...30 Hours In Navarre...

A few weeks back I was sitting in my cubicle at work on a hum-drum Wednesday when my friend SAM! (yes you ahve to put her names in caps with an "!" because when I say it I can't help but say it with total excitement... if you knew her you would too) called me up and wanted to know what I was doing that night and the next day... I told her that I had to work, but I wanted to know why? She informed me that our friend Andrew and her were driving to see our other friend Blake who had gone back home to Navarre (right outside of Pensacola) for the two weeks between summer and fall semesters... I told her that if we could be back in Tallahassee by 7:30 am on Friday, then I could take Thrusday off and move those hours to Friday... Then it was decided... we were headed to see Blake, and we were leaving at 9:30 that night! Mind you, and I didn't realize this until the trip began, that Navarre is a good 2 1/2 - 3 hours away :) ...

We got on the road around 9:50 that night, landing in Navarre around 12 am Central Time... Blake's mom was up and cooking up a storm in the kitchen... I felt really bad because I had gone out with the missionaries before we left and the girl we taught made us this big southern dinner that I ate on my way to Navarre... I was stuffed! So she saved the food and we ate it for breakfast... Before bed the gang decided to go down to Blake's dock on the bay and watch the remains from the metor shower the night before... well I was tired and I pretty much fell asleep out there like 10 minutes into it... I was then woken up by SAM! at like 3 am and she told me that they were going inside to watch a movie, so I got up and went with them... I'm pretty sure it took me only 5 minutes to fall asleep during the movie! This time I woke up to Blake's dad, Spyder (how awesome is that! his name is totally legit!) telling us that we needed to get up and go out to the beach because it was beautiful and that SAM! was missing from our camp out in the living room... Blake and I decided to go find her... she was in Blake's childhood bunk-bed (way to ditch us in the middle of the night and leave us on the couches!) so Blake and I decided to get into the bunk and cuddle her awake... I honestly was amazed that we all got onto that top bunk and that it didn't collapse on us... According to Spyder, it was a miracle! Once we got SAM! and Andrew up, we were off to the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in the Jeep!

We drove along the coast for a while and finally stopped and swam around and layed out for hours! It was FANTASTIC to say the least! Once we were all beached out we decided to head into Pensacola Beach and go play some Volleyball at the boardwalk... The boardwalk was awesome... there were cute little shops, places to eat and dance, and even rocking chairs and a giant sea-shell perfect for picture opportunities!

There was this awesome dinner place on the beach that had a place for us to play volleyball (and SAM! and I totally won, but the guys started keeping score once they felt like it) and it had this awesome stage where lives bands play that has this surfboard turned sign under it that said, "Dance beneath the moon and stars..." I loved it!

We drove back to Blake's house for some burgers and got to see the sunset on our way... It was spectacular! The missionaries in Blake's home ward came by to visit and I was sooo excited because two of the three elders had served in our singles ward so it was nice to catch up with them... Well our plan was to leave Navarre at like 10 pm Central/ 11 pm Eastern time so we could make it home, get some sleep, and then I could head off to work in the morning, but we decided to stay in Navarre until 3 am, then wake up, drive home, get straight into my car and go to work... Luckily it was casual Friday, and I got to sleep in the back of SAM!'s car, so it wasn't so bad... honestly, it was one of the most fun, spontaneious things I have done since moving out! I loved every second, and I loved getting to know that crazy group even more! I LOVE THEM!