In Which Some of Us Have a Vacay and One of Us Does Not

The deep south in August.

Replete with Oil Spill. NOW, we're talking F-U-N.

The Dad of the Fam was presented with an opportunity to head to the deep south in July.

Without us.

Natural, spoiled-grapes attitude was to chide and ridicule and ask, "Sheesh .. who would REALLY WANT to go to Mobile, Alabama in July when the beaches are awash with fresh oil?" But then, I looked at the hotel's website. Turns out, DadoftheFam wasn't just going to a little hotel, but a history-rich-five-star-resort in a boutique-rich town on Mobile Bay. Sounds good to US.

Being an only child, and an almost teenage only, sometimes time away with just mom and dad can leave a bit to be desired. So, Kyd brought along a friend and off we all went.

While the DadoftheFam was in meetings all day and most of the night, the three of us braved horrible heat, ill timed thunderstorms, more heat and more ill timed thunderstorms to get in A LOT of shopping, even more pizza eating, a bit of sight seeing and not nearly enough beach time.

The beach at the Grand Hotel in Fairhope, AL where we first stayed, was small, and protected by three booms to catch the oil. It seemed to work as it was nice and clean. The same could not be said for the beach on Gulf Shores behind the little Holiday Inn. That beach had the distinctive smell of petroleum, very few seashells and left behind a glycerin like residue on our skin that took an hour to scrub.

Regardless of the beach, the girls and I had a few little adventures.