Days 1-3

Mike reporting-

Chrissie is in the shower, while our host Desi and her friend Brian are at the store getting food for their weekly Sunday Brunch. We arrived in Panama City at around 9:30 Friday night, after almost exactly 10 hours of driving. We stayed up talking with Desi and Brian until around midnight, being only partially interrupted on occasion by the three dogs that live here. Zoe is a mutt with a little Pit in her, and is clearly the Alpha female. Harvey is basically a deer/dog hybrid, and is the most beautiful, if not the brightest. Oliver lives in our room with us, and is a King Charles mix. He's probably the calmest. Unless there are socks around. Chrissie lost a sock the first night.

Saturday morning we woke up and sat around the table with coffee and cereal and oatmeal until noon. Then we drove to Tyndall beach, which was probably (according to Brian) the least crowded beach in FL. It was pretty hard to find, and was mostly used by inhabitants of the nearby Tyndall Air Force Base. We played Frisbee and discussed politics and ate Ranch-flavored sunflower seeds. That night we had margaritas and enchiladas, prepared deliciously by Desi. I was the only one who could finish both, but came to greatly regret this victory during the following game of "Catchphrase." The game revolves around a hand-held digital display that shows a catchphrase, and you have to get your teammate to guess the phrase without the assistance of gestures or using any of the words in the phrase. Laughing is hard with two 1 lb enchiladas under your belt. Brian said the way I was carrying the weight meant it was a girl. Thanks, Brian!

It is now Sunday morning. I neglected to mention that the dogs bark and lick and click their nails on the hardwood floors almost all night. Or it seems like all night, anyway. Desi and Brian have returned and have put a pot of coffee on, which is awesome. If the weather holds we may be going back to the beach. At any rate, we have a fire pit filled with wood, and some veggies and tin foil to put in it when we get the fire started.

Chrissie reporting-

So we had an AWESOME brunch today. Desi and I made some quiche (ok, Desi really made the quiche, I chopped garlic and grated cheese).  Two of Desi's friends, Jared and Jeff, also came to brunch. The Brunch Bunch was missing this week since a lot of people were out of town, but we still had a really good time. The boys showed up with two bottles of champagne to make mimosas, but apparently Desi already had two bottles, so ... the six of us went through four bottles of champagne. Great breakfast! We also played "Catchphrase" again. I love that game! Need to buy it for the new apartment.

While washing dishes after brunch we came up with the most epic idea one can have after four bottles of champagne: Let's go to an arcade! Unfortunately, we ended up taking a 3 hour nap, so the arcade thing didn't happen. Went shopping at Wal-Mart for some hot dogs, buns, and fireworks, then came back to the house to get ready for the rest of the night. We drove Downtown to watch some fireworks, and stumbled upon the greatest stumble upon ever. Found the perfect spot to watch fireworks without even trying ... it was quick and easy. Probably the easiest time I've ever had getting to a fireworks show and getting out.

Got back home, and Brian made a boy scout firepit A.K.A. best firepit ever. Although it had poured rain most of the day, the fire lasted. And I got to roast my first hot dog ever over an open flame. Sadly, the second hot dog I ate tonight (which Desi cooked on the Foreman) was much better. Maybe next time.

Thanks for checking in on our first update, and we'll try not to put three days in one update, in the future.