Beach For The Day

This past weekend, my sister and I decided to take a trip to Florida "for the day." Yep,we planned a 4 hour ride just to spend a few hours on the beach and eat at our favorite restaurant. My sister used to live in the Ft. Walton Beach area, so the drive didn't seem as silly to us, considering the multiple times I'd traveled to her house just for the weekend.

We'd planned the trip a couple weeks in advance. We would leave at 7 am, get to the area around 12, grab some lunch, head to the beach, sunbathe until around 7, then head home, but not before having supper at Azteca Mexican Restaurant in Crestview. I was pretty excited to spend my one day on the beach. Friday rolled around and I decided to go out for drinks with friends, knowing we were leaving at 7 am. 3:30 am rolls around and I'm climbing into bed. Luckily, I wasn't the one driving, so I got to get some more sleep.

When we finally made it to the beach, we realized the particular beach we were going to closed at 5. You're probably thinking "what beach closes?" What I mean is the particular parking area which had facilities equip with hot showers, so we didn't have to spend the 4 hour ride home wet and sandy.

We decided we would head back to the car at 4:30, so that we had time to shower before the ride home. When 4:30 rolled around, we were not quite ready to leave. We decided to find a hotel room for the night, so that we could have more beach time. We weren't quite satisfied with our tans yet. We headed to the hotel, but not before stopping at a few of the souvenir shops on the way. We picked up some supper and called it a day.

The next day we were up bright and early, had our coffee, and prepared for another day on the beach. We spent about 2 1/2 hours on the beach, and had enough. We washed up and stared our trip home. We stopped at Azteca for a late lunch, and headed west. When we got to Mississippi, we stopped to fill up, which is when we realized the damage we had done to our skin that morning.

I have NEVER been this sun-burnt in my life! Only 2 1/2 hours on the beach, and we were burnt to a crisp. I never realized how painful a sunburn could be. It hurts to walk, sit, stand, and just move. The pain is so intense, that when I try to stand, the muscles in my legs tense up. Even the bottoms of my feet are burnt! I am miserable, but I have no one to blame, but myself. I have a bad habit of tanning without sunscreen, except on my face. (I'm worried I won't get my full potential tan if I block the sun) Well, I tell you what, I learned my lesson the hard way! You live and you learn.

The moral of the story, ALWAYS wear sunscreen, boys and girls!