2021 30A Spring Break Beach Trip - Days 3, 4, & 5

I recapped the first couple of days of our spring break trip to 30A here if you missed it, and today I’m picking back up on day three…

Tuesday, March 30 (Day 382 of Quarantine)

Tuesday morning, we started the day with leftover donuts in the condo.  After the whole chair debacle from the previous day, we decided to go ahead and pay for chairs for the last two days of our trip so we could have a designated area to ourselves.  We didn’t want to run the risk of someone renting the chairs near the ones we’d set up on our own and have to stress out about moving somewhere else.  It stunk to pay for them, but it was worth it for the peace of mind!

We made our way down to the beach mid-morning, and it was very chilly.  Since it was so chilly, we decided to start the day with a walk to try to warm ourselves up.  Thank goodness I’d packed some sweatshirts for all of us because we ended up needing them a lot during the trip!

The rest of the morning and early afternoon ended up being mostly cloudy and verrrry chilly.  During the brief periods when the sun was out, it was perfect, but the second the sun dipped behind the clouds (which was more often than not), it was cold!  The cold didn’t seem to bother the kids too much, but they did stay out of the water a little more than usual.  Jacob even took the time to play football with Brian… usually he’s too busy playing in the water to play ball! 

I spent a lot of the day huddled under my towel, and Brian snapped this picture of me.  Haha.

We lucked out yet again Tuesday, and there was nobody remotely close to us anywhere on the beach the entire time we were there.  It was so nice to be able to stretch out and not have to worry about getting too close to someone else or getting in someone else’s way!

We headed to The Hub for an early dinner around 4:30 beach time, and by the time we arrived, the clouds had burned off and the sun was shining.  We were hoping to avoid the crowds as we’d done last summer by eating early, but the basketball playoffs were on, so there were more people there than we expected.  Thankfully, we were able to find a table away from everyone else, and dinner ended up being fine.

By the time we were done, there were loads of people pouring in, so we were happy to get out of there.  We did make one quick stop in a new candy shop on the way out, and then we grabbed some ice cream on the way out, too.  We couldn’t pass up that Pirate’s Bounty ice cream… it’s so delicious and The Hub is the only place that has it!  If you haven’t ever tried it, it’s M&Ms and Oreos in caramel flavored ice cream and it is absolutely divine.

On the way out, we walked by Luke Bryan's cigar bar, and there was a cardboard cutout of Luke just inside the door.  The kids, of course, know him from American Idol and wanted to take a picture with it, so the bartender let us come in for two seconds to get the picture even though the kids weren't supposed to be in there.  Haha.  I snapped the picture so quickly that I didn't even realize Jacob had his eyes half-closed.  Bummer!!

We got back to the condo in the early evening, but there wasn’t much of a sunset because more clouds had rolled in, so we watched some American Idol while we waited for dusk.  Olivia had been begging to go crab hunting and they don’t come out until just before dark.  We ended up walking around for about 30 minutes searching, but we never saw any.  I was wondering if maybe they weren’t out because of the weather… it was SO COLD once the sun set!

After we gave up, we all went back to the condo, got in some snuggly PJs, and then watched American Idol until it was time for bed.

Wednesday, March 31 (Day 383 of Quarantine)

Wednesday morning, we woke to sunny, blue skies, and I could already tell it was going to be a perfect weather day!  We headed down the road for another round of donuts, this time from Donut Hole.  If you’re ever in the area and you decide to try it, the Dutch Crumb donuts are my favorite!!  And Brian and several other people I know swear by the Red Velvet… I guess I need to try that one sometime!

We ate those in the condo, and then headed straight to the beach!  It was our last day there, so we wanted to squeeze out every second of beach goodness.  We headed to our designated chairs, and once again, there was nobody remotely close to us on the beach the entire day.  I couldn’t believe it!  I still don’t know how we managed that three days in a row!! 

The weather was goooorgeous all day and we stayed outside all morning and afternoon with the exception of eating a quick lunch in the condo.  B and I don’t usually drink on the beach because it’s normally SO HOT and alcohol and heat do not mix well for me, but the temp was so perfect that we decided to grab a couple of beers to take back down to the beach with us.  The kids played their little hearts out and B and I relaxed, and it was the perfect beach afternoon.

None of us really wanted to head in to shower and get ready, but we knew it was necessary to make it to the restaurant early so we could beat the crowd.  We opted for La Cocina in Seacrest for some Mexican food, and we were soooo disappointed to find out that they had changed their name (and possibly ownership??) so they were doing things differently there. 

The food seemed to be about the same, but when we arrived they were doing happy hour which meant they had a limited menu.  Boooo.  Their taco salad is one of my favorite Mexican meals ever, and their margs are THE BEST, so I was disappointed that the taco salad wasn’t available and the margs tasted different... for happy hour I’m sure they use the cheap liquor, so that’s probably why.  Boooooooo. 

My tacos ended up being delicious, though, and a margarita is a margarita no matter what, so we still enjoyed it.  When we return this summer, we’ll just have to make sure we don’t get there so early so we can have access to the full menu.  We were able to sit indoors with literally nobody else in the room with us the entire time, so at least our goal of beating the crowd was accomplished.

After dinner, we walked to Rosemary Beach to hang out for the evening.  We headed straight to our favorite little courtyard to take some pictures, and a young couple was kind enough to take a family picture for us.  I love how it turned out!!  It was so wonderful to be able to get one since we’d skipped family pictures the first night in Seaside!

After pictures, I ducked into a souvenir shop to grab a picture frame for our travel gallery wall, and then we went to Sugar Shack to grab dessert.  It was bonkers in there as usual and I cringed when we walked in.  Sugar Shack is a tiny little candy and ice cream shop, and they have every candy you can imagine, including a bunch of old-school stuff that’s hard to find these days.  There were tons of people packed in there (most of who were wearing masks, thank goodness) so we couldn’t get out of there fast enough!  The kids opted for candy as they always do, and B and I both got the Banana Pudding ice cream.  It’s SO DANG GOOD.  Another favorite flavor that we haven’t ever been able to find anywhere else!

We took our ice cream and candy back to the courtyard to eat, and then we walked down to the big grassy area by the ocean.  The kids ran around for a long time and they ended up making friends with a couple of other kids who then played tag with them.  As we were sitting there, big dark clouds started rolling in because a thunderstorm was on the way.  We waited as long as we could (with our eyes on the weather radar), and then we left just in time to walk back to the car and get inside the condo before the rain came down.  I took a picture from our deck of the storm rolling in off of the ocean… it’s always so cool to see that.

We spent the rest of the evening watching American Idol, and then we all went to bed early… some of us fell asleep earlier than others… 

One thing’s for sure… we all got ample sleep on this trip!!

 

Thursday, April 1 (Day 384 of Quarantine)

Thursday morning, we were up and at ‘em to get packed up and head home.  The rain had moved out and it was a GORGEOUS day, but a cold front had rolled in after the rain and it was FREEEEZING outside and so windy.  It was supposed to be like that all day, so it was definitely a good day to leave, even if it was beautiful!

We normally eat at Big Bad Breakfast on our way out of town, but we decided to skip that this year since we had leftover donuts.  We ate those in the condo, and then hit the road.  We were home in time for a very late lunch, and we were reunited with our sweet girl who we missed so much!

I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, putting everything away, and doing laundry, and then we spent the rest of the evening enjoying takeout with dinner, cracking open a couple of beers, and celebrating because we still had a three-day weekend ahead of us!!!! 

And that was our 2021 Spring Break trip!!  We love you and we’ll see you again in just a few weeks, 30A, but there’s no place like home! 

Happy Monday, y’all!

*Linking up with My Glittery Heart, The Other Side of the Road, and The Sirois Family for Hello Monday.