Leprechauns and Dolphin Watching

Granpa Leprechaun and Ashlyn

Part of our ritual on every trip to Okaloosa Island is a visit to McGuire's Irish Pub.  As you can see, they also have a gift shop which always manages to catch a few of our dollars before we leave.  McGuires has really great food, and they give you a LOT of it.  It ranges from great, big, flavorful burgers to traditional Shepherds Pie and Fish and Chips.  Of course, there is always Beer for those who care to indulge.

The girls love the one dollar bills hanging from the ceiling walls, and just everywhere inside the building.  It is estimated there are over a million one dollar bills hanging in there!  Quite a site.

This year we also went on a dolphin excursion (two hours) on the Southern Star.  If you have children this is the dolphin cruise of choice...they are very family oriented and there is no alcohol aboard.  They let the kids who wish to do so "steer" the boat with a Captain's hat on.  The girls got a kick out of that.  They also have a treasure chest for the children to choose something before they go ashore.  The dolphin pod we caught up with was very active and had dolphins from baby to grandma in the pod. Liv stood on the front of the boat "Titanic Style" with her arms spread wide and declared that she could fly!  That one is a girl after my own heart!

Today we are going to celebrate Lucille and Kevin's birthdays (actually tomorrow) at Tropical Flava...our favorite local restaurant.  Great Caribbean food and festive atmosphere.  Lucy will be 95 tomorrow and Kevin with be 56. 

I haven't even been home 24 hours yet and I am missing the Gulf and Okaloosa Island.  The sound of the emerald colored crystalline waves as they beat upon the snow white quartz sand is so peaceful and relaxing.  The sea has so many moods, and each one is as beautiful and fascinating as the one before.  One morning it was so calm and flat and there were little sand islands all over.  The children got to see rays come up and feed on the bottom of the sandy shore...it was amazing.

The next day a storm had whipped the waves into a frenzy and the tide was higher than usual...no more little sand islands or rays but beautiful crashing foamy waves!

We all left Okaloosa with beautiful memories and we will go back again next year to celebrate.  I am planning on visiting my youngest son in Ft. Lauderdale for a couple days between now and Christmas, so I will get a few more of those Florida rays before the first of the year. 

For Christmas I am giving Kevin (actually for Christmas and his Birthday) a trip to Pittsburgh for New Years to visit his sisters.  He is looking forward to that.  I am a little nervous about having four days alone here with Lucy, but we will probably be okay.  I won't get any sleep however!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with family and/or friends wherever you were.  We have so much to be thankful for. 

The traffic out on Interstate 75 today is extremely heavy with so many people heading home today, I pray they all arrive safely.  The airports are also crammed with people going home.  Be careful everyone!

Memories Are Made of This! Dolphin Crusing

What a fabulous day we had today!  Granpa piggy-backed Ashlyn and off we went for breakfast to a local spot called Joe and Eddies for yummy down home country breakfasts.  

The weather was absolutely perfect and we decided to take the children out for a "Dolphin Cruise."  Some people had told us good luck seeing any, but we had a fantastic experience.  They actually found several pods of dolphin and we spent quite some time taking pictures and watching their antics.  They even "surfed" along the wake of the boat as we finally left to head back into the harbor. For some reason my computer is not letting me download some of the pictures from the trip.  I had some nice ones of the dolphins jumping and swimming alongside the boat...oh well, perhaps tomorrow I will have better luck. But the memories we made today will last a lifetime.

The cruise was informative, the weather and seas were perfect, and we all had a marvelous time!

I love our "alternative" Thanksgiving vacations.  

We went to the Sexton Seafood Market to pick up some fresh gulf shrimp for our Low Country Boil this morning.  Their selection of seafood is phenomenal!  Those fish in the back of the picture were positively huge....well over 20 pounds!  We picked up our shrimp as well as some stone crab claws that I just couldn't resist!  The place is so well run and positively immaculate.  We will go back there again.

This evening before dinner we went to see the movie Arthur Christmas...it was funny for both adults and children and the girls loved it.  After the movie we decided to have dinner at Kevin's favorite place...McGuires Irish Pub.  Oh my the food is wonderful there, but the portions are positively huge.  What in the world were we thinking with Thanksgiving being tomorrow?  But, it was delicious, I must admit.

Tomorrow we will be having Thanksgiving Dinner at Harbor Docks.  The owner of this restaurant sponsors a "free" Thanksgiving Dinner every year...taking donations for Habitat for Humanity.  I love this idea of giving something back to the community, and I absolutely love this community.  So tomorrow we will have the traditional turkey and dressing meal, and Friday we will do our Low Country Boil.  

We had dinner last night at the Marina Cafe.  It is right on the harbor and has a marina right outside the windows.  The views of the sunset over the harbor are fabulous, and the food is some of the best you will ever have.  They serve sushi in the bar, but the restaurant has a really upscale menu including several choices of local seafood that is out of this world!  The yellow edged grouper is magnificent.  I recommend this place for a peaceful, relaxing date.

Well, it has been a long and exciting day, and I am sure I will have more to share tomorrow.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Sunday Morning on Okaloosa Island

For two Summers straight, we have been lucky enough to spend a month at the beach! Okaloosa Island is my favorite beach on the East Coast.

If you would like to the get best deal on a wonderful condo, let me suggest VRBO, which stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner! These units are privately owned but managed by management companies and directly rented by owners. They are clean, beautiful and much cheaper that those rented by rental agencies/realtors in the area. We have actually done this three times and have been more than pleased with the result.

If my son doesn't come up with some other plan, we will probably spend Thanksgiving on Okaloosa Island again this year. Ft. Walton Beach has a really nice Thanksgiving Dinner on the Pier each year a couple days before Thanksgiving which is FREE to anyone who wants to come. The take DONATIONS from those who want to/can afford it to help defray the cost to the City. I was so impressed with this because there are so many homeless and hungry people, especially in the warmer states where they go to avoid the freezing weather. It is a kind and charitable thing to do, and Ft. Walton seems to be a kind city.

We love our Sundays on Okaloosa Island. Waking up early, you can watch the dolphins play offshore. They seem to have such joy in living! There are large swarms of tiny fish sometimes splashing up the coast, making quite a racket as they shimmer, jumping and swimming by. After the joy of watching the beautiful wildlife, we like to dress and head for Big City American Bistro. The Sunday Brunch there is Out of This World! The atmosphere is lovely and ecclectic, the servers (especially Casey!) are attentive and professional and the Mimosas are only $7 for all you want!
The cost of $15.95 is really reasonable when you see the huge selection of high quality food available. There is an Omelette station where they make the best omelettes with great ingredients including shrimp, spinach and cheeses. There are fresh salads and soups and fresh sliced roast beef, turkey, and fish. So much to choose from that it is hard to decide, and each bite delicious. For those of you who love dessert, there is a fabulous dessert table, and they always seem to have the most sweet, huge strawberries with chocolate fondue! Cakes, pies, and pastries galore will tempt anyone who tries to resist!

After lunch, if you can still walk (and you probably need to!) go to the City Park on Brooks Street and stroll along the Bay or out on the dock, or, if you really are too full to walk, sit on one of the picnic tables under the huge spreading oaks and watch the boaters go by. It makes for a marvelous day! Sometimes there will even be a band on the bandstand in the center of park. Ft. Walton has more parks than most Southern Cities, and they are all meticulously maintained.

So, take a weekend soon or even a week and head South to Ft. Walton and Okaloosa Island and take in the beauty and peace available there. You won't regret it!!