Back in the USSR... not really... East TN... much better

We left Destin at 7:00 am EST which was 6:00 am Central Time which means we were up at 5:00 am this morning in order to get home at a reasonable hour since we had an 8.5 hour drive ahead of us...  and no telling how long we might be delayed due to construction, or traffic, or an accident...  

We stopped once for gas and use the restroom and a second time for something to eat most of which we ate in the parking lot before we returning to the Interstate.  We were delayed a little by construction and even less by traffic but it took us 9.5 hours to return to our home which means we were delayed about 30 minutes by our 2 stops and another 30 minutes by either traffic or construction or both.

In another hour, we had unloaded the car and put everything away from our trip although we are saving mowing of the lawn until tomorrow after we have gotten a good night's sleep....  so, in 10.5 hours we have just about been able to return to normal.

Two of our 3 cats met us at the door but our Siamese who gets really pissed off when we leave for more than a day or two, decided that he not show his face until a couple of hours after our return...  I guess he did not want to appear too eager to let us know that he missed us.

It was nice to have a vacation and eat out every night and it was nice to sit in chairs and watch the water...  even if it was the Gulf and not the Atlantic Ocean...  but, if the truth be known, I did the same damn thing down there that I did here, plus I had to spend all that extra money and drive for 18 hours...  not really sure if it was worth it or not... and unlike the Caribbean commercials my wife and I did not fall in love with each other all over again.

Last Day In Destin

Everything that we do has a beginning and an ending without fail and today represents out last full day on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Northern storms have finally found their way down south and have impacted this area adversely with falling rain.  For the last several days, we have been faced with overcast skies and afternoons where the sun unsuccessfully tried to break through...  but, it never rained, and we remained under the umbrella all day...  watching the rhythms of the Gulf crash along the shoreline.

As mentioned before in previous posts, my wife and I are not impressed with this area even though we like the deep white sands.  The restaurants are more expensive than other areas we have visited and remind us of prices you find UP NORTH in cities like WashDC and NYC...  and, while we have enough income to pay these increased prices when we want to, we would rather visit coastal areas like Myrtle Beach, SC where restaurants have cheaper prices and the cooked food is just as good.  Higher prices does not necessarily mean better taste.

It takes my wife and I over 8 hours to drive down to the Gulf and if you are wealthy, you can fly in 3 hours...  but, a better area for us to visit with LOTS TO DO is Myrtle Beach, SC which we can drive to in a little over 6 hours...  The beaches adjacent to the shorelines are about the same as are the living accommodations but the price to rent a condo is a couple hundred dollars less and the meals cost $10-20 less which includes at 15-18% tip.  The road traffic is about the same as well

THE BIG DIFFERENCE between these two resort areas are THE THINGS TO DO whether or not my wife and I want to take advantage of them...  they are still available to us whereas this is not the case in Destin.

GOOD BYE FLORIDA...

Day 3 at Destin

Yesterday was incredibly overcast and rather chilly on the Gulf Coast at the panhandle of Florida...and once again I am up at 7:00 am and after drinking a couple of YETI cups of coffee with Cappuccino Mix, I prepare 2 eggs with green onions, green peppers, turkey sausage, and mini tomatoes while watching FOX News on the local cable that is provided free-of-charge with the rental agreement.  And, once again I am inundated with the stupidity of the Democratic Party as I listen to unbiased news...  because I took the time to also compare my intake of news with CNN and CBS and have once again seen with my own two eyes and heard with my own two ears, a biased version of the news with much of the news omitted from broadcast...

And that censorship pisses me off, especially since I am a LIBERAL who thrives on TRUTH regardless of whether or not I like it or approve of the TRUTH...  as heard and understood.

I am fundamentally IN FAVOR OF providing goods and services to the poor and disadvantaged...  but, I am also fundamentally OPPOSED to going into debt in order to do this which includes TAXING THE WEALTHY to pay for this.  The wealthy should not be penalized financially simply because they are wealthy and lived their lives with the intent of becoming wealthy unlike those who lived their lives in order to avoid becoming wealthy.

If the wealthy want to share their wealth well that is altogether different.

We have a crisis with:

• Illegal Immigration
• National Debt Increase
• Citizens using illegal drugs
• A struggling economy
• A divided country
• Piss Poor Education K-12
• China's building military
• China's building economy
• China/Russia/North Korea Alliance
• China/Russia/Iran Alliance

Sandpipe Cove - Destin, FL

First Impressions on First Arrival...

We had been here before so we knew where the arrival desk was located and we knew that we had to check in at the Guard Desk to get our parking assignment and access codes...  so, none of that was a surprise to us...  and we knew how the condos were numbered so it was a simple matter of finding the right road that began with our number group.  But, what we did not expect was that the keys that we were given did not work...  and, the office manager that came to our rescue brought over about 6 different sets associated with this property and none of them worked either.

The office manager knew the condo had been inspected and the cleaning crew had gotten access so our very apologetic office manager called the crew, found out where they were and went to retrieve the key.  That key worked but we have gone into 90 minutes of wait time after our initial arrive.  We unpacked the car and got things situated inside...  now we are waiting on the office manager to return with our new set of keys...  and the waiting time before we can do anything has jumped to over 2 hours.

We were not in a hurry this morning when we left Montgomery, Alabama where we spent the night to break up our 8 almost 9 hours of drive time...  but, in the course of conversation with the office manager, we heard that our unit was good to go yesterday which mean we could have gotten into our condo upon arrival.

The weather forecast changed and we arrived at Destin in a barrage of afternoon showers which were not predicted yesterday or the day before when we checked...  however, Mother Nature can never be held accountable for anything that she does or does not do for vacationers.

Made in America

This morning on FOX News, it was reported that in Biden's first State of the Union Address to Congress. in addition to pushing his extremely bold and costly spending agenda and not really mentioning the crisis at the boarder, he articulated in no uncertain terms that his administration was going to push made in America or purchased in America which is somewhat redundant; however, it is the same rhetoric that was originally used by Donald Trump about which the Democrats and the liberals would not support...

Many of us should find that ODD INDEED.

Destin, Florida

I am watching FOX News in the breakfast room of Days Inn in Montgomery, Alabama because my wife and I are on our way to a vacation at a private condo with a private beach in Destin, Florida... and driving from TN to this location took us about 5-1/2 hours instead of the 8-1/2 it would have taken if we had driven straight through.  As we get older we understand and respect the fact that we can no longer drive long durations without stopping.

I awoke first and decided to have breakfast while my wife continued to sleep which brings me back to the origins of this post.

My breakfast consisted of several cups of coffee which always seems to taste better away from home than at home and a couple of tiny bran muffins that were sprinkled with oats on top.  The bran muffins were perfectly cooked and tasted better than most that I have had as I recall...  and, while I ate my breakfast, I watched FOX News on the screen mounted on the wall.

The trip to Montgomery was for all intents and purposes uneventful except for a couple of areas where driving through congested cities slow the traffic down a "tad," but for the most part, the vehicles on the interstate drove no slower than 80 mph and most of them were clipping along at 100 mph and wanted you out of their way immediately as they approach you from the rear.

Since we were not in a hurry, I maintained a speed of 75-80 mph which was still 5-10 miles over the posted speed limits  while most of my fellow drivers took those posted speed limits to be a suggestion rather than the law.

No matter where we stopped...  either at a rest area, a fast food, or a gas station, NO ONE was wearing their facemasks...  except us...  even though my wife and I have had both our COVID shots and it has been a month since our second one.

This morning we are going to remain at the Days Inn until we have to check out because the rest of our journey is only going to take 3 hours and we cannot check in until 5:00 pm so even if we left at noon, we would still have a 2 hour wait until we can get settled in...  knowing that, we decided that we would probably do our grocery shopping while we waited.

This is our first vacation in over a year due to COVID, the 3-4 maybe 5-6 that we normally take each year were cancelled or not booked because of COVID.  We are hoping that the weather will be nice on the Gulf Coast.