so he and I went back to the cabin while the big kids played on the water. At some point during the afternoon, they traded in the two person kayak for a SUP board. They all tried it, and they all fell off and got soaked! They had fun with it though. (SUP stands for Stand Up Paddle, this board is also called a YOLO (You Only Live Once) board. It's essentially a large surf board that you stand on and paddle through the water with a canoe-type paddle. It looks pretty easy, but you've got to have good balance.) (There's a place in Jacksonville called Black Creek Outfitters that teaches a yoga class on SUP boards. CRAZY!!) Those kids were out on the bay ALL DAY going back and forth between kayaking and SUP boarding. They had a BLAST!! Nick is an amazing person. He is 15, but he had no problem whatsoever spending the day hanging with a 13 year old and a 9 year old. Gabriel and Annalise were in love with him by the time the day was over!
Annalise and Nathan and I went back to the beach (the good beach at St. Andrews State Park) early Monday morning, and this time I took pictures. I couldn't get over how clear the water was. I walked in the shallows and found the best shells, and a whole sand dollar. There are pieces of sand dollars all over the beach, but it's difficult to find whole ones. The water was so clear that I could walk in the shallows and see what was on the bottom. Plus, the color of the water is spectacular there. Turquoise and green and blue and every shade in between. I tried to capture all of that in the pictures I took, but pictures never do beauty justice, (at least not when I take them). The beaches we have here, on the Atlantic are pretty, but the water isn't clear, and it isn't usually blue. It's usually gray, and brown, and all shades in between. Down in South Florida, in the Miami area, the Atlantic is blue and green and beautiful, but not up here. The gulf side of Florida has stunning beaches.
Suzy had been in South Florida taking care of her mom all weekend, and got back to PCB on Monday morning. We got to spend the afternoon and evening with her. I'm glad we didn't miss her entirely. It was great to catch up with her. Nick is the captain of his tennis team at school, and had invited us to come see his match on Monday afternoon. Suzy took us to the match, and entertained Nathan as long as he would let her entertain him, so I could watch the match. She's a great grandma person! We got to see part of the match, but not nearly enough of it. Nathan was a typical two year old at a sporting event. He didn't want to stay on, or near the bleachers, he wanted to run rampant through the parking lot and other places. Suzy kept up with him for a little while, but in the end, we just had to go. We were bummed we couldn't stay longer, and even more bummed when Nick texted us after the match to tell us that he won. It would have been cool to see him win the match! Oh well.
Tuesday morning was devoted to packing up, and cleaning the cabin so we could come home. We'd had to board Val, and they'd had to sedate her while she was there, so I was very anxious to get home and get her out of her sedated stupor. Turns out, she wasn't in a stupor, she was just sedated enough to not be nervous. Sheesh!! And here I was stressing!! Ah well.
All in all, a very good trip. Not nearly long enough though. I'm so glad Nathan was well enough to go. Next time we go, which will hopefully be this summer, we will stay longer. Have you ever gone to visit someone, and had such a good time with them that you think, "Why don't I keep in better touch with these people??" Yeah, that's how I felt after this trip.
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