Nana takes a Chevy Chase vacation

We usually don’t travel on fall break but I decided we all needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of every day life and in order to do that I needed to find somewhere quiet and peaceful (preferably with an ocean). So I did some online research and found an island off the coast of Alabama that seemed to be just what I was looking for. Here’s what’s happened so far….

For years I’ve used realtors and rented beach houses and always had good luck, but not this time. Online the house I picked out looked gorgeous. It was within walking distance of the beach. Cheaper than most others we had stayed at (that should have been a clue). We pulled up to the house and everyone got strangely silent.

“Maybe it looks better on the inside,” I chirped, determined to be positive.

It didn’t. It felt dirty and run down and smelled like someone’s great-grandmother’s closet complete with moth balls.

“Let’s walk to the beach and see the ocean,” I suggested. We shed our sandals and took off out the back door, after all it was just a few feet to the beach….wrong again.  We had to climb a hill and walk and walk and walk, again not what the online ad showed. Within seconds everyone was yelping and hopping. Even the dog started howling and refused to put another paw on the sand. Sand spurs! We all sat down and picked them out of our feet. Some were so deep that several of us had bleeding feet. About this time a fox ran by. Yep, that’s right. A fox. Bill yanked out his video camera and we caught him on tape. We finally made it down to the water (which was murky and swampy because it really wasn’t the ocean, it was a little inlet off the ocean). We all sat down, stuck our sore feet in the water and looked at each other.

“Are you calling the realtor or am I?” I asked my husband.

We walked, hopped and hobbled back to the house. Someone had to carry our granddaughter and the dog, both refused to walk. Bill called the realtor, explained the situation and she couldn’t have been nicer. Within an hour we were in a different house right on the beach. A very nice house that smelled new and wonderful.

Remember that saying about the squeaky wheel? It really is true.

We ate pizza, went to bed and slept like logs.  This morning we woke up to the sound of rain. Not what you want to hear when you are at the beach. It’s been cloudy and raining all day but there have been a few highlights.

Bill cooked breakfast (okay, he went to a pastry shop) and they were yummy! My favorites were the almond covered ones.

Cousin Martha drove over to visit with us, helped us move from one beach house to another, got stuck in a ditch (she backs up like I do!) and spent the night. Notice the matching tee shirts and try NOT to notice that we are not wearing makeup and neither have we done our hair. It was before breakfast and we are on vacation. Give me a break!

For lunch we wanted seafood, but remember, I picked an island where we could get away from it all? It turns out that means we are away from just about everything. We saw a restaurant that advertised Topless Oysters and seafood, but we couldn’t decide if the waitresses were topless or the oysters, so we passed. We saw one that advertised “Beer, Bait and Food.” We passed on that one too. We ended up eating sub sandwiches at two o’clock this afternoon and coming on back to our deserted island.

They boys have thrown the football, hit volleyball on the deck and hung out and watched the waves roll in.

This is a very nice beach house but the one thing I forgot to ask about was the Internet. There is none. For someone like me that’s like not having running water. Right now I am in the car, parked along the side of the road, logged on to someone else’s wireless router (what’s a girl to do?)

The scary thing is this is Day One. Stay tuned. It could get crazier.