We came south to Florida to see our friends Sam & Shannon:
(Don't mind William, he was just sad because we took his bottle away for the sake of a nice picture, a strategy which clearly backfired.)
The rain followed us to Tallahassee, and it seemed like every time I announced a plan to, say, go swimming or take a day trip to a historic plantation, it was a cue for mountains of gray rain clouds to fill the sky and start dumping rain. But we still had a fantastic time with indoors pursuits such as catching up over delicious meals and consuming large amounts of chocolate and wine while watching Olympics.
On our last full day we decided to drive down towards the coastal town of Apalachicola (part of the region known as the Forgotten Coast), in spite of the gray rain clouds filling the sky. And miraculously, as we drove the sky cleared and we ended up with a fantastically beautiful afternoon and evening in Apalachicola. We ate seafood and alligator chili (tastes like chicken) on a deck with marvelous views over the bay (see crying William picture at beginning), and soaked up the wonderful don't-worry-be-happy vibe of the place.
This picture makes it look like I'm falling for the Instagram craze, but I'm not. No digital alterations here.
(Don't mind William, he was just sad because we took his bottle away for the sake of a nice picture, a strategy which clearly backfired.)
The rain followed us to Tallahassee, and it seemed like every time I announced a plan to, say, go swimming or take a day trip to a historic plantation, it was a cue for mountains of gray rain clouds to fill the sky and start dumping rain. But we still had a fantastic time with indoors pursuits such as catching up over delicious meals and consuming large amounts of chocolate and wine while watching Olympics.
On our last full day we decided to drive down towards the coastal town of Apalachicola (part of the region known as the Forgotten Coast), in spite of the gray rain clouds filling the sky. And miraculously, as we drove the sky cleared and we ended up with a fantastically beautiful afternoon and evening in Apalachicola. We ate seafood and alligator chili (tastes like chicken) on a deck with marvelous views over the bay (see crying William picture at beginning), and soaked up the wonderful don't-worry-be-happy vibe of the place.
This picture makes it look like I'm falling for the Instagram craze, but I'm not. No digital alterations here.
As we were walking back to the car we walked by a building with fantastic live jazz pouring out of the door, and people our parents' age in white linen milling around inside and looking fancy. Turns out we had stumbled upon a festival celebrating the fact that in 1845 a local doctor invented mechanically produced ice, which pretty much revolutionized life in hot climates. The pertinent point here is that they had free champagne and fresh oysters, and by fresh oysters I mean a guy standing there shucking oysters that he had caught in the bay that day. So good. Also, I learned lots of interesting things about the history of ice, which I enjoyed because I'm kind of a history nerd.
What would an ice festival be without free snow cones? William maintained laser focus on this snow cone for far longer than you would think a baby would be able to maintain an attention span.
And then he crashed.
This is William with our friend Shannon. Do you see the love? William was completely smitten with her.
I always knew a day would come when my son would love another woman more than me. I didn't expect it to come so soon. In several hours in the car sitting between Shannon and me, William maintained a non-stop campaign of getting Shannon to look at him by any means possible: smiles, cute noises, giggles, shameless flirtation. Every once in a while he would glance over at me, to make sure I was still alive, I guess. Then back to Shannon. Ha ha!
We ended the day with a beautiful drive back along the coast...
... and a spectacular sunset.
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