As a rule, I refuse to go to the Gulf coast over the 4th of July weekend — too expensive, too crowded, and too hot — by far. And, of course, this year there’s the oil slick thing. But this year, I went anyway. And it was the right decision.
I’d like to pretend that I was being all noble to help out the good people there who depend on the tourist trade, but the reality is that it’s when my family could go. And it wasn’t expensive, crowded, hot, or oily at all. It was actually really, really nice.
We stayed in a condo in San Destin (due south of Montgomery, Alabama), which is my favorite part of the beach. The oil scared away the worst of the crowd. The temperature was in the 80s and not humid. There was a great sea breeze the whole time. And there were no lines in the restaurants.
And even though it was the 4th of July weekend, the rentals were heavily discounted. (Not all units are discounted. You have to shop a bit.) It was (by beach standards) cheap. I imagine it’ll be cheaper still in a couple of weeks after the Independence Day holiday time is over.
I drove from San Destin to Pensacola to pick up my oldest son at the airport — about a 90-minute drive along the coast toward the west and the oil slick — and saw not a single tarball or slick. Now, I know that the tar has made it as far as Pensacola, because the newspaper had a picture, but the Ft. Walton, Destin, San Destin, Panama City area seems entirely oil free as far as I can tell. Lots of folks went in the water where I was and suffered not a single oily mishap.
So go the beach! It’s a great deal, and you will be helping out a truly ailing economy. The good people on the coast need the business.
Now that we’ve solved the problems with elders, we need to address murmuring by the congregation.
