Long time ago we went on a family vacation every summer. In our more heroic years we would drive from Calgary to Montreal and back camping along the way (we actually did this twice). But lately as we all developed different tastes and commitments it became more and more difficult to get everybody interested in the same thing at the same time and so we essentially stayed home. Last month we finally managed to pull off something resembling a family mini vacation.

We headed to Florida, to be more specific to the western part of the state commonly referred to as the panhandle. It is comparatively close from Houston (on the way back we drove it in 10 hours) but we wanted to spend a day in New Orleans because all of our previous visits took place during unseasonably cold weather which did not create the right atmosphere. We left home in the morning and that gave us an afternoon and evening to look around. The old city is as much fun as always but we were sorely disappointed by the quality of the restaurant where we had supper. It looked fine but the food left much to be desired. Unfortunately many restaurants in the French Quarter are likely to be tourist traps and so if we do this again I will prepare and do some research ahead of time. Random selection is a gamble with very bad odds.

Our destination was Destin, a small town on the beach east of Pensacola. Well, it is really not that small due to explosive condo development. There are basically two major streets in Destin. The older, two lane highway, runs along the beach and is quite laid back with lot of stop signs and barefoot pedestrians. The new, six lane highway parallels the first but is far enough inland that its existence is not evident from the beach. It is flanked not only by large stores and restaurants but also by a large cluster of factory outlets. This proved very fortunate during the one day when it rained, because it provided the necessary entertainment for the female part of the family.

(Click on the picture to see it full size, use a back button to return to this spot.) The obvious question may be why did we drive to Florida when Houston is essentially on the beach fronting the same Gulf of Mexico. The answer is Mississippi River and the mud it discharges into the gulf. The sediment is carried in a counterclockwise direction to Texas and as a result water on Texas beaches is café au lait. Florida lies in the other direction and because it avoids the malignant effects of Mississippi its water is azure and sand is snow white.

We spent a very nice, uneventful week. One evening we headed out on a sunset cruise on a wooden replica of a 19th century schooner. Kumiko must be getting stronger because she did not even get close to being sea sick.








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