Perdido Key

Monday (6/13), Rudy and I got up and the crack of dawn, kissed the kids goodbye and left them with LaLa and Pops for the week.  Destination:  Perdido Key, FL! 
While we drove, we listened to a John Grisham audiobook.  I paused it as we went through Southeast Arkansas to show Rudy (for the millionth time) the landmarks of my childhood that you can see from Hwy 65.

We made it to Perdido around 4:30, checked in at our condo and unloaded the car.  We smiled as we opened the blinds of our balcony to find this view waiting for us:

We were hungry and ready for some seafood, so we freshened up and went to dinner.  We ate shrimp (me) and oysters (Rudy) from the Oyster Bar at the Flora-Bama on Monday night.  Nothing fancy, but perfect gulf seafood for road-weary travelers.  Would you look at the size of that shrimp?  The view from our barstools wasn’t so bad either.

It was open mic night at the Bama, so we stuck around and listened to some good and not-so-good entertainment.  You just never know what’s going to happen in that place and there was some fabulous people-watching!
When we got back to the condo, I was long overdue to put my toes in the sand.  Sometime during that late night walk on the beach, I was able to exhale.  I realized how much stress I had been carrying and how tense I was.  The sound of those ocean waves and feel of that warm, white sand underfoot was overwhelmingly cathartic.  I sat on a chair on the beach and wondered at the magnitude and perfection of it.
Tuesday morning, we got up and made a quick trip into town for some groceries and breakfast.  As we were pulling into the parking lot, we saw the Blue Angels fly overhead as they were practicing.  After we got back to the condo, Rudy went out and set up our canopy on the beach while I packed our beach bags and put on my swimsuit.  I spent the afternoon alternating every 15-20 minutes between these two views:

     

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, right?
We had dinner at a place called The Original Point, where Rudy had soft-shelled crab and I had yet another plate of shrimp.  Afterwards, we went back to the Bama for some more entertainment and another great night of people-watching.  We LOVED the guy singing that night. 
Wednesday was our day to get out and see more of the area.  We drove all the way into Gulf Shores and back.  We had lunch at Brian’s PoBoys – a roadside food truck - and it was wonderful!  After lunch, we went back out on the beach for a while.  Because it was our first trip without kids since we became parents, we splurged and went on a parasail ride.  We had to ride on a banana float pulled behind a jet ski out to the parasail boat.  Once we were on the boat, we got all strapped into our harnesses and off we went.  We were up about 600 feet, which is an amazing view and it is so peaceful.  Before they reeled us back in, the boat driver dipped us into the water a couple of times, which was pretty awesome.  We don’t have any pictures of it.  They wouldn’t let us take our camera out there and it would’ve cost us $30 to have them take pictures.  You’ll just have to trust me on it.
I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, which is something I’d like to be able to say more often…

Wednesday night, we had an amazing dinner at Louisiana Lagniappe, where I ate some ridiculously good stuffed shrimp.  Rudy and I both agreed that it was as good (maybe better?) than anything we’ve ever eaten in New Orleans.  For real.  After dinner, we were miserably stuffed.  We drove out to LuLu’s in Gulf Shores just to see what it was all about.  It was a fun place, but waaaay touristy.  It was definitely our early night on the vacation.
Thursday was our last day.  We planned to lay on the beach literally all day.  When we woke up to clouds and thunder, I was not a happy camper.  The thunder and rain passed mid-morning, but it stayed cloudy almost all day.  By golly, we were on the beach, though!  It was almost cold for a good part of the day.  I stayed under the canopy with my cover-up on and a towel over my legs.  Once the clouds began to break up a little, it warmed up and we enjoyed our day.  I certainly didn’t need to get in the water to cool off very often. 
We went to dinner that night at Fisherman’s Corner.  The food was delicious and we’ll definitely go back there sometime.  We decided to spend our 3rd night out of 4 enjoying the crowd at the Bama, and what a crowd it was!  The place was packed and it was so much fun!  We laughed and sang and danced and had a great time until Rudy pretty much had to make me leave.  I know he was dreading making a 9 hour drive after a late night.  We couldn’t resist one more walk on the beach that night.  It’s a hard thing to savor for 3 days and then leave it.

Friday morning came pretty early and we were on the road.  We were ready to see the kids, though.  We managed to bring Caleb a t-shirt and a starfish and brought Nola a little purse that says Orange Beach on it with a crab. 
Our trip was wonderful.  It was much-needed time away together.  It was much needed relaxation and saltwater and sand and sunshine and seafood.  We celebrated our 12th anniversary in style.  Hopefully, we won’t have to wait quite so long to do it again. 

And, for the record, we are now big fans of Perdido Key.  We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to go with or without kids.  It’s a great location – close enough to the touristy places, but they aren’t in your face.  They cater to visitors, but not in a bumper boats and putt-putt golf kind of way.  We’ll be going back there as soon as we can.