Pensacola Beach: Part Deux

So after a glorious hour of milling around while waited on the pharmacy crew to come back from lunch, we get back on the road. The weather was awful but we persevered reaching Pensacola at 4:53 pm. We pull into the parking lot and I look at the hotel, which is absolutely gorgeous, by the way, and realize that we aren’t at just any old Marriott or Hilton. We are officially at the Margaritaville Resort. I’m not a super huge Jimmie Buffett fan, but still, I cannot think of a cooler concept or name for a resort. Thankfully, check in was a breeze and we rushed upstairs to our room.

Yeah, Jimmie Buffett... I saw this dude’s face all over the hotel, including one of his books inside the nightstand drawer of our room together with the Bible and still I don't know who he is. The room was actually really nice, fresh and brand new. We had ocean view, bathrobes, lots of complimentary stuff... We got excited and started playing around, took pictures and opened a bottle of wine that for one reason or the other was waiting to be opened for several weeks. Weather was getting worse, and decided to stay at the hotel for dinner.

Okay, love. Jimmie Buffett is a musician who spawned a whole sub-culture of followers of people who love to party barefoot in the Florida Keys, drinking margaritas and pina coladas and flying pirate flags. And now, this guy who became uber-famous as the symbol for the laid back life on the beach is living the dream because he actually owns the beach. But I digress, so back to the story…pictures…free stuff…comfy robes… Yes, we went downstairs to the Frank & Lola Love Pensacola Café, to eat. The food was delicious. The soft, blue lighting and the singer that crooned elevator-approved versions of Green Day songs created an atmosphere was so romantic. If you would like to hear the juicy details (pardon the pun, please) and see pics of our meal, check out our “In Our Tummies” page. Moving right along, we went back to the room to find out more about Pensacola Beach’s nightlife and see what kind of trouble we could get into. We were not very successful. All of the bars were open-air and I was not convinced we would have a good time, cold, wind-blown and wet.

Ultraviolet perfoming at Bamboo Willie (and my gigantic daquiri)

Thanks for the explanation love! One day we will have our book on the hotels drawers too! Perhaps coupled with a certain Richard Dawkins best-seller :) Back to the story... For some reason, maybe confused by the rain, when we headed out we ended up at the wrong place! We realized that the bar/club we planned to go to was on the other side of the street. Since we had already parked we decided to give a chance to Bamboo Willie's. This was one of the places that we thought were only open-air, but they did have some indoor space. They are famous for their daiquiris, and after getting a sample of all their flavors (our waitress could not resist Becky's smile!) we ordered a couple and started listening to the band. Four ladies were up on the stage, playing classic rock from the 70's, 80's and 90's with occasional harder songs. After a couple of minutes we were convinced that they were taking no prisoners!

Watch our videos of Ultraviolet performance!

These chicks were awesome to 10^th power! I loved them. I’ll be honest, when we walked in they were playing a country song, so my expectations were low. But the song after that they rocked so hard and my admiration for them grew exponentially. The bass player was my favorite. She had a different crazy hat for every song and mismatched socks and shoes; a woman after my own heart. J  The guitarist was cool, too. She had the cutest pink guitar and song after song, she killed it with these crazy cool solos. She was intensely talented. I made a few video clips of their set, which included Sweet Child O’ Mine, Crazy Train, You Really Got Me, Eruption and even, Purple Rain. If you are ever in Pensacola Beach, I highly recommend going to see them perform!

See our favorite pictures of from Pensacola Beach here!

Pensacola Beach, Part One

Perfect weather for the beach!

This is our first blog about our most recent trip. We have been planning to visit New Orleans since last year but we decided to wait until Mardi Gras, a perfect time to celebrate the year that has passed since Becky and I met. Procrastinators as we are, planning our stay were not all that easy. In January everything in the French Quarter was pretty much booked. In particular Saturday night also the surrounding hotels were full, so we decided to stop somewhere on the way. The idea of a day at the beach seemed perfect. We chose Pensacola Beach, FL located in a beautiful island, just three hours east of New Orleans. The day before we left, the weather reports were not particularly encouraging. Thunderstorms were expected during the day.

We got on the way on Saturday March 5, at 11 AM.

On the road.

Because Gavin is so sweet, he neglected to mention that we planned to leave at 9 am but I am the absolute worse when it comes packing and leaving for a trip. I can begin packing 3 days in advance and still be packing 2 hours after the agreed upon time of departure. I hate packing. I hate it almost as much as I hate onions but not quite as much as I hate mayonnaise. Eventually, I finished packing, we said our goodbyes and we were on our way. Despite the weather we had a ton of fun on the drive down. Gavin is teaching me Italian, so we had plenty of time to practice. After reviewing some verbs, we worked on new vocabulary. While Gavin drove, I documented the road trip in photographs and took notes for our first favorite movie list. Everything was going so smoothly until we stopped in Greenville, Alabama for gas…

Delivering gas pumps in Greenville, Alabama

Yes, Becky realized that she forgot her medication at home and the only place where we could get it over there was Wal-Mart (eww). Their pharmacy was closing for lunch, so we were stuck for an hour. Oh well, since Becky can’t beat me at forgetting stuff, I also realized I forgot something… my swimsuit! I still had hopes to make it to the beach so I got one while waiting. After filling gas at a gas station that was about to get brand new gas pumps, and my first ever fish sandwich at BK we were on the way again.

Becky: Lord of the Itinerary

Did we drive through a hurricane? Did the trunk pop open at 70 mph, causing us to lose all our luggage? Were we kidnapped by Sardinian shepherds, or have the dullest trip ever recorded? You’ll just have to wait and see. I love suspense! Check back soon to find out what happened when we arrived in Pensacola.

Introductions

My name is Becky. I am 32. I love art (in all of its many forms), food, travelling and Gavin. I guess you could call me an artist but, I prefer to consider myself simply, unemployable.

Hello, my name's Gavin, and I am the one who's 32. Becky just turned 33... shhh don't tell anybody! :-) She is the most awesome girl in the world and I love her to pieces! I am not an artist like her, although I do love Art, music, reading, chess, travelling... I am a wannabe musician but I earn my oats working as a researcher in statistical science. I am always hungry for life, new experiences, and learning new things.

He is right. I am 33 and forgetful, as well. Gavin says he loves me the most, but I love him a lot more. Like him, I also love to read and pretend to be a musician. Gavin is actually a wonderful guitarist and tenor. He is right about one thing, though, Gavin is hungry for life. On the other hand, I am usually hungry for everything else. We decided to start a blog to document our journey together and hope that maybe we can make some friends along the way.

Nah... I love her more! I am really excited about keeping a blog with Becky, to tell some of our stories and discuss about our ideas. One of the things that make our relationship magic is that we like to talk about many different subjects and we learn a lot from each other. Since we live in Georgia, USA many of our entries will have a local flavor, however we travel as much as we can (and that is not nearly as much as we would like) so stay tuned for stories from our trips as well!