Rainbows and Sunhats

I sat on the beach at my first ever sighting of the Gulf of Mexico. It was beautiful. Here is my spot on the sand. The water is behind us, but I wanted to point out a couple things. This beach was recommended to me by a woman named Andrea. She was one of the employees at the hotel working our breakfast each day. She was really nice and liked my smile. She recommended this beach because it was BEAUTIFUL, on my way to the next stop, and also surrounded by sweet shops. You cannot see it but the Lifeguard stand is just to the left of this photo so that I was assured to be safe. Also so that if I got stung by a jelly fish (they are all over the place in the gulf stinging swimmers I guess) that kind life guard could save me. I was also surprised that the sand was not at all hot. Sitting and baking in the sun, but the sand was just warm. I have been to some beaches where you cannot even think about taking off your shoes! 

You can all rest assured that I did not get stung by anything and I did not drown. I did get three little sun burns on my back where I could not reach to sun screen it up. The rest of me is still Mid Western white. 

Pictured here is my new summer hat. The back of my neck was feeling a bit warm and pink at Islands of Adventure so of course I had to get a sweet, southern hat to wear to my next garden party. I hung out at this beach and did a little bit of shopping until it was time to hit the road. I drove for a while and did not feel good about any of the exits. You know, you can tell if the exit is a good one from what you can see from the highway. This is an art I have perfected in many, many trips down I-94. As I was approaching an exit there was a rainbow, a huge rainbow. Probably the most complete rainbow I can remember. I stopped at that exit, found a beautiful hotel that had cheap laundry (which I need at this point in the epic trip) and was loads less scary than the place I was last night. Sorry Mom, I did not trust my instincts last night, Harry Potter had tuckered me out. I stopped at the first sight of a Starbucks so I could look forward to a delicious morning. There is also an outlet mall at this exit! I love shopping! 

If I was one of those people who believed in signs, I would believe that rainbow was bringing me here to this hotel with complimentary drinks each evening in the hotel bar, laundry, and outlet mall shopping. This was the earliest stop I have made on the trip, I am extra tired from the past two days and sitting on the ocean this morning. Such a hard life. This place is perfect for a night in and early to bed. Tomorrow there is a trip to the largest museum devoted just to sea shells in the US. I wonder if there is international competition for this type of tourism. 

There might be something to those signs. Maybe. But they are getting more and more convincing.