Adios Pantalones — See Beast Go

Let’s take a moment y'all to be very honest with one another. Pants are leg prisons. There is no need to feel bad about acknowledging this, it’s a fact as solid as the sky is blue and the water is wet. Florida is my pant-less oasis away from a desert of Seattle denim. The remaining week we spent in Florida was a journey of sundresses, swim suits, and sand. I finally learned to body surf, thank you so much Frank, and watching him boogie board made me want to learn that as well. So I did! Frank is a great teacher and very patient, even with someone as independent as me. My arms hurt like crazy the next day but it was totally worth it. Who doesn't want to count time at the beach as exercise?

The 7 of us, Frank, his parents, brother, sister-in-law, brand new niece, and myself spent most of the days waking up, eating breakfast, going to the beach, doing beach things, eating, beaching, eating, drinking, and sometimes late night strolls on the beach to see if we could catch any turtles nesting or hatching. We didn’t want to be picky on the turtle front, so we would have been happy to see either.

On one of these afternoons the ladies and I all strolled down the beach to Starbucks to grab some cold coffee. We are all big fans of caffeine. We lunched across the street at Big Island Burrito which has amazing burritos, which is why I can't understand my decision to order tacos. It is probably driven by the fact that I love hard shell tacos, because hard shell tacos are superior to soft shell tacos. Only monsters prefer soft shell tacos, monsters like my honey. Just kidding about weak shell taco lovers being monsters. You can love who ever you want to, I will stick with my crunchy exterior filled meat and cheese. Well now that we are on the subject of cheese, let's talk about this a bit further. Big Island Burrito has an appetizer of chips and cheese sauce, not just any cheese sauce but the liquid kind that likely comes out of one gallon aluminum cans that can only be opened by an industrial can opener. It's my kryptonite folks, it's warm, it's gooey, and I can't say no. Dear 8 pound 6 ounce newborn infant Jesus help me!!

I love cheese, cheese does not love me. I think it's actively trying to kill me, but that is a story for another day. I partake in the liquid paradise that is this cheese and shortly thereafter am delivered tacos with enough shredded cheese to make a cow faint. I am not, I repeat, I am not hating on these tacos!! I just wish I had known so I could have planned my cheese intake appropriately. Like when you show up early to meet a friend you know is going to be late just to chill eating half portions of appetizers for an hour. You need to know so you can pace and plan accordingly. Frank has zero empathy for me. He knows, that I know, that I am so lactose intolerant I could be handicapped. "You know how you are with cheese! I try and stop you but you do it to yourself." These are direct quotes. He is right and I actively ignore him each and every single time I am at a diary cross road.

I am willing to bet when you started reading this, you didn't expect to get to know me so intimately. You're welcome friend, we are now a bit closer. Me eating this quantity of cheese is a song and dance I know too well. I offer to go get wine with Frank, this is simply a coincidence because I always need wine, the offer is strictly so I can walk it off. Have you ever done 250 crunches and not stretched? Perhaps gotten repeatedly punched in the stomach while twisting side to side for an hour? Excellent!! You know right where I am at right now. The sensation makes you sweat and feel cold at the same time and you think movement will somehow trick your body into not feeling this way. Surprisingly it works.

I can't help but wonder if my lack of ability to never gain weight as a younger gal was owed to this inability to digest diary products. All the cramping in my midsection may have been constantly burning more calories than I ever could have imagined. Regardless, I now had more important things to think about, like wine!! Ferrari-Carano Siena was what Frank's parents had recommended and they did not steer us in the wrong direction. I am not familiar with the blend, it may have been on the label but I didn't check. I can tell you it's a red worth drinking, lots of bright red fruits are the most dominant part of the wine, with easy going oak notes. I have always appreciated this winery, I have lingering happy memories with it. The wines have never been offensive, nor stylistically inaccurate, and are always very quaffable. This winery helped me remember where Sauvignon Blanc is growing in the Loire Valley in France, and one of my best bosses was also a big fan of theirs. One whiff and I am immediately transported back to a restaurant on Donald Ross Blvd, sitting at a table covered with a white table cloth, eating lunch, learning that some people eat, while others, they Dine. Mrs. Carol, was an inspiration and any life she touched she bettered.

I just realized my wine thoughts and tangents should be saved to a whole separate post to be updated for when they happen. Allow me to continue back to the street we veered away from. Siena Red, beach condo, Frank and Family, hooray dinner. We had all eaten our fill at our late lunch, yet somehow managed to eat quite a bit of a shrimp boil. I didn't even know massive shrimp boils could be a thing here, but you bet I sure was happy it was.

The next day was rinse and repeat ocean style with a few more folks added in. Frank had a cousin come down with his wife and their toddler. He also had long time friend Alicia stop by for what was supposed to be a few hour visit that, just like double mint gum, lasted longer. A large storm passed through so we manly stayed in doors, which gave us ample opportunity for a little education. Frank's father has an awesome preference of "training" for countries they will be visiting. Since everyone will be meeting the two of us in October in Scandinavia, he made sure to have some Aquavit to get a handle on the local liqueur. We all proceeded to study on the balcony after the storm had passed.

Aquavit is like Gin, but different. Think a flavored vodka with stuff you would find in a spice cabinet. It's comes in a variety of aromas, so if you ever have this, make sure you dig what the base flavor is. It is not subtle by any definition of the word. The one we had was distinctly caraway. Very similar to dipping rye bread into vodka and swallowing it whole. This is not a bad thing. Please take heed that if I am taking the time to describe something in the written word, it's because I find it worth my time to do so. If I don't like something, it's for a reason, but also not worth my effort to get poetic about. Sure enough, we proceed into the evening filling up on Aquavit, red wine, and great conversation. I can't help but smile when I ever reminisce on moments like these. Any time I see a caraway liqueur I will have happy thoughts of these nights.

Of course it took us more than one evening to empty that bottle. There was one particular bottle that also needed to be drank between four us. While Frank and fam was vacationing abroad they got a special bottle to be shared between the brothers and the significant others. We finally had the chance to do so. Thank you Alicia for being the fearless photographer to document that moment in time. We had another evening with some of Frank's family's friends which was great! They have frequently traveled overseas and with a journey this big, it is always nice to chat with people in the know. They are super rad people.

Florida friends and family you were great. You gave us much needed sunshine, relaxation, and the ability to soak in confidence for the momentous journey ahead of us.

"And scene!! Ok, that's a wrap, thanks everybody."