Day 14

Day of rest. We got to sleep in, so naturally, I got up at 6. Ahhhh, how refreshing. The plan for the day was to grab some breakfast and hit the beach. I had some work to do, so I brought the laptop, and Ryan convinced Paul to give surfing a try, pre-Cali. Sounded good to us.

We went to a breakfast place, and got us a feast. The appetite never abates. Ryan's sister Michelle (I think) was moving at the time, so we stopped by on the way back from breakfast and helped out for a few minutes. Moving sucks, especially when you have things. I hope things have gone well for her since.

After quickly returning to Ryan and Lacey's place, we headed out back over the Pensacola bridge, in a car this time. The unfamiliar feeling of not exerting energy while traveling on a road was lovely. The windows were down and the gulf breeze blowing through was simply wonderful.

A quick pit stop to pickup Paul's rental board that we strapped to the car and we were off. When we arrived, Ryan felt it was necessary to walk a mile down the beach so Paul could get his own spot to try to surf. Lacey and I slowly followed behind as she explained how he always does this, while Paul excited to hit the waves was nearly skipping through the sand.

I stuck around for a bit while Paul tried to figure out the surfing thing on his own. It wasn't the best conditions for surfing, but he managed to have some success while I was around. I then set off to get a bit of work done on the website.

Paul worked at catching some waves after some schooling from a local 12 year old who seemed to have a much better idea of what he was doing. Apparently I missed Paul getting up a few times, but I'll let Ryan and Lacey's pictures do the talking when I see them.

After we got enough of our Pensacola beach experience, we returned to Ryan and Lacey's apartment. Lacey took a quick nap, and Ryan helped his sister finish up the moving out process. Being a huge milk fan, and hardly ever getting a chance to have some on the trip, I pretty much decimated their supply the prior night. I went to a local grocer to replenish the goods, and also picked up a little slice of heaven in the form of a pint of ice cream made by Ben and Jerry themselves called "Half Baked", for an after dinner treat.

After returning, Paul and I, hungry as always, headed down to a local pizza pub that they had suggested. We got a couple drinks and an appetizer and awaited Lacey and Ryan's arrival for dinner. The food was good, but we came a day early as they had half prices on their pizzas the following day 🙁 We were excited to get back and dig in to that bucket of deliciousness, however.

Sure enough we polished that off with no help from our gracious hosts (sorry). Belly's full (for at least an hour) we were ready to rest for a big day ahead of us with plans to make it to New Orleans in two days (210 miles).

Life was good.