Va-cayman-tion 2012: The Cruisening: Day 2 - The Beach

Today started off with a family breakfast at Benny's on the Beach. It was fairly typical what you'd expect for breakfast fare, however Gregory ordered crab cake benedict and that was amazing. I hate benedicts because I'm not a fan of liquid chickens, much less having them ooze all over my food, but this was amazing to the point, were I to return there, I would order this. I would just have to find a way beyond imagining their little faces dribbling across my plate.

It was nice to see Ace, Karen and their son Michael again, and to meet Michael's family. Carla, his wife was charming, and their two little girls were adorable. The older one was in the quiet, shy-around-strangers phase (and I don't blame her. who, really, is stranger than your relatives? it's best to say as little as possible), and the younger one was in the noisy, gregarious infant stage. I don't mind kids making noise if it's happy noise. If it's annoying or they are old enough to know better, their parents need to threaten them with exile in the spider closet. Or I will. Are you listening parents? I hope so, or get ready for years of therapy.

"mommy that stranger said you'd lock me in the spider closet."

"we don't have a spider closet."

"he said you'd say that!"

There's an idea in there somewhere for a twisted superhero.

We checked back in with Nana after breakfast. She didn't join us as she wasn't feeling well, so we stopped by her apartment to see her and change for the beach. She was feeling better, but contemplated taking a nap in order to feel well enough to join us for dinner. She wasn't interested in the beach, since the bright sunlight mixed with her macular degeneration makes it difficult for her to see anything at all. It's like having a constant glare in your eyes, so she keeps her apartment fairly dark. Girl after my own heart.

We slathered on sunblock, which must have contained zinc since it turned my pale skin even paler, it looked like I was going for that certain undead look, and changed and set out for Spanish River Park. I was concerned that being the Saturday of a holiday weekend that it would be completely full, but it was surprisingly empty and remained so all afternoon.

Florida beaches are quite nice, particularly around Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Raton (which I like to call by it's literal translation Rat Mouth, yep, real good ta' be back in ol' Rat Mouth!).  The sand is fine and littered with shells, and the water is blue and warm. You can just walk right in and it's shallow for quite a ways out. It is just a very nice experience. We spent the afternoon just listening to the waves and soaking up the warm humid sun.

It was a beautiful afternoon. We talked, sipped on water, ate some crackers, stared at the people braver than us. Wow, she's wearing a thong. Alright. No judgement. You go girl. Whew! Okay just a little bit of judgement: damn, baby! Are you sure? Okay, okay. If you feel sexy you go right on ahead.

The only bummer is that I burned my feet. I don't know why I have a block on adequately protecting the tops of my feet. About eight years ago or so, I burned the tops of my feet very badly: second-degree burns, that blistered up and I couldn't properly wear shoes for weeks. Today wasn't nearly as bad as that, but still they all red and hurty, and on the first day!

After the beach we stopped by a Dunkin Donuts for a donut. Gregory and his mom each got one. I refrained. I honestly don't get the draw to Dunkin, but then I'm not a big donut person anyway. I did have a bite of a raspberry filled something, and while Gregory was oohing and ahhhing over it, I just didn't get what the big deal was. Sorry to Dunkin fans out there. You should be thanking me. More for you.

Dinner was at the Longhorn Steak House, which I'm guessing is similar to the Outback. I got a rare prime rib as did Gregory and it was very, very good, bordering on great. Nana was feeling better by then, and joined us for dinner, as did Ace and Karen, and we had a very nice time.

After dinner Gregory decided he wanted to see a movie and so we saw Men In Black 3 in 3D. It was a very nice way to wind down the day. Tomorrow we get on a boat!