Last year we agreed that spring breaks would could as “vacation” and not “trips”. We also agreed that vacations didn’t require daily or even sporadic blog posts so I’ll keep this as brief as possible. We left Chicago right after school last Friday and drove an uneventful four hours to Seymore, Indiana. I think we only had one brief stop to switch drivers. If I remember right we didn’t even fill up with gas and had brought along “Dad’s delicious sandwiches” so we wouldn’t need any food. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy lettuce so they weren’t quite as delicious as normal. I’m glad we did this part of the drive though since we woke to snow on Saturday morning that was supposedly worse to the North of us, so we saved a few hours of slower more careful driving.
Saturday was a long day of driving from Seymore, IN to Valdosta, Georgia marked only by the stop at Cook Out for lunch. I’m certain I must have written about Cook Out here before so I’ll spare you the lengthy explanation. I will say again though that it is the best regional fast food chain in the South. Also, Cajun chicken sandwich with fries, corn dog, and chocolate peanut butter cup malt is the way to go.
For dinner we found a hipster-lite place in Valdosta. There seemed to be some discrepancy about the exact name of the place, but it definitly had the word bleu in it. Food was decent, but the hour wait from ordering to delivery pushed the night a little later than E was up for.
Sunday was when the fun actually began! After a quick final four hour drive from Valdosta, GA to St. Pete Beach, FL we parked the car at the Kimpton Zamora and headed straight for the beach. The fine white sand is exactly like we’d read it would be. We grabbed some chairs and alternated between spashing in the water, lazing in our recliners, and opening new cans of Coors Lite.
At four we headed back to the hotel and had just enough time for a quick dip in the pool and hot tub before our room keys were delivered. We unpacked, showered, and made it to wine hour by five.
I know everything I’ve written so far is pretty boring, which made for a lovely vacation, but here’s the pay-off for those of you who are still with me. Story Time! For dinner on Sunday night we decided to head to a Mexican place just a few blocks north of our hotel that had great online reviews as well as an in-person recommendation from a friend-of-a-friend. We walked in and were immediately seated. Our waiter soon came to our table and asked what we would like to order. We put in our order for a pitcher of Margaritas and pops for the girls. He then asked about food and we said we weren’t ready for that yet.
He returned shortly with our drinks and again inquired about food. By this time we’d spotted the gucamole prepared tableside so, of course, I requested that. He then inquired about the rest of our order and noticeably rolled his eyes when I told him we weren’t ready yet. He returned, prepped the guac while looking over his shoulder away from us and without saying a word. He then presented us with the guac and a basket full of what would best be described as chip crumbs. It was at this point that we began to realize that for some reason our waiter really didn’t like us. Although we’ve puzzled over the evening a lot since, we haven’t really come up with a good explanation for the events that were about to unfold.
After finishing our guac he returned and said “are you ready to order, or do you need another hour”. Stunned, we placed our orders. As he walked away we looked at each other and laughed about the absurdity of the situation. He returned, looked straight at Zoe and said “are you laughing at me”, waited, and then walked away.
We briefly debated, and decided that it would be best if we left. I’ve never walked out of a restaurant mid-meal before so I wasn’t quite sure of the protocol. We had finished the guac, but still had half a pitcher of margaritas to go. I drained what was in my glass, we walked up to the host and paid him for the guac and half a pitcher, explained what happened and why we were leaving. He was quite apologetic and accepted the cash that I gave him so I guess we’re OK there.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the situation is that the food was really good and now we can’t ever go back. We’ve sort of settled on the explanation that something bad must have happened or been happening in our waiter’s life because I’ve never a server so upset with us for ordering drinks, then appetizer, then dinner before.
On a positive note our early departure from dinner meant that we were able to make it back to the Zamora in time to watch the sun set over the gulf while enjoying $3 local IPAs. Zoe and I actually closed out the rooftop while spotting constellations.
Yesterday (Monday) we spent the entire day on the beach with a quite dip in the pool and paddle around the Intercoastal for good measure. Of course we wouldn’t miss wine hour and even made wine hour friends with two groups from the Alexandria, VA area. For dinner we ate at local institution Ted Peter’s. The smoked mullet, smoked salmon, and fish spread were all out of this world delicious, and our waitress delightful.
Today we’ve skipped the beach in favor of the pool since we all needed a bit more time out of the sun than in it to recover from the burns we’ve been unable to avoid completely. Wine hour is fast approaching now and as we see it being late is a near unforgivable Kimpton sin, so we’re off to get showered and ready!
