Urban Acres by the Sea

Hello dear friends and readers! I am back home in good ol' Tulsa this week after having been gone the last 10 days. Our trip to the beach included a meningitis scare, a trip to the ER, sea turtles, and some sea turds. That sounds a little crazy, but actually we had a great time. Here are some of the highlights from our trip!

Upon arrival to Destin, Andrew was struck with a bad fever and throbbing headache. We hoped a day of rest would help him feel back up to parr, but unfortunately day 2 of vacation included a lot of advil and fever reducers. Day 3 we took a trip to Urgent Care where Andrew was diagnosed with a flu mimicking virus and told to proceed with caution, as this could be the start of spinal meningitis! Yikes! We rebuked that crap, but on day 4 when Andrew felt worse, we decided not to risk it and headed over to the ER -- which was a surprisingly lovely facility. After an hour or so of waiting, the Dr. concluded that it wasn't meningitis (Thank the Lord!) and gave Andrew a super boosted anti-inflammatory shot that took the headache away. Andrew was instantly better and back to his happy self, and the vacation was saved.

It was pretty much smooth sailing from there. We bummed on the beach, ate really awesome seafood, and I got a really nice tan. The best story of our trip comes from the day we went paddle boarding. If you haven't done this before, paddle boarding is basically a giant surfboard you stand on while using a long paddle to steer yourself. It takes a bit of balance and focus, and when large waves come it can be tricky to stand. I love paddle boarding though! We saw stingrays, and fish, and sea turtles.

We also saw sea turds. As I was paddling I came across what seemed to be some floating logs. I thought to myself "Surely, someone didn't poop in the ocean. Surely, they wouldn't do that." Oh but they did my friends. On Facebook someone asked me if I was sure it was human waste. I can assure you that it was -- the creature who released this excrement had recently eaten corn.

As I am passing the floating turds, I am yelling to Andrew who is 20 yards away to notify him of my discovery. I was so excited and horrified by what I had seen that I proceeded to lose balance and fall backwards into the turd infested water. I don't think I made direct contact, but I tell you dear readers no one has ever gotten back onto a paddle board faster than I did. Andrew was laughing so hard, he almost fell over himself. The turds softly floated away, and that really was the highlight of our trip.

Here are some non-turd pictures of other things we saw and a few of our favorite meals. It was overall a really great trip, but I am so glad to be home.