What I Did On My Summer Vacation – Day 4 - A Guide to Beach Fashion For Boomers

Though Disney World was the primary motivation for us choosing Orlando as our vacation destination, our research told us to avoid Sunday’s at the Magic Kingdom due to high attendance.  So – since our first full day in Florida was a Sunday, we headed for the grandkids new favorite destination – the beach - instead of the Magic Kingdom.  Luckily, Cocoa Beach was only a half-dozen toll booths east of our hotel.

Arriving early, we staked our rented beach umbrella in a prime location on the dry side of the high tide line by 10:15 am.  It was a beautiful, warm day with a nice breeze and chance of rain in the afternoon, which pretty much describes the majority of days in Florida.

My Wife Holding Down Fort Reece
At Cocoa Beach

As the kids played in the surf under their parents watchful eye and my wife lounged under the umbrella, I took a walk to the pier.  “Wouldn’t it be nice” I thought, “if I could get matching t-shirts for my 3 grandkids and me?”

No luck with that idea at the Cocoa Beach pier.  Maybe Ron Jon’s Surf Shop would be able to help make my matching t-shirt dream a reality later in the day.

Note the diversity of
swim suit attire

As I walked the shoreline, I saw great diversity in the seaside attire of my fellow beach-goers.  Personally, I believe that for every birthday over age 65, a person considerate of other people’s feelings should add one piece of clothing to their beach attire.  Smokey Greene sums up my sentiments in this little ditty called “I Just Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore!”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6jhPBHe238

Back at our umbrella, the kids were getting spooked by the jelly fish washing up on shore.  Luckily, these were not the stinging Portuguese Man-of-War jelly fish.  They were transparent and gooey with no stingers but they still had the kids spooked, especially if they inadvertently stepped on one.  Especially Brooklyn, who was already miffed that the ocean had rudely picked her up and dumped her on her head, and then did it again once she regained her feet.

After 3 hours of fun in the sun, we returned our beach furniture and walked the two blocks to Ron Jon’s Surf Shop.

We all went our separate ways as soon as we hit the entrance.  My first stop was the children’s dept. where I was able to find 3 identical t-shirts in the right sizes for my grandkids.  “Do they make these in adult sizes?” I asked the clerk.  “Yes they do” – he said.  “Try that rack right over there.”

“Bingo!”  I found an identical shirt in XL.  Usually I wear medium or large, but it was the only one they had so I decided to try it on.  A guy my age unlocked the fitting room door and found me a stall.

As I tried on the shirt, it seemed a little tight.  “What do you think?” I asked the clerk, who I later decided must work on commission.  “It seems a little tight to me” I added.  “Nah, it looks great!  Wear it down to the beach and you’ll look just like everyone else.”

Not convinced, I called my wife on the phone and gave her directions how to find me.  “I’d like your opinion” I said.  In the distance, I saw her and my son heading my way.  As they approached, I had my answer with not a word spoken.  They both had looks on their faces like they had just spotted our two-year old grandson picking up a copperhead.   “That’s a compression shirt.  Look for one that says “Loose fitting”’ chipped in a fellow shopper who was a complete, but honest, stranger.

Bottom line – my grandkids all got matching shirts and look adorable.

Three out of four ain't bad.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Day 2 - She's Been Waiting For This Day Since 1923

After a day of delays and unexpected expenses on Day 1, Day 2 started with a windfall.  The tooth fairy left $5 under my grandson’s pillow.  Then, while exploring the room where he had spent the night, he found 5 five-dollar bills rolled up together under a foot-stool.  Maybe the tooth fairy got a little careless.

By 8 am we were on the road. 

By 9 am CDT we had crossed the Georgia state line – twice due the weird shapes of Tennessee & Georgia where the states meet and meet again - and lost an hour when we entered the eastern daylight time zone.

By 4:30 PM, we were parked at Forsyth Park in Savannah, Ga., one of the most beautiful parks in one of the most beautiful cities in America.  Between admiring the monuments, the fountains, and the beautiful live oak trees adorned with moss, the kids burned off some energy at the playground.

Then we headed for the beach.

At 5:48 pm I paid for 2 hours parking near the pier on Tybee Island. 

Within minutes, the kids were changed into their bathing suits and headed down the boardwalk to the beach.  My wife and I, her still recovering from foot surgery and a recently strained knee, were not far behind. 

When we reached the point where the boardwalk ended and the sand began, we encountered a family with an elderly lady in a wheelchair trying to figure out how to negotiate the sand to the shoreline.  Pointing to the lady in the wheelchair, one member of the party told me “She’s 94-years-old and this is her first time at the beach!”  With a member of her family on each side of the wheelchair and me and at the back, we lifted the wheelchair and kept the old lady aloft across the soft sand to the hard-packed sand where the surf met the shore.

“Where you all from?” I asked.

“Shelbyville, Tennessee” said one of the wheelchair bearers.

“We just went through there on a detour yesterday!”  I said. “That’s near where they caught those escaped convicts."

“Yeah, we were down here and those bad guys were up by our house!”  said one of the guys.

Just the way I’d want it.

First Time At The Beach for the Youngest
And Oldest in this Picture

Since it was also my 2-year-old grandson’s first time to the beach, I took a picture of him and the 94-year-old lady together.  She may have been born in 1923 and him in 2014 but both shared the same fascination at the beauty and wonder of the waves that have been relentlessly washing the sand since the beginning of time.  One of the two was considerably more impatient than the other in wanting to get the picture taking over with, though.

We had spent 30 hours getting there, but the 3 1/2 hours we spent in Savannah and on Tybee Island was a nice reward.

But it was not our final destination.

At 7:48 pm, not a minute of paid parking wasted, we headed back through Savannah to southbound I-95. 

With no reservations.

As we drove, we began our search for a place to spend the night.

The options fell into two categories:

1. No Vacancy! and

2. No Cheapskates!

When I was a teenager, I tried to spend no more than $3 a night for a place to stay.  Nowadays, the average runs about $100 a night.  The asking price along I-95 in south Georgia was $140.  FINALLY, in Brunswick, Ga, we found a nice Comfort Suites for $89 a night.  As we sealed the deal and were handed the keys to two rooms, the desk clerk said “We are officially sold out.” 

 Sure glad she said that after we checked-in instead of before.

 

Two generations of Reeces at Tybee Island, Ga.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation – Day 1 - Delays, Detours and Mechanical Breakdowns

Sleep usually comes hard the night before we leave on vacation and this year was no exception.  High winds and lightning put on a celestial sound and light show outside our home, but other than our trash can being upended and our newspaper being blown across the road we escaped unscathed.

This year’s vacation involves 2 cars and 7 people.  My son and his family will be accompanying my wife and me to Orlando to go to Disney World.  For 3 kids, ages 2, 6 & 9, it will be an endless stream of delights.  For two geezer grandparents, the delight will primarily come in watching the grandkids enjoy Disney World's endless stream of delights, which makes it well worth it.

Typically, when we head east, my wife and I are usually in St. Louis by 8 am.  This trip, Moleia, the mole dog, will be boarding at the Vet, whose office doesn’t open until 7:30.  Oh, well.  We will miss the St. Louis rush hour. 

 

My wife and I headed to town to grab some coffee and run a couple of last minute errands until the dog was safely in her temporary new quarters.  At 7:20 my phone rang.  Slight delay – the Vet’s office does not open until 8:30 on Thursdays.

At 9 am, 3 hours later than normal, we departed Jefferson City.  

A few minutes before we stopped for lunch at a Subway west of Marion, Il., a red light appeared on the dash of my son’s car.  Electrical problem.  Google directed us to the nearest Honda dealer.  When we arrived, cars were lined up awaiting service. 

“I’ll do my best, but I’m not sure if I can even look at it today” said the Service Rep.  “And then I may have to order a part”.  Mentally, we began assessing our options.

Option 1 – Spend the night in Marion and let the kids swim at a motel while the car was being repaired.  On to TripAdvisor.com I went to search for deals.  What I saw astounded me.  Drury Inn - $175 per night.  Holiday Inn Express - $199 per night. Hampton Inn - $169 per night.

We Lost An Alternator and a Tooth in
Marion, Illinois

“Wow” I said to Dan, the Honda Salesman.  “Motel rooms are high around here.  Is something going on?”

“Are you kidding me?”  he replied.  “Nothing ever goes on in Marion.  Oh – wait.  There is a Toby Keith concert tomorrow!”

Option 1 – out.

Option 2 – Trade cars.  My son and his wife had been considering it anyway.  While the negotiations began, my wife and I found a park and took the kids to play.   While there, Gavin lost a tooth that had been loose for a while.  After 30 minutes, my son called.  The negotiations were at a stalemate. 

Option 3 – Rent a car. 

Bingo.

At 4 pm, we transferred everything from my son’s car to the rental car and left my son’s car in Marion to be repaired.

We were 4 hours behind schedule.  Eastbound and down.  Traveler’s tip – Nashville traffic is not too bad after 7 pm on a week night.  Then, another warning!  Google maps warned of an unspecified delay ahead on I-24.  We stopped for dinner, hoping it would clear.

It didn’t.  It got worse.  When we finished dinner, I-24 was completely shut down.  At Shelbyville, Tn., Google maps directed us south into the darkness of the hills, hollers and narrow two-lane roads of rural Tennessee on a 26-mile detour.  In the back seat I heard my six-year-old granddaughter whisper to her nine-year-old brother “We’re gonna die!”  “Well” I responded.  “At least you’ve had six good years!”  “I’ve had nine good years!” chipped in her brother.

One white-knuckle hour after leaving I-24, our detour reunited us with I-24.

After checking into our hotel at Manchester, Tn., a bulletin popped onto my phone that explained the reason for our detour.  Two escaped Georgia prisoners who had murdered two prison guards had been captured by rural homeowner Patrick Hale of Christiana, Tn., just south of I-24.  When warned the fugitives were in the area, Mr. Hale later told police “I loaded every weapon in my house.”  Then, when he actually saw the fugitives emerge from the woods 300 yards from his home, he grabbed his wife and little girl and got in his car to get away.  Something strange happened next.  The escaped prisoners took off their shirts, waved them in the air, and then laid face-down in the Hale driveway with their hands behind their heads.  Per Mr. Hale, “My vehicle looks like a police cruiser.  I realized I had two ex-cons wanted for murder who had just shot at law enforcement who had nothing to lose and for some reason they surrendered and laid down on the concrete in my driveway.  If that doesn’t make you believe in Jesus Christ, I don’t know what does!”

I felt pretty much the same way when we safely pulled up to the front door of our motel after a day of delays, detours, mechanical breakdowns - and captured murderers.