vacation chronicles, day two: foley

Saturday, April 11

We wake up in Foley, Alabama, after having arrived in the middle of the night (we stopped for a while in Montgomery on the way down). We are staying in the guest house of a main house that was once a barn. Contrary to the sound of it, this house on the bay is amazing. The details are amazing. The furniture is amazing. The fish tanks are amazing. They have acquisitions, like Muhammad Ali's boxing glove. What economic downturn? We are amazed, and a little out of our element.

The guest house is a bit cramped -- there is one bed, a sofa, and a small air mattress. It's also a little awkward staying in the guest house of someone you don't see very often, but he is extremely nice and generous, and he takes us on a boat ride to an island where other boaters hang out, drink beer, and listen to country music. They all seem to have gobs of money and to be strangely oblivious to the state of the nation. They're also, well, kinda redneck (not that there's anything wrong with that...). It's an odd combination -- again the out-of-elementness -- but we relax in spite of ourselves, and the kids have a grand time building sand castles and collecting shells.

Later that night, we load up into the car and find the nearest Wal-Mart so that I can grab some Easter goodies for the kids. Lee and the kids wait in the car while I shop. Tired of waiting, they head across the parking lot to Bebo's convenience store for some snacks. Right around this time, I finish shopping and stand outside to wait for my ride. I wait, and I wait, and I wait. Damn -- I left my cell phone charging back at the guest house. I start to get a little worried, and then suddenly Lee and the kids appear. On foot. Because after Lee turned off the car at Bebo's, it didn't turn back on.

We all head back to Bebo's with our bags in tow, and Lee buys a can of starter fluid and gets to work. No luck. He thinks it's the fuel filter, which is something he can fix, but in the meantime, we ask the cashier if we can leave the car there overnight, and we call a cab. We try to make the cab ride sound like an exotic experience to the kids, but like all cabs, it smells too strongly of cheap cologne and the driver keeps trying to talk to us about sports.

We make it back to the guest house, watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and fall asleep on Easter eve.