After that, I honestly don t remember much about that day. Probably because I got up at 4:15 and eve

I left two almost two weeks ago for a trip to Alabama with my good friend, Mallory. We had never taken a trip together before, so we were both very excited. We re both planners, so this time we planned not to plan. We were going to buck the system and just go with the flow.
Honestly, I don t know that the trip could have gone any smoother compatibility-wise. We both get up early. Neither one of us takes forever to get ready. We both enjoy just being on the beach and soaking up some sun. We both love to shop. We both love to eat. We both love to read. We both love coffee.
So, we were set to leave before the crack of dawn Monday morning. Mal waited to the night before we left to inform her husband what time we needed to leave their house for the airport. 4:45 a.m. His incredulous response was Fuh-fuh-fuh ??? He was a good sport about it, though.
At 6:00 a.m., we were bound for Chicago. Once we got to our terminal, we only had about 20 minutes to wait before we boarded our plane to Pensacola where unbeknownst to us we would sit for over an hour waiting for our pilot (who was flying another plane) to get there. No part of that was fun.
Finally, we were off and we landed at Pensacola. We headed to the car rental desk to pick up the compact car I had reserved only to find out there were no compact cars left. Of course, they upgraded us to the next thingt they had available.
This is a 2014 Chevy Traverse loaded with leather seats, sun roof, back-up cam, three-rows of seats, and a TV screen hanging from the ceiling for all the kids we didn t bring with us. I was kind of excited about this vehicle until I started driving it and found out I couldn t drive it. Backing this thing up was a nightmare. No wonder it has a backup cam YA CAN T SEE ANYTHING OUT THE BACK!! And I m just way too much of a control freak to trust anything but my eyes to see everything that needs to be seen when backing up. At one point, I made Mallory get out and direct me out of a parking spot because it is just really hard to maneuver a bus in a small parking lot. And trust me, we needed about a 1 acre lot to turn this thing. Driving this did give us a lot of laughs, though when we weren t screeching or cringing.
The drive to our hotel was about 45 minutes and the first thing someone from Orange Beach asked us was, New York, huh? We don t get many New Yorkers around here. (Our Traverse had New York plates.) I wanted to say, Yes, sir. That s correct. And I can t park this thing because I ve only ever taken taxis anywhere.
After stopping at the hotel, we went in search of place to eat. Mallory had been to Orange Beach before, so she directed me to a place called The Wharf where shops and some restaurants are located. There s a café there called Southern Grind that has salads, sandwiches, and most importantly, gelato. I scarfed excalibur hotel in las vegas down a Honey Walnut Chicken Salad sandwich, pasta salad, excalibur hotel in las vegas kettle-cooked chips, one scoop of Coffee Toffee gelato, and one scoop of Raspberry Cheescake gelato.
After that, I honestly don t remember much about that day. Probably because I got up at 4:15 and everything got kind of foggy. I think we might have done a little shopping and some more eating excalibur hotel in las vegas that evening.
Tuesday morning, we got up at 6:30 a.m. and headed down to breakfast. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Suites in Orange Beach and I would highly recommend it just based on the breakfast and the view out the hotel windows. Unfortunately, this is what it did all morning.
About noon, it finally passed. However, the overcast, cloudy skies stayed with us for the rest of the day. We didn t even care at this point. We had come to Orange Beach to sit out on the beach and, by golly, that s what we were going to do.
So, we stayed out there for about 2 1/2 hours. excalibur hotel in las vegas We decided that sunscreen was probably unnecessary since it was so cloudy. I mean I know you can still get burnt if it s cloudy, but it takes longer right?
We went to Lulu s in Gulf Shores that evening. Excellent, by the way. The restaurant is right on one of the channels and it s open to the water. The only thing cooling you are ceiling fans and the breeze. It was lovely.
On our walk back to the bus, we decided excalibur hotel in las vegas we were going to invest in some Noxema for our ever-increasing lobster state. My skin was starting to become unwieldy excalibur hotel in las vegas and stiff. With every step, Mallory was going, Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Meanwhile, we re both laughing excalibur hotel in las vegas at the sheer stupidity of what we had done.
We got back to the hotel and put Noxema on so thick that we were totally white and walking like mummies. It was then we decided to run down to the hotel lobby, grab some coffee, and settle in for a couple episodes of Scandal on Mallory s iPad.
Back to my story, we re on the 7th floor of the hotel, so we ve got a little bit of a ride on the elevator. We pull on sweats and long-sleeved shirts to cover up our completely white skin and head down the hallway like a couple of weirdos trying not to let anything touch.
We get into the elevator and have to stop at every floor on the way down to let people on. By the time we get to the first floor, we re all packed into this little elevator like sardines and I m about to die because I am 100% certain that everyone in that elevator is being assaulted with the odor of Noxema.
On Wednesday, we got up early and did our now morning ritual of breakfast and coffee while watching the ocean. However, we were too burnt to enjoy the beach that day. We thought it best to give ourselves excalibur hotel in las vegas a break so we could go out and do it all over again on Thursday.
So, we decided it was a good day to sit on the hotel deck (in the shade, of course), read our books, and then maybe go get some pampering. A couple of facials, massages, mani/pedis. We called excalibur hotel in las vegas around and there were no openings. Very disappointing since my husband was the one that encouraged a spa day and told me to get the works.
For lunch, we headed back to our favorite little lunch spot (Southern Grind) and I ordered unsweetened tea for my drink. This is when the guy at the cash register goes, Where are you girls from? I said, Missouri. He goes, Wow! You re a long way from home! You two are too burnt to be from around here. That s how I always know.
I feel it is important to remind you at this juncture that we are still very burnt. However, Mal had a nice tan going on her legs and feet already due to taking her kids out for recess every day. (She s a kindergarten teacher.) I, however, did not have that going in my favor. Therefore, I was very very red. My feet, ankles, and the tops of my legs were not ok. I put my feet in the warm, bubbly, fizzy water and knew inside of my heart of hearts that this was not going to be good.
It started with just letting my feet soak and a lady working on my nails. Everything was going just dandy until she walked away and came back with a wet washcloth. She slapped this blazing washcloth on my already charred arm and proceeded to massage-slap the top of the washcloth. At this point, I did one of those close-mouthed shrieks and said, MMMMMMMMM!!!! excalibur hotel in las vegas I can t take it!! She laughed at me and honestly, who wouldn t? It was perfect punishment.
However, excalibur hotel in las vegas I wasn t done yet. After the wash cloth fiasco, excalibur hotel in las vegas a different nail technician sits down in front of me to work on my feet. Meanwhile, I hear Mallory say to hers, No hot stones, please. No hot stones. I immediately turn to mine and say, No hot stones for me, either! He goes, No hot stones? I say, No hot stones and no hot washcloths, either. Cold washcloths He chuckles and says, You are very red. No, really??
After he gets my toes in tip-top shape, he pours this green gel into his hands and rubs it on my leg. It is at this point that I discover the grittiness of this substance excalibur hotel in las vegas and think to myself, These people are enjoying this! Seriously??!!! He never looked up or he would have seen the tormented cringe on my face. My guy was a little excalibur hotel in las vegas ahead of Mal s at this point so a minute excalibur hotel in las vegas or two later, Mal looks over at me wide-eyed with This does NOT feel good written excalibur hotel in las vegas all over her face.
Meanwhile, my nail tech is Helga from Hades rubbing lotion on my red, exfoliated excalibur hotel in las vegas leg like he s trying to give somebody an indian burn. And I am shaking trying to control the laughter I m holding back at the hilarity of my current situation. It hurt. So. Bad.
He painted my toes beautifully and I got up to move to the nail painting station. excalibur hotel in las vegas I sat down next to a kind woman who said to me, Oh darling, your poor legs. I chuckled and said, Yeah, that exfoliating massage didn t help me any. She had to laugh while she said, Oh honey, I imagine it didn t. We ve all been there.
When we left, our finger and toe nails were gorgeous and we went back to the hotel and sat on the beach for a bit. It was late afternoon by this point and we put on sunscreen. Cuz we re smart like that.
Thursday was our last full day in Orange Beach and we were determined we were going to make the best of it. We got up, went for breakfast and coffee, got some more coffee and watched an episode or two of Scandal. (When you get up with the chickens, you have some time to kill.) We did not come to the beach to come home without a nice tan, so we went out Thursday (with sunscreen) and just enjoyed the water, the sun, and even got to see a dolphin swim by. I distinctly remember saying, Aw, how cool! I hear dolphins like people. Mallory wasn t so sure.
We left Friday morning and on Friday afternoon, red flags were posted all over Orange Beach because a swarm of 7 or 8 sharks had been spotted by a helicopter close to shore. The carcasses of cleaned fish were washing that way with the tide and the sharks had an easy meal.
That night, we went to Grazie Café, an Italian seafood restaurant. It was the best of the restaurants we went to. Mal ordered a seafood linguine and I ordered a seafood pizza. They were both absolutely delicious! We ate seafood every night we were there. You don t go the coast without doing that. That would be just wrong.
Friday morning we got up and did the same thing we d done