Monday, January 25, 2010

Blue Monday - Exploring Ft. Walton Beach

Many people think of lying on the beach in the sand while visiting the coast. We visited in Dec., the week before Christmas. There weren't many people out and about, so we had the beach pretty much to ourselves for walking, sitting, etc. I had always wanted to visit the beach in the winter.

I was not disappointed - we had a wide range of weather during our visit. They experienced a "cold snap" according to a local. It was still quite pleasant to us, although we did wear a jacket in the evening. The wind was a little blustery one day & we had the scary experience of being in tornado warnings one afternoon. But the storms didn't last long and we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets afterwards. I will share them at a later date.

I must tell you of our visit to Wal-Mart. What vacation is complete without a visit to the local Wal-Mart. This just happened to be the day of the storms. As we are leaving the condo, the rain begins. Good thing the umbrellas are still in the car! We take them into Wal-Mart as a precautionary measure....We shop & find all of the essentials (and a few nonessentials) that we will need for our stay. After checking out, we notice a large group congregated in the entrance. As we approach, we see that we will not be able to stand there as it is full and it is raining...raining heavily! Finally we get the umbrellas up & decide to make a dash for it! You've got three women with umbrellas, purses and bags trying to make a dash for the truck....to find that they can't locate the truck! Oh no!!!! The wind is whipping, we are getting drenched...searching rows, upon rows to find the gray truck. My umbrella is caught by the wind. It is turned inside out - fills with water - then the wind catches it - turns it back down and you guess it....water flows like a waterfall over my head...numerous times. The water was very cold, so each time I screeched very loudly! So during the torrential downpour with whipping winds, three women running to and fro..laughing like lunatics and looking like drowned rats have people wondering what they are doing. Finally, we locate the truck! We'll never forget that shopping trip. We made it back to the condo...took off our clothes and put them in the dryer...wondering why we had taken such care to get ready that morning. Sorry no pictures of the three drowned rats!
























Catholic Church


















Calm Ocean

























I think he liked posing for us.





















A bit of a wave.


















Sunset with a hint of blue sky.























Interesting column. Thousands of seashells.


Visit Smiling Sally for more Blue Monday posts.

14 comments:

SmilingSally said...

Those pictures don't reflect that story. What a drenching! Happy Blue Monday, Debbie!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Oh, how well I know about being drenched in Florida having lived here lo these many, many years. LOL! Loved the story and your pics. Glad you had fun!

XO,

Sheila :-)

The Quintessential Magpie said...

I guess I should have said that when it rains here, it really pours! ;-)

Chubskulit Rose said...

The seashells are gorgeous!

Blue Sky

Delightfully Wed said...

Sally, the pictures show lovely weather and that's what we had all but those few hours. After the 2-3 hours, the sun was out & it was gorgeous once again.

Sheila - We did take a drenching...but it was a hoot after we got over the initial shock! We still laugh to this day. Your very changeable FL weather provided us with memories that will last forever. :) We had a blast!

Chubskulit - the seashell column was gorgeous. I've never seen one like it - very unique.

Thanks everyone for coming by and commenting. :)

Marice said...

what a lovely post and photo! cant wait for the summer now :)

u may view mine here

LV said...

With all your problems, you turned them into a great feature for Blue Monday. All you scenes are very good. Thank you for stopping by little place.

Unknown said...

LOL..I fell off my chair when you talked about the WalMart..LOL'
Visiting the out of town ones...What are we looking for, Wrangler..LOL
Must be country gal thing (wink)

The Muse said...

Well poo, my beloved had logged on...LOL...the above was from me! LOL

Self Sagacity said...

Pretty pictures.

Unknown said...

Awesome photos! Love the sunset & bird ... glad you all dried out well.

Please check your settings to follow me on new blog,
blushingrosetoo.blogspot.com

Have a wonderful week.
TTFN ~ Marydon

The Muse said...

Hope to see you at www.myladydujour.com I have some art of mine there on todays post
and
at www.adivashammer.com I have some lovely flowers with poetry.
Love you Wrangler...You all watching the big game?

The Muse said...

HURRAH my goat buddy is back!!!

The Muse said...

wrangler...i am now following anonymously, due to some stalking issues, i could not simply eliminate you from my reader!...)wanted to let you know, why my avatar will not show in the follow list :) (at least for a while)...HUGS!