At
Wast!
During
the night I was awakened by an uneasy feeling.
My
daughter was standing next to the bed staring at me.
During
the night she was awakened by a 7.5 on the Richter scale earthquake.
“Dad…you’re
snoring again.”
I
spent the rest of the night on my face, and we woke up early(ish) to request a
delayed check out allowing time for a beach visit.
The
visit happened, but the weather pattern switch led to Wizard of Oz wind machine level blusteriness.
The
little clamp on umbrella was dislocated immediately upon its raising, and I
spent the day holding it in position. It
was more of a sand shield than a sun screen, and I played Captain America to
protect Anabelle and me from having our features sandblasted off. As long as she’s tanning, Rosa can ignore up
to a Class Four hurricane.
I
read behind the blockade, Anabelle actually joined her mother in tanning for a
while (to the bare minimum of suggested time) before playing in the sand a
little.
We
splashed at the edge of the surf, but Rosa was the only one of us seasoned enough
in moving water to go in to any depth.
With the sandblasting and extra seaweed, Anabelle decided to stay dry
for the drive.
I
saw my first jellyfish in the wild.
WOO!
NATURE!
It
was about the size of a quarter and washed up on the beach briefly between
waves. I thought it was a torn sandwich bag.
woo.
nature.
And, apparently, it might have been a cluster of sea snail eggs.
But I'm still saying its a jellyfish.
We
caught Joe and his rolling ice cream cooler one last time to bid farewell to
our restful days as we left the beach. As usual for our trips, a pair of shoes
(Rosa’s) and a hat (Anabelle’s) stayed behind in the trash as we left.
Rosa
actually hung on a bit longer than we to grab some final rays while we went in
to clean up and do a weather check. A weather check is our official family past
time of the last day in Atlantic City. It’s like the ocean tries to chase us
home.
We
went back to ADAM Good Sports Bar for lunch, proving we should have gone there the night
before. Anabelle’s quesadilla was as good as always making her happy, and they replaced the
buffalo chicken cheesesteak that I had to heavily modify each time with
similarly flavored, but more grilled and less topped sliders, making me happy.
Rosa kept with tradition by grabbing the fries and sharing other bits of our
plates making all of us happy.
We
ended up in another comedy laced baseball discussion, until we discovered
a different TV was tuned to the Insane Sports and Wipeouts Channel! OWCHIE!
If
anything, the wind had gotten worse by the time we went for out post lunch
walk. Opening doors was a major muscle
and cardio work out, and I had to employ my juggler like reflexes regularly to
snatch my hat out of the air behind me.
Anabelle
stopped at the Polish Water Ice stand yet again, because she’s traditional.
She
checked the rings in B- Iconic. After four years of debating the giant standing
bird ring, she was ready to purchase it…and it was gone.
Luckily,
she found an equally ridiculously large snail ring, and all was right with the
world. From the mall we crossed into
Caesar’s Palace to say hi to it, and initiate taking several photos of
ourselves we’d forgotten to throughout the trip that we continued doing on the way back. Sometimes the relaxedness gets
to us.
We
stopped for a final Gluten free cupcake. I debated, once more, and once more
got nothing. I finally realized that cupcakes always look better to me than
they end up tasting.
On
the way back, the Polish Water Ice samples were not out.
THE
HORROR!!
Luckily,
for the sanity of the ride home, they were only being refilled. We pretended to
look for roasted nuts in nearby stores while Anabelle stalked her prey. She and I both got a spoon of mango for the
first time. My going at all came after
her spoon, to hand it to her once we walked out of sight. Unlike other flavors,
she may amazingly like a full sized one of mango on a return trip.
We
did find a new place with the roasted nuts Rosa likes. They used smaller servings for the same
weight charge than the Tropicana does, meaning we will be returning to the old place next time. They
did, however, have larger ice cream treats for less money than on the beach. We
may need to reassess our loyalty to Ice Cream Joe.
In
our final pass through the Tropicana, I got some taffy. What started as a
tradition for us and multiple members of the family has faded away to only
souvenirs for work. Slowly but surely, my entire family has come to the
realization that the stuff tastes like fruit flavored silly putty.
Before
reaching the garage, I picked up an apple juice for Anabelle as she trained for
Disney. I also used the final day cookie coupon.
I
finally realized that cookies taste even BETTER than they look to me.
Nom Nom Nom…mmmmm, yum! I eat it!
Just
about as soon as we left, fountains of rain came off the ocean to chase us out
of town. Siri earned her keep very well by helping us onto the Turnpike to save
us time getting around the combination obstacle course and canal zone the
Parkway had become. She also helped
fantastically when I accidentally got off 78 where I wasn’t supposed to, likely
due to excitement as we passed the airport when Anabelle pointed out, “We don't
have to be here till next week!”
I
kept saying we could stop and bring something home. That’s because crazy hungry
damages the connection between my brain and vocal cords. Yes, we did have some pizza in the freezer,
but when I need to address an end of the vacation unhealthy craving, frankly I
deserve it freshly made. After unloading
the car, I drove out again to Denville Pizza, insuring the proper
celebratory ending to the trip.
Click for Trip Index
Click for Trip Index
No comments:
Post a Comment