vacation, all I ever wanted..
Jul. 10th, 2005 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kassidy62..was NOT to get evacuated ahead of Dennis the Menace. I call it hellacious timing - my checkout time was 10 am Saturday, and Panama City Beach had a mandatory evacuation starting 7 am. No signs of the storm when we left, just a little cloud cover moving in, but the condos we stayed at were eerily empty. Nobody at the pool, laughing and playing. There were some folks still around the Front Beach Road and on the beach, though - just not the crowds of folks you expect to see in July.
Spent the 4th on the beach. The people there literally have their own fireworks show - I had to leave after awhile because of my asthma acting up with all the smoke around. Still a good time.
I think it was Wednesday that we went out for a walk on the beach - me, my two kids, my pal Cheryl and her teen, Amanda. Tropical storm Cindy was about, I guess - we were walking along, enjoying the ocean view when suddenly a big gray cloud appeared, extending down to the ocean surface. Looked ominous. Then it began to rain very hard and the wind rose. We were walking above the water line, but then the water rose very quickly, like a storm surge. Almost too fast to be believed, my littlest child was in up to her knees. We climbed out of the area and ran up towards the road with the wind and sand stinging our faces. The little one began to cry. I ended up picking her up and running most of the way back to the condo.
Before Cindy came in, our beach days were yellow (caution) flags. Nice waves. Then we got the single red (basically means dangerous)and we still went in, just not far. Then came a double red flag day - no one allowed in the water Thursday. We went to St. Andrew's Park and swam in what the employees there call the "Kiddie Pool" - an area protected by the jetties, very shallow and good for young kids. We saw a sting ray in the sand and what we thought was a dogfish. I thought it was a fish at first, a mottled brown, lying still on the sand beneath the water, but it had these things like wings that flapped now and again. Then it got up and walked off. Ugh. Also a small school of tiny fish that looked like seaweed - I'd never seen those before.
The next day we went to the beach, but seaweed was washing up everywhere. Drifts of it lay all over the shoreline and more drifted in huge patches over the surface of the water. Cheryl and Amanda, my husband and my kids (ages 4 and 7) had a seaweed fight. It wasn't slimy at all, just kind of scratchy. I stuffed some down the front of Amanda's suit. We'd gotten out of the water when a school of fish began jumping about. Twice. The seagulls were happy.
I saw no dolphins this year, though I did catch SOMETHING large jumping out in the water from the corner of my eye. Usually I manage to see a dolphin or two. Once, a long time ago, before it was illegal, I and my boyfriend (now hubby) paid for a snorkeling trip where you fed and swam with the dolphins. It was wonderful. Then one year we rented a boat and the dolphins came up to us (I have that on video tape - me squealing like a doofus over their appearance).
Now, back to reality. Sigh.
Spent the 4th on the beach. The people there literally have their own fireworks show - I had to leave after awhile because of my asthma acting up with all the smoke around. Still a good time.
I think it was Wednesday that we went out for a walk on the beach - me, my two kids, my pal Cheryl and her teen, Amanda. Tropical storm Cindy was about, I guess - we were walking along, enjoying the ocean view when suddenly a big gray cloud appeared, extending down to the ocean surface. Looked ominous. Then it began to rain very hard and the wind rose. We were walking above the water line, but then the water rose very quickly, like a storm surge. Almost too fast to be believed, my littlest child was in up to her knees. We climbed out of the area and ran up towards the road with the wind and sand stinging our faces. The little one began to cry. I ended up picking her up and running most of the way back to the condo.
Before Cindy came in, our beach days were yellow (caution) flags. Nice waves. Then we got the single red (basically means dangerous)and we still went in, just not far. Then came a double red flag day - no one allowed in the water Thursday. We went to St. Andrew's Park and swam in what the employees there call the "Kiddie Pool" - an area protected by the jetties, very shallow and good for young kids. We saw a sting ray in the sand and what we thought was a dogfish. I thought it was a fish at first, a mottled brown, lying still on the sand beneath the water, but it had these things like wings that flapped now and again. Then it got up and walked off. Ugh. Also a small school of tiny fish that looked like seaweed - I'd never seen those before.
The next day we went to the beach, but seaweed was washing up everywhere. Drifts of it lay all over the shoreline and more drifted in huge patches over the surface of the water. Cheryl and Amanda, my husband and my kids (ages 4 and 7) had a seaweed fight. It wasn't slimy at all, just kind of scratchy. I stuffed some down the front of Amanda's suit. We'd gotten out of the water when a school of fish began jumping about. Twice. The seagulls were happy.
I saw no dolphins this year, though I did catch SOMETHING large jumping out in the water from the corner of my eye. Usually I manage to see a dolphin or two. Once, a long time ago, before it was illegal, I and my boyfriend (now hubby) paid for a snorkeling trip where you fed and swam with the dolphins. It was wonderful. Then one year we rented a boat and the dolphins came up to us (I have that on video tape - me squealing like a doofus over their appearance).
Now, back to reality. Sigh.