Mexico Beach

Today I embarked on my first ever “girls’ trip.” I have always had friends that went with their other girl friends on beach vacations, but I have never been on one myself.

The trip started at 6:30 a.m. I kissed the boys goodbye (Finn woke up to make sure that he got a hug) and hopped in my newly cleaned van to head to Robyn’s house. I had originally intended to meet Samantha and Karen in Hendersonville, but I spent a little too much time with the boys and got behind. Instead, we met at Robyn’s house a little after 7:00.

Once we all arrived, we packed up the van and set out for 109. The van has really come in handy. We were able to get all of our suitcases, bag, pillow, etc. packed neatly into the van with room to spare.

We officially hit the road at 7:30 – the destination – Mexico Beach Florida. Samantha’s mom has a condo that she graciously let us rent at a ridiculously low price. The crew consisted of Samantha, Robyn, Karen and myself. Samantha sat up front with me; Robyn and Karen brought up the rear.

While the ride was long – I had a great time. We talked the whole way to the condo. I have no idea how we managed because the trip was 12 hours total. Now, not all of that was hard driving time. We spent a ton of time in super slow traffic on both sides of Birmingham; we stopped multiple times to go to the bathroom; and we stopped for lunch at Olive Garden in Verbena.

We also had the opportunity to take in the local flair. Robyn bought a local newspaper in a tiny little town in Alabama and read it to us, using best “small town Alabama” accent. The cover story was about a local woman who, while mowing her lawn, looked down to see a snake rapped around her leg. Thanks to her “long pants” and “sensible shoes” she avoided being bitten. Apparently, she was able to shake the snake loose and run over it with the lawn mower. The next thing she remembered was waking up the hospital. While she was not bitten – she did receive quite a shock. Hearing Robyn read this story in the first person was hilarious. She also read us the “Dear Abby” questions and responses.

Our second bit of local flair came in the form of a middle aged gentlemen wearing blue jeans adorned with a belt buckle that was “as big as a baby’s head” as Robyn puts it. He also had a short sleeved button up the front shirt that was completely unbuttoned and swinging wide open in the Alabama breeze. His free flowing shirt highlighted a chest full of blonde, curly hair. Upon seeing him, Robyn hooted and hollered. I looked away immediately, but Samantha said that he looked over at the van.

Out last stop before arriving at the condo was to Wal-Mart to pick up necessaries for the week. The whole time we were in the store I kept smelling the foulest smell. It seemed to follow me where I went so I came to conclusion that it had to be me. But, as it turns out, it wasn’t. I didn’t smell it anymore once I got in the car.

At 8:30ish we arrived at the Condo. It is enormous! It is also beautiful. I am so excited to spend the next few days here.

After getting everything unpacked, we made coffee and sat around a chatted until bedtime. We were exhausted!

Day 2 began at 7:00 with coffee and my F260 Bible reading out on the balcony. Karen and Robyn where both out there with me either reading or taking in the morning. Samantha joined us shortly thereafter and we ate breakfast. Next Samantha and I went on a long walk to try to work through some stiffness from sitting in the car the day before.

Around 11:00 we went out to the beach. Even though it is mid-July, the beach was not crowded at all. Apparently Mexico Beach is never really crowded. It was one of the most enjoyable beach locations that I have ever visited. Before walking over to the beach we stopped at the owner’s closet and grabbed chairs and umbrellas. We found a nice spot on the beach and relaxed for a while before getting in the ocean. The water was warm and clean.

At 2:00 we went back inside for lunch to reapply sunscreen. We ate lunch out on the balcony and talked for another hour. After lunch, Robyn, Samantha and I went to the pool. Then we carried the chairs back inside and got ready for dinner.

Robyn - shimmying to music that her husband put on her phone for her to listen to on the trip.

Karen - with her book.

Samantha!

Mexico Beach is great! Even though it was mid July, the beach was not crowded at all.

We ate dinner at Toucans - a quintessential beach restaurant right across the street from the condo. The food was really good – I ordered the Mahi with a pineapple curry sauce. After dinner we stopped at the Dollar General store for aloe.

We topped the evening off with coffee in the living room. We talked from the time we got home at 8:00 until 11:30. We really have a good time together!

FaceTime with the family.

Day 3: Well, I didn't take any pictures on our 3rd day, so I will just have to try to remember as best I can. Day 3 started with Robyn making an egg and spinach fritata for breakfast. Then we gathered all of our gear and went down to the beach. After about 20 minutes, the cloud grew very dark. The girls decided to go back to the room, but stayed down at the beach for another couple of hours. It never rained. Later that day Samantha and I took a stroll down the beach and then we got ready for supper. That evening we all laid on the couch and watched a movie before bed.

Day 4: This was our best beach day because it was sunny all day! Robyn and I went down to the beach around 10:00 and stayed until 3:30. We set up our chairs and umbrellas and talked the whole time. Around 2:30, Karen came down to sit with us. I really enjoyed my time with Robyn. After our showers we went to do a little souvenir shopping.