Have you ever heard of Destin Florida? I hadn't. Not until we were told that is where Dave's meeting was going to be. Then we got our flight itinerary. Now I know why I haven't heard of it. It's not easy to get there.
We had to leave Boise on a 6:25 am flight. Not too bad right? Right - if we were going in the right direction. We flew to Oregon. Which would have been great if the Oregon coast were our destination. So we went a negative 1/8 in direction. That's according to the Jody law of travel. ( for those of you who don't know me well, I'm not a good flyer. I have anxiety, not as bad as boats but it's still there.)
After we arrived in my hometown of Portland and deja vued our way thru the airport, we caught our flight to Dallas. Well that was good, and at least in the right direction. Guess where we flew? Yep right back over Boise. Makes sense. But at least we were 3/4 of the way there now.
So after eating some delicious Southern Green beans at a BBQ place in the airport, we caught our flight to Elign airforce base/fort Walton. That was the longest taxi on a runway I have ever been on. It took about a half hour. But it was cool to see all the fighter jets and everything.
We got our little gutless wonder of a rental car and headed toward Destin. The hotel was nice and we looked out at the beautiful water and beaches. I ordered room service and finally ate my dinner about 10:00 pm. Long day for a wary traveler like me. I slept like a rock. I'm sure the 3 dramamine's I took helped.
So the first day Dave had his 4 hours meeting and I slept in, did some yoga, took a nice leisurely bath. Then we put our swim suits on and headed for the beach. Can I say AMAZING! I have never felt sand like that in my life. It was seriously like powdered sugar. It was great. I kept digging my toes in the sand, so soft. Anyway we played in the water, laid under an umbrella and had an ice cream. Then headed up to get ready to go to dinner.
We had some delicious food at a place called Bud and Ally's. Turns out Bud is a cat. Good to know. Still didn't get us seated any faster. But the food was tasty and company was great.
Then we went back and watched a movie and crashed again.
Next morning (Saturday) we went golfing. It was fun, but I was already sweating before I reached the course. I forgot about the humidity down south. Good thing I hadn't showered yet. EWWWW! I know. So we had a lovely round of 18. The course was beautiful. Then lunch and back to the beach. The waves were pretty big so Dave went boogie boarding and body surfing while I hung with the other ladies. We did get approached by some college guys to see if we wanted some Kahluah. I don't know how to spell it. We all happened to be LDS so we turned him down. He seemed a little shocked. But it was a little flattering anyway.
Back to the room for a nap and got cleaned up and then went to a steak and lobster dinner. It was yummy. I so overate the whole time I was there. Means it was a good trip.
We got up the next day, did a work out, packed, got breakfast and headed out the door. We went to the biggest factory outlet mall in the US. It was giant. Any store and every store was there I think. I got some T shirts and we headed out to the little AFB/Airport. About 15 minutes away we realized we weren't seeing any gas stations and had to fill up the car to return it so we turned around and headed back the other direction.
We fill up at this little station and while there find out that you can't buy beer until 1:00 pm but the next town you could buy it anytime. So some guy was having to wait 10 minutes for his beer. We also saw they had adult films for sale at the gas station. There were also bongs for sale too. We were told the films and such were educational. Interesting and good to know. :)
So we made it to the airport and got all checked in. I should have known the travel was going to be iffy, because our first flight was 7 minutes late leaving. Yep 7 minutes. Isn't that just a random amount of time? Taking off and flying above the coast line was awesome. The water was so blue and the sand white. It was pretty spectacular. That flight was ok. A few bumps but it was a short 43 minutes. So we were good.
Here's where the drama begins. After we got some food and sat down at the gate, they had the weather playing on the TV. There were severe storms from Texas to Minnesota, or Minnesota to Texas however you want to look at it. This is bad news for nervous fliers like me. Of course I start freaking out. Silently of course. I was the picture of calm on the outside. Good for me.
We got on the plane and then it happened. That's right. The delay. The continuous delay for about an hour and a half. They even started the inflight movie. Well we only had an hour layover in Salt Lake so we were starting to get a little stressed.
The reason for the delay? They kept changing our route due to the storms. So while we waited we thought about our options. If we missed our connection the next flight to boise was the next night. Or at least that's what the web site was telling us. Then we realized we had to be home. Paul and Jenny were watching our kids, and Paul had a busy day just like Dave and the kids had school. So Dave started looking up rental cars. Really not looking forward to a 5 hour drive.
Finally they got us underway on the original route and we got in the air. Not the best flight but definitely not as bad as I was expecting. The first hour and a half the flight attendants didn't even get up, we ended up having to go a little bit thru one of the storms, but still not too bad. They played another movie since we watched the one on the ground. Kept us occupied.
Dave went and talked to the flight attendants about our predicament and when we were close to Salt Lake they found someone to switch seats with us. We were near the back of the plane and the really nice people who gave up their seats were next to the door. So as we hit another storm in Salt Lake and tried to navigate up the aisle with our bags, I have a really deep admiration for flight attendants and their sense of balance. Anyway we landed and got to the gate at 9:30. our flight was supposed to leave at 9:35.
I have never run so fast in flip flops. I will tell you luck was on our side because our other plane was at the gate next door. So we ran from the one and on to the other as they shut the doors a couple of minutes behind us. Turns out they were a little late getting in too. Yay!! Never thought I'd be happy about a plane taking off late.
We made it home. Paul and Jenny got to go to their home. I slept in my own bed and didn't have to drive 5 hours. My sweet kids were sleeping sound. I kissed them all. I really appreciate the help and kindness the flight attendants gave us.
When we got home, I realized we took 2 camera's and didn't take one single picture. WHAT THE???
Oh well at least I can picture it all in my head! It's too bad you can't see it too.
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