Florida trip with hubby proves to have many highlights

Tammy Keith is along the Gulf Coast on vacation. This column, chronicling some of the highlights from a previous summer vacation, was originally published on June 3, 2012.

I don’t feel like it’s summer unless I’ve gone to the beach, and this was the first summer that my husband and I went alone to Destin, Florida.

When I was pregnant with my firstborn 22 years ago, we went with my husband’s then-single brother. From then on, it was with our two boys. Sometimes we’d throw in a girlfriend, a friend or other family members.

We expected to take my older son and his girlfriend again this summer, but they both got paid summer internships — my son in Texas — so they couldn’t go.

I missed them, especially playing card games at night, but it was a great trip.

A few highlights:

• Best new restaurant: Great Southern Cafe in Seaside, Florida, found using the Urbanspoon app on our iPhones. If you haven’t tried this app, it’s cool. People rate restaurants, so you can see the place’s approval rating, menu, etc.

• Best meal: A tie between Grits a Ya-Ya at Great Southern Cafe and pecan-crusted grouper at Dewey Destin.

• Best spontaneous activity: Because we found the new restaurant, we found a bookstore on the square, where I saw a poster for Beanie and His Bamboozling Book Machine. Before I saw his name listed, I knew immediately the play was written by Bob May, a University of Central Arkansas writing professor, whom both my boys had as a teacher.

The play was being performed on an outdoor stage. My husband got the Mexican blanket out of the car (finally after all these years of hauling it around, it came in handy), and we spread it on the lawn with all the other parents and kids. The actors in the Seaside Rep were impressive, and it was a fun time.

• Most annoying beach family: The beach always has a variety of characters. There was a whiny little girl, but I’ll have to give it to the nerdy couple with the two boys. The older boy enjoyed riding the waves on his boogie board. His fish-belly-white dad kept waving his hands and saying, “Deeper, deeper. Deeper, son. Go deeper. Go deeper.” The kid was perfectly happy close to shore, but it bothered his dad — and me to hear the Dad say “deeper” in his nasal voice over and over. He finally took a nap and let the kids play.

• Best beach family: The Nice family came and sat next to us one day. The dad had a calm voice and two sweet kids, a toddler son named Alex and a daughter of about 9 or 10 named Avery. I heard the dad tell the mother on his cellphone not to hurry down to the beach, “just chill.” He played in the sand with the little boy and took him out in the water. When the mother got there, she was cute and perky with her thick auburn hair in a ponytail. If you detect a note of envy, you are correct.

• Best new beach activity: Well, if you can call it an activity. I got a beach massage for the first time. I’ve had a lot of massages in my lifetime, but never one in public view. It was a “sunset” massage in an open-air tent, and it started at 7 when most people had gone. A breeze was blowing, and the ocean waves were softly crashing. Live music was playing at a nearby condo. A tinkle of laughter floated in once in a while. Then a teenage boy on a balcony above us yelled, “Massage it, yeah!” The massage therapist and I laughed. I opened my eyes to see the pink sunset, and when it was over, it was almost dark. My husband was waiting nearby to walk me “home.”

• Best realization: My husband said it was the most fun he’s ever had in Florida. We might be able to handle this empty-nest thing better than we thought.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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