Sometimes you don't know what you've been missing until you have it again and you realize how very much you missed it!! Robin and I haven't taken a "vacation" in several years now. (Thank you Mr. Economy!!) Now I'm truly not feeling too sorry for myself because I know that many people never get to indulge in a little R&R. However, one of mine and Robin's favorite things to do has always been to "get away from it all" and regroup. I know it's been at least 2 years, perhaps longer since we've had any time to get away for some Peace and Tranquility.
Robin's sister and her husband (Nancy & Al) have a cute little beach house in Surfside, Tx.
It's not very big and they bought it in it's original 1960 charm. But Nancy is super creative and has made it into a precious one room beach cottage they they have named "Be Still" from the scripture “Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10 Robin has spent some time down in Surfside within the past few years doing work on the beach house as well. And because of this, we realized we have NEVER visited when he hasn't been working on it. But this weekend we were able to get away for a quick little trip. Seriously we have been trying to get away since early April. We have literally had something every weekend since April which prevented our little trip.
As you may know (from my previous post), this past Thursday was our 39th wedding anniversary. We really had not planned it this way, but it just so happened that this was the first weekend we had open to be able to slip away.
I wasn't super-excited about our little journey - since neither of us are beach lovers. But hey, when it's free and available - you take what you can get!! Robin picked me up from work at 5pm on Friday. We quickly stopped at the Walmarts to pick up some little snackie food and drinks for the weekend. Robin truly can't go more than 48 hours without his addiction of Lime Flavored Doritoes. We finally made it to Surfside around 8pm. We were starving by then and headed straight to the Red Snapper Inn - which may be the only "fancy" restaurant in Surfside. And please note - I use the word "fancy" very loosely.
I absolutely LOVE oysters and have really had a craving lately. So, only appropriate, I ordered fried oysters and shrimp. YUM! Robin and I were too hungry to pay much attention to the other guests but we're pretty sure the couple behind us were on their first date. They obviously were older than the typical version of "first date teens"! It was so much fun to eavesdrop on their conversation of their first date! They talked about everything from their kids, their religion (he told her he read his bible everyday!!) and their house remodels. They both had stained concrete in their houses. He was very quick to tell her that he had raised both his boys all on his own with NO help!! I just love to people watch - or in this case "people-hear"!! My back was to them so I could do was "listen"!!
We finally made it to the sweet little cottagy beach house, Be Still after inhaling our dinner! We had yet to Be Still but we were certainly looking forward to it. While at the Walmarts we picked up some Redbox movies (the greatest invention in movie rental since VHS!!) We started watching a comedy with Jennifer Aniston which we realized fairly quickly that it wasn't really funny! We were both so tired it didn't take us long to start snoozing during the movie! That's never unusual for the hubs - but my body is still adjusting to employment hours so with a tummy full of oysters and shrimp - my eyelids were struggling too!
Now the only thing about this precious, adorable, quaint cottagy beach house that it's not....well, how can I say this gently....comfortable....with the sleeping arrangements. Since it is only one big room with a sort-of alcove to one side....all there is for sleeping is a fold-out couch, a cot (but cute cot) in the living area and in the little alcove there is a daybed. It's got a great comfy mattress but it tends to be warm in there since the window unit doesn't seem to want to cool that nook too much. The couch bed feels just like Aunt Ethel's 50 yr old sofa bed with the bar stabbing you right in the back. And this sofa is the only bed that you could possibly snuggle with another person on, but in reality it's more like squeezing - not snuggling. Because you always roll to the middle and end up squeezing the person to death! So needless to say, with our full bellies, very sleepy bodies, we just crawled into two separate sleeping locations....Robin was on the not-pulled-out-couch and I was on the daybed in the rather warm alcove/nook. But there was a box fan to keep me a "warm" version of cool. Don't you just love to sleep to the sound of a box fan. I seriously am considering getting one for our bedroom and just turning it on everyday facing the wall. It's amazing how the constant hum will lull you to sleep.
We truly didn't have any plans for the weekend except to follow the directions of the beach house and "Be Still". We found out quickly one of our most favorite things to do was to "toodle" around the sleepy village of Surfside on Nancy and Al's golf cart. It is so cute!! The decor theme that Nancy has used throughout the beach house is black and white polka-dots. She has so creatively added big black dots to the white golf cart which makes it truly unique. We had sooooo much fun on that cart. We didn't get all crazy or anything but it was just breezy fun riding along waving at all the people hanging out on their decks or heading to the beach! Robin's brother Scott and his wife Carol have also just bought a beach house right next to Nancy and Al and are in the process of fixing it all up. They were not there this weekend but we were able to sneak a peak inside the windows!! His other sister, Polly and her husband Jeff, are also buying a beach house a few streets away!! We checked out their's too! We finally stopped at a little local Surfboard shop/cafe named Bingo's and ate omelets for breakfast!! The owner of the cafe is the town mayor and also is a preacher. As we were paying for our breakfast - we heard an entire sermon from the very nice man. Didn't make us feel so bad about missing church on Sunday!!
We finally "toodled" back to the beach house on our polka-dot golf cart and cleaned up a little. Our bodies, not the house! Ashley and a group of about 15 girlfriends were having their 2nd Annual Girls Without Kids weekend at the beach. This year one of the girl's mom's good friend offered to let the girls use their beach house for free! Ashley had asked that if we were heading towards Galveston for anything - would we please come by and take a group picture of them. So we punched in the correct address of this beach home in our GPS and after driving through some very impressive million dollar homes and a elaborate tropical golf course we found the mansion house. Needless to say, this house was just a little bigger than our 500 sq ft beach shack!!
The Mansion Beach House
And it was beautiful! It had a palm-tree lined driveway and everything else you could ever want or imagine. (even an elevator!) And yes, the decor was amazing!! When we arrived the girls were all in the pool on their floats just sunning and talking. I so wish when I was younger - all my girlfriends and myself could have bonded during a weekend away from all the "mommy" things! We were given a tour of the mansion house. We took a few quick pictures then left to head to The Strand for a little tourist sight-seeing!
The Strand was the same-ole, same-ole. Just t-shirts, sundresses, bistros, and postcards. Didn't buy a thing except some Mexican food! We decided to leave the strand and head back to Surfside!
When we got back to "Be Still" we decided to run down to the local diner named The Purple Cow and grab a few po-boys to bring back and watch another movie. We both ordered oyster po-boys ( told you I was craving oysters!!). After a minute or so, the first-day-on-the-job waitress at The Purple Cow came back to inform us that oysters were out-of-season and Miss Ktty (the owner of The Purple Cow) had said we were out-of-luck!! Well, we did what any Surfside tourist would do, we decided to head out and find our oyster po-boys. Another seasoned waitress informed us that over the bridge there was a little honky-tonk named Pier 30 that had great oyster po-boys!! Well, we just didn't think we wanted to drive over the bridge so we went to two more little diners in the big city of Surfside (basically we hit ALL the Surfside cafe's!!) The last place I went in was Preacher's Place. (forgot to tell you Preacher's name is Bingo! I didn't ask why!!) Bingo told me that he didn't have oysters either and I was crazy to eat oysters right now! They were completely out of season and would POISON you if you ate them right now! He said you should only eat oysters in months that have and "R" in the month!! I told him I had just eaten some the night before at the Red Snapper and he gave me this "shocked" look like I may fall over any moment from poisoning!! He had previously told me and Robin that he had seen 2 people raised from the dead so I wasn't too worried. I figured if I went into some poisoning coma right then - he could bring me back to life!!
So by then it was 9pm and.....to make a long story even longer....we decided to trek over the bridge and visit Pier 30. There was a band playing rock music so we felt right at home (if we had been 18 yrs old in 1970!!) I ordered my longed-for oyster po-boy however Robin shocked me by ordering the shrimp po-boy!! I looked at him and said, "You're a chicken aren't you??? You are scared to eat oysters cause you are scared you may DIE!!!!" Needless, to say, the po-boys were delicious, along with the rock band. The band brought back memories of going to watch garage bands practice during our high school years or dancing at the CYO dances at the Catholic church every Saturday night!! So we came back to "Be Still" and watched another movie!
On Sunday morning, we decided to do what we did best.....go toodling again! We were totally addicted this polk-dot entertainment! We saw ships coming and going through the channel and checked out all the marshes! In a very weak moment, I told Robin that if he brought the kayaks next time, that I would go kayaking with him through the marshes! I tell you it was the polka-dot golf cart that was making me say things that I didn't even mean!!! We finally decided to take our usual hike down the jetty and watch everyone fishing. This is a whole different experience all by itself. These fisherman are very serious about their fishing. They have rigs all set up that can haul their fishing rods, ice chests, boom boxes, and other various much-needed fishing equipment. Now I really do try to be politically correct at all times, but out of the 50-60 people out on this mile long pier fishing...I only counted 3 Caucasian men. The rest were Vietnamese, Hispanic, or African-American. What is it about those three races that attract them to fishing??? Please forgive me....for I DO NOT want to offend my Vietnamese, Hispanic or African-American readers but my inquiring mind just wants to know!!!! And ALL the times that Robin and I have made this mile-long journey down the pier, I have NEVER seen anyone catch a fish over 5 or 6 inches long. Seriously, I just don't think I would have the patience to sit there fishing just for a 5 inch fish! But no matter the how many they haul in, it's still fun to watch!!
So after our morning toodle, and mile long jaunt down the pier, we decided to do something really different....watch our last movie that Mr. Redbox had given us! I fell asleep during the movie probably because it was a shoot-em-up. We both took another little nap (Be Still). Robin woke me up and told me we needed to probably start cleaning up and head back towards Houston! I wasn't too happy about that and told him so :) But like a good little wifey - I got up and helped. We loaded up the car and crossed the big bridge! Pier 30 was calling our name again so we stopped for a late lunch. And you'll never guess what I ordered.....yep, Oysters!!! Yum-Yum-Yum!! Robin got the biggest mushroom/swiss burger that I think I have ever seen! Full......again......we headed back to Houston all excited about returning the rat race!! NOT! I snoozed to try to make the 2 hr trek a little less painful!
Few facts I learned this weekend.....I DID NOT die from oyster poisoning after eating them at 3 different meals and you know that thing about oysters being a natural aphrodisiac ??? Well, it just ain't true!! Or maybe it was just Aunt Matilda's sofa bed!
Thank you BE STILL for a great relaxing weekend full of peace and tranquility and lots of polka-dot toodling!
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