Just Lauren

All last week (Saturday to Saturday) I was in Destin, Florida, relaxing with my family. I was on vacation! I let my real life fall off along with any and all anxieties and worries and I legit enjoyed myself. Oh my goodness it was wonderful. I’m so glad covid has died down enough that I can travel and actually go places. I SAW THE OCEAN. I GOT IN THE OCEAN. Then I ran from the ocean when I learned about sea pigs (or sea piggies as I called them all week). Their real names are mole crabs or sand fleas. They are these gross crustacean creatures that lived right under the wet sand (where the tides come and go). If the water was especially forceful, it would pull some of the sea pigs out from their holes as the water returned to the ocean and the pigs would rush out, grazing your leg on occasion. I immensely disliked them, especially when Shari and I found an entire colony of the monsters as we sat on the beach watching the sunset one evening. Their little antennae poked out from their many many holes and it was disturbing. I ran. Thankfully they only came out in the evenings so most of the time I was in the ocean I didn’t have to interact with them.

Anyway! My week was filled with kayaking (cross that off my #30 before 40 list!), snorkeling and shell hunting, a sunset cruise, and hiking in a state park. I also spent lots of time on the beach and in the pool. It was a blast. We stayed at a really nice condo on the 15th floor so we got to not only have a fantastic view of the ocean, we got to watch pelicans and hawks fly by our balcony every day. We went bowling, ate dinner at a restaurant along the water, completed a puzzle (that was mostly Kaitlin, but I did a few pieces), and walked along a pier where both Kaitlin and Kevin caught a fish. We saw dolphins in the ocean almost every day. These few sentences don’t really describe the joy, love, and peace I felt but if I tried to really lay it all out, we’d be here for days. You’ll just have to ask me about the trip next time we see each other. 😉

The weather was great – 80 degree highs that felt like 90 degrees. The sun came out every day except our last and the ocean water was not cold (in the afternoons it was actually warm). I had many sweet moments with Emily and Ollie and many funny moments with Kaitlin. She taught me I should be washing my towel after every 3 uses, not once a month like I currently do…oops. Well, I’ve survived this long (but I did grab a new towel as soon as I got home).

I have sorely been missing traveling these past two years because of covid so getting this chance was truly a privilege. It sparked that desire to travel even more within me and I’m hoping I can figure out how to squeeze in two more trips this year, even if one is just a long weekend to the mountains. I’m still of the opinion that our work culture should be one of 20-30 hour work weeks with lots of vacation. How do I help make that happen?

Back to the trip. I have way too many great pictures to share so I made this photo album for anyone who’s interested to flip through if you want to see more. My phone did a great job of altering the ocean pictures (including the one above), so while those photos are gorgeous, it wasn’t quite that pretty in real life. But it was close! Enjoy, and hopefully this inspires you to go on a vacation sometime soon yourself, assuming it’s in your budget.