Friday, September 5, 2014

Vacation Blogging

Dear Lit Loves,

It's been four years, four manuscripts and now I am taking a vacation.  Me and The Brewster decided to reward ourselves after four radically tough years so here we are vacationing on Hilton Head Island.  I'm taking eight days to sit under an umbrella on the beach and read, spend my afternoons at the pool, and venturing out in the evenings for a decent place to eat. 

The trip to Hilton Head Island from Atlanta took about four and a half hours.  I did overhear a conversation at a nearby table last night in which a man bragged that he drove that route in three hours!  Where's the fire, dude?!  We stopped for lunch on our way here.  Upon arriving in the late afternoon we unpacked, toured the resort, and went to dinner at Marley's.  I had crab cakes and the Brewster had spiced salmon.  Honestly, Marley's might be the best restaurant on the island. 

My first day here, I blew out my flip flops.  Seriously, I was coming back out to the beach when the soles of my flip flops fell off and yes, the sand was mighty hot!  Wonder if this is what Jimmy Buffett is speaking about in his song "Margaritaville"?  The Brewster took a look at the flip flops; there was no hope.  Those babies were gone.  There wasn't enough super glue on the island with which to piece them back together.  So I went and bought me a new pair at The Westin hotel.  After accomplishing this, we made our way to San Miguel's for tex-mex.  Delicious, and we didn't break the bank either.  Plus, they have especially fresh salsa. 

The next day I found myself at the pool swimming laps and reading the book entitled The Cancer Chronicles when the Brewster appeared.  Lo and behold, the man's left flip flop was coming apart.  You know what an engineer does with a non-compliant flip flop?  He finds a rubber band to hold the parts together. We went to The Old Oyster Factory for dinner that evening.  My shrimp basket and hushpuppies were to die for, but the Brewster said his Mahi Mahi was way overcooked.  The view there is terrific by the way.  And then we headed to the local grocery store where the Brewster bought super glue and proceeded to fix his flip flop.  It worked.

I'm shocked at the number of people on their cell phones/smart phones while on the beach!  Yikes!  One man had his with him while jumping waves in the ocean.  And I'm seeing fifty percent of people reading with ipads/Kindles and fifty percent are reading the old-fashioned way like me.  Interestingly, some people like to sit or stand in the pool while reading their book/novel.  After getting splashed by several kids who decided to use the pool fountains at water cannons, there was no way in hell I was taking a book in the pool with me. 

Which brings me to going one evening to get pizza.  We went to Giuseppe's Pizza.  Good salads, outstanding staff, and extremely good pizza.  I highly recommend it!   On the flip side of this, we went to one local seafood joint on the harbor front.  Beautiful boats and scenery.  The Brewster said this place was well known and good.  The first issue was hearing a server converse with the woman sitting at the table behind me about how they were both from New York.  The next thing you know the server is making fun of southerners and the way we speak.  Not amusing.  I ordered a crab cake sandwich and the Brewster had the spicy sauteed shrimp over pasta.  Mine was nothing to write home about and no, I could not get sweet tea there either which didn't help matters. The Brewster said his meal was okay, but nothing to write home about so we have forever scratched that restaurant off our list of recommendations. 

Today, it started raining.  We opted not to be in the pool during a storm.  I made my way out to the balcony and actually saw several people in the pool during the storm.  Diehards.  I admire their fortitude, but wondered where there common sense had gone?  Perhaps on the mega pool slide?  When it rains, I go shopping.  So I visited the local Lilly Pulitzer store and found myself another pair of flip flops (seventy-five percent off) and a sundress (fifty percent off)!  Score!!  The Brewster and I then went to lunch at a place called Red Fish.  I definitely recommend the blue crab dip.  The Brewster had the spicy rock shrimp tacos with black beans and I had the Thai Chicken Salad.  Simply superb!  This made up for the previous night's major disappointment.

I have a couple more days here in paradise before I head back to HotLanta.  And Lord knows I could use some good news from an editor or agent right about now or anytime in the VERY NEAR FUTURE!  In the mean time, I'm meditating, living in the moment, napping and dodging small children as well as teenagers with shovels, water guns and water cannons!!

Til Next Time, May You Find Your Own Little Piece Of Paradise Wherever You Are!
Grace


No comments:

Post a Comment