Christmas break was over and the countdown to Spring Break had begun: 10 weeks, 5 weeks, 1 week, today. My week of relaxing on the beach had finally come! The only thing lying between me and paradise was a 12 hour drive.
Obviously, driving for 12 hours is no small task, so we decided to split this up between two days. Fortunately, we came prepared. Aside from taking in the beautiful scenery, we passed the time with car games, watched chick-flicks, and had a jam session with our guitar, ukulele, and stellar vocals. Baton Rouge was the stop for the first day, which we soon regretted due to being approached in the parking lot by a crying woman begging for money. Upon other things, this influenced our decision later on to drive back home in one day, rather than stopping. The next day, we woke up and were anxious to get on the road and reach our destination. The drive that day was suppose to take six hours but ended up taking eight with the spring-breaker traffic that we hit along the coast.
As we got closer and closer to Seaside, I was overcome with nostalgia. The smell of the salty air, the sound of the birds, the beautiful sight of the ocean and the quaint little houses; all of this was exactly how I remembered. We arrived mid-afternoon, so we still had plenty of time to soak in the sun on the beach. As soon as we got to the hotel, we took the suitcases to our room and threw our swimsuits on. The view from our balcony was breathtaking: looking off to the South, East, and West― they all seemed to go on to infinity.
The first morning we were there, we decided to try for a photoshoot on the beach. This required cute outfits and actually putting effort into our hair and makeup. We soon realized this was a mistake when our clothes got wet in the ocean and our hair turned into a frizzy mess. We ultimately decided that our time would be much better spent if we stayed in our swimsuits, didn't worry about how we looked, and just had fun. The entire first day was spent either relaxing on the beach or eating in our room. Although the water was not as crystal clear as usual, the large waves amplified the ocean sounds, making it very conducive for taking naps. We rounded off day one by going to eat at a local seafood restaurant with delicious gator bites and live music. The guy playing guitar in the corner was so good that we thought it was a CD!
Day two started off much earlier than anticipated, but it ended up working out because we were able to catch the tail end of the sunrise. We started our day off by renting bikes and riding all over town. Our first bike adventure was through the Watercolor Community. The houses in this neighborhood were picturesque: two-story homes with wraparound porches, old Southern architecture, ornate wooden doors, large windows to allow the sunshine in, well manicured lawns, and white picket fences, all of which added to the charm and beauty of the small and quaint town. After sufficiently touring Watercolor, we headed back to town to get some shopping in. The town center was about two blocks wide and only had a handful of shops, of which included an eclectic book and record shop. This particular day, there was also an outdoor market place. We made sure to buy the "Seaside" t-shirts that are a classic souvenir. By the time we had our fill of shopping, our wallets and stomachs were definitely empty. Next stop: Pizza By the Sea for a quick bite of food before we headed back to the beach. For dinner, we met up with some close family friends who just so happened to be vacationing in the area. After taking pictures and eating more seafood, we made a quick stop in town to experience the small town nightlife. The last thing on our agenda for the day was to stop by the local grocery store and get some mouthwatering, Häagen-Dazs, coffee ice cream.
Knowing that day three was our last sunny day, we started the morning out right by going on bike adventure number two. Since Watercolor was so gorgeous, we decided to take another tour, this time exploring the backroads. Unfortunately, our attempt at navigating back to town via a different route proved much harder than expected. Although we had to backtrack about two miles, we still enjoyed the pleasant bike ride through the lovely Seaside neighborhoods. We topped the morning off with lunch on our balcony overlooking the gulf with its hues of blue and the small white caps rushing to shore. The afternoon was reserved for reading on the beach, basking in the rays of sun, and playing in the salty water. That evening, we headed back to town to enjoy some of the local cuisine― the famous grilled cheeses from The Meltdown. Once again, we topped the night off with Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream and some homemade chocolate chip cookies.
The clouds rolled in on day four bringing sporadic rain and cooler temperatures. This was the dreadful day that we had to say goodbye to our bicycles. On the bright side, we got to snuggle up under blankets, eat pizza, and watch cheesy movies. We decided to take a trip to town to eat snow cones and take in our last sights of Seaside. To get our final fill of seafood, we had dinner at a restaurant on a small lake, just outside of town. Our adventure for the evening was trying eel. This might have been okay except that the texture was more than I could handle. One last trip to town seemed like a good way to round out our last full day in Seaside.
Day five was cooler and more rainy than the day before. We spent the morning packing up our belongings and getting ready to leave. But before we could head home, we took one last walk along the shore. Because of the dreary weather, there were only a handful of people on the beach. This also seemed like the perfect opportunity for one last photo shoot. As the saying goes, "parting is such sweet sorrow."
Due to flooding on our intended route home, we had to take a small detour that added four hours to our trip. Instead of stopping as we did on the way up, we drove straight for Austin and made it safely home 16 hours, three movies, and two naps later. The best part of this whole trip was the people I shared it with including my amazing parents― who made it all possible, my crazy nephew― who kept us on our toes, and my sweet Maddie― who helped make memories that will last a lifetime.
