Whatatrip!!

So the reason for my recent lack of posting is due to the fact that I spent all of last week in Destin, FL. And while much of the trip was spent stressing about issues related to work and school, I have to admit that it was still an awesome trip.

We started out doing what I prefer on long drives, and that was leaving at 2 AM. We calculated it was a 10 hour drive, so with stops for gas and one long stop to get a decent breakfast, we would get to our hotel around 1 or 2 PM, just in time to hit the grocery store and then check in. Well, this plan would have worked except we didn't realize Destin is on Central time. I mean, what the hell!!! It's Florida, about as far east as you can go in America, and we're on Central time. Whatever, for me it was a nice return to the time zone I grew up in, and the hotel was kind enough to let us check in early. So I proceeded to begin drinking when we went to the beach, and spent most of the rest of the week in a drunken haze.

There were several noteworthy occurrences and discoveries that I feel need to be mentioned about this trip. First off, in the interest of saving money, I chose to drink vodka instead of beer. So I chose to drink vodka that I called one step up from cheap. By this I mean that a 1.75 Liter of Heaven Hill some of the other cheapest vodkas costs about $9.50, so I decided to move up in the world (hey, I'm not in college anymore, I can afford to splurge) and get my new discovery, Dark Eyes vodka, a whopping $10.59 for 1.75L. I just discovered that this is a Jim Beam product, so more power to it. I personally thought it tasted damn good, and mixed very well with Sprite. And while I just narrowly missed my goal of completing the entire 1.75L throughout the course of the week (probably because I drank a couple of other drinks as well) I made a valiant effort and came within about 6 oz. of completion.

As has been the tradition on these trips with my friends, we go out at least 2-3 nights for fresh seafood, as we figure this will be a great place for it. And we discovered some gems. The first was a place called the Whale's Tail, which was a small restaurant on the beach with and outside deck looking out over the water. Great atmosphere and the food, though a bit overpriced, was probably the best we had all week. The second place we went to was called Buster's. The food at this place was damn good but not as good as our other two seafood meals. However, Buster's had the best hushpuppies we had all week. This place was more like a sports bar, but still excellent. On our final night of the trip, we went to a place called the Back Porch, which was another restaurant on the beach, overlooking the water. This won the prize for the biggest portions. I don't know if anyone finished their meal. I do know that I got probably 2 dozen hushpuppies for the low low price of $1.59. I WIN!!

We chose to check out the night life on evening on the trip, Tuesday night to be exact. And of course, Tuesdays in early May are always going to be hot nights on the town. We chose to go to The Village of Baytowne Wharf which is a set of shops, restaurants and bars set on the beach. While most of the bars were dead, we found a place called RumRunners which was your typical bar with live music. However, this bar had a dark secret, the Rum Runner. This drink was hell in a glass. I decided to take first round with one of my friends, so I promptly ordered 2 Rum Runners, and was told I owed $17!! I was kind of upset until I tasted the drink, which was like drinking straight alcohol. I somehow finished my 12 oz. cup, only to be handed another one by my kind friend who knew he owed me a round. Well, I was already messed up before this, but my second Rum Runner did me in, and fortunately we were ready to head home anyway, as I barely made it to bed. All in all a good night, except for the Rum Runners.

So after all was said and done, we made our way home. However instead of following our MapQuest directions that got us there, we decided to take a chance and just use a map and make our way home. Now I think we probably cut off at least 30 minutes to an hour on our trip by doing this, as we avoided going out of our way a bit. Though anyone who has driven to Florida from Louisville knows that about 1/3 of the trip is done off the interstates. Well, we made it back safely, but not before making one final significant discovery.

Now I'm HUGE on trying new things (hence, my willingness to try a Rum Runner). So all week at our hotel, I had to stare in envy at the Whataburger restaurant that was sitting about 1/2 mile from our hotel, but I never went there. We spent all week joking about going, planning on ordering the #1, which we believed would be a Whataburger combo with fries. Well, we left on Thursday and passed up the Whataburger, then a second, and then a third. Well, I was getting fed up and stated my intention to eat at Whataburger when we stopped for lunch. However, I was getting worried as I assumed this was a Southern fast food chain, and we were making our way steadily north. Well, after we passed a Whataburger about 50 miles south of Birmingham and didn't stop, I was afraid all hope was lost. We didn't see one all the way to Birmingham. Then, just after we passed downtown and were heading into open road again, my friend Jason exclaimed from behind the wheel, "WHATABURGER!!!" It turned out to be the last Whataburger we would pass, and we stopped. Well, we went in and, much to our delight, discovered that they did have a #1 combo, and it was indeed a Whataburger with fries for $4.99. Now the only choice left to make was whether or not to "Whata-size" my meal for 59 cents. I chose not to. But I was wholly impressed with this restaurant. Among the highlights of this place were:
- A picture of the founder, Harmon Dobson, hanging on the wall.
- A picture of the first Whataburger in Corpus Christi, TX also on the wall.
- The term, "Whata-size" your meal.
- The fact that this is the first fast food restaurant that I've ever seen that offers grits for breakfast (99 cents for an order).
- The ketchup, which did not come in packets and they did not have ketchup dispensers. The ketchup came in the same containers you would get a dipping sauce in at McDonald's. You just peel away the top and there's your ketchup. Why has no one else thought of this?? It's so much more efficient than ketchup packets. I took one home with me just for the novelty of the idea.

So all in all a successful trip. I have several more stories, but these were definitely the highlights. I probably could have made an entire post on the Whataburger, and I may pursue that in the future. But hopefully this gave a decent idea of how random adventures can make a trip much more exciting.