Trippin'

I'm exhausted.

Okay, I'm usually exhausted, but this time I've got a good reason. :)

My girlfriend and I spent the entire weekend trippin'. No, not the bad kinda.
Let me explain:

Y'see, weekend or not, my body usually wakes me up in time to go to work. Saturday was no exception.

This is really unfortunate for a number of reasons. First of all, I probably wasn’t well-rested enough, so I end up needing a nap later. Then there’s the fact that m’lady’s not awake, so I end up trying to pass the time without disturbing her slumber. More and more, these days, I find myself unable to take it anymore, so I end up kissing her into consciousness.

She’s a sweetie for putting up with me.

This time, though, for some unknown reason, I woke her and said, “Let’s go to Panama City*.” Up for an impromptu adventure, she agreed.

We didn’t know how long we’d be gone or what we’d do when we got there, but we hit the road, anyway – without bringing a single bag. That was kinda fun, to be honest.

As a result, we spent the entire weekend “tripping:”

• We took I-10 East to the Panama City exit, then traveled South until we reached our destination.

• While taking in the sights, we stumbled upon a state park that was closed but visibly populated by deer. We took a slew of horrible low-light-condition photos that probably aren’t worth sharing, but it was a somewhat exciting and certainly unique experience. Neither I, nor my girlfriend, had ever been that close to free-roaming, live deer.

• Being that close to the coast, we couldn’t pass up on the chance for some fresh(er) seafood, but we couldn’t find anyplace that looked all that intriguing. Determined to keep searching, we decided to find a place to stay overnight so that we wouldn’t have to travel back in the dark. Luckily, we had enough gadgetry to get online and find a nice rate in Destin, Florida – about an hour’s drive further West. (We didn't HAVE to drive to Destin, but it's a great place to visit so any excuse would do.)

• We ended up eating at a local restaurant (whose name escapes me, at the moment) near that state park. We ordered grouper, garlic shrimp, and some unusual curry-based shrimp dish. The food was pretty doggone good (although I don’t usually mess with ANY shrimp that’s not “cleaned” if you know what I mean) and we got back in the truck just before a light shower began.

• By the time we got to Destin, we were ready to crash at the motel (which was surprisingly nice – especially for the rate). We got a little bit of tv and cuddle time in, then slept hard as hell.

• The next morning, we took our unbrushed teeth, but freshly showered (wearing the same clothes from Saturday) selves to IHOP. Since the last one closed in Tallahassee, we don’t get to eat there very often. This one was small and our waitress was old and dingy, but the food was tasty. These kinda wheaty pancakes my g.f. digs turned out to be excellent – especially when buttered and dipped in IHOP’s butter pecan syrup. Mmmm.

• After that, we hit a couple of outlet malls where we visited Williams-Sonoma (a kitchen-ware place that I’d only heard of when my job gave us some gift certificates), Sharper Image (gadgets, dontchuknow), Tommy Hilfiger (where I got a great deal on a cool-ass reversible belt), Bose (where I compared their $349 noise-cancelling headphones to my less-than-$349 noise cancelling headphones; theirs won by a nose), Saks OFF 5th Ave (cooler-lookin’ skull caps for my shiny skull), Coach, and several other retail outlets.

By the time we were done, I was more than ready to hit the sack, but we had a 3-hour drive ahead of us. My lady grabbed a Gelato and off we went.

Surprisingly, we didn’t play any movies or anything (except a lil Bee Gees) on the way back. I was more interested in the conversation (not to mention watching my girl in this tiny lil top and tiny lil skirt she wore for me). Luckily we didn’t crash.

We made it back to Tallahassee later than we planned, but it wasn’t too bad – about 9:30pm, last night. We took care of a few things (including eating a lil bit o’ Ramen since that half-pound, “Six Dollar Burger” from Hardees didn’t fill me up all the way) and then slept THROUGH the damned bed.


There was something really fun and exciting about the whole trip – especially since it was so spontaneous. I neglected to mention the way the sun looked reflecting off of the ocean or the reassuring calm of dusk as we completed our journey. These things and more left me feeling like we’d really taken advantage of our relative youth and childlessness.

Great food. Great scenery. Great company.

That’s the best kinda trippin’ there is.





* - Panama City, Florida is about two hours drive SouthWest of Tallahassee