Journal Nokomis Beach

     This is where things start to get really interesting...  On our way to Nokomis, which was about a 12 hour drive, we decided to stop halfway somewhere near Lake City at a Waffle House.  For those of you who dont know about this gem of an establishmentm, it has been a favorite for me and my father for years, ever since we started driving to our condo from Chicago.  Anyway, the reason I like it soo much is because of the people first and the cheap prices and great food second.  Now i had taken a bunch of buddies from school to one in Dallas once, but this one was only a warm up.  The regular conversations of husband fights and daughters pregnancy floated around but nothing really to shake up a pretty much aristocratic crowd of California kids. The Lake City Waffle House really came through though and I thought Joey was going to lose it right there at the table.  We sat down at the serving bar, this is done to ensure the best visual and audio clarity.  For starters the girl cooking was so swamped she started freakin out and talkin to herself.  She got so frustrated with an order she took a batter of egg whites and hurlded them all over the floor.  I knew then we were in for a great show.  Soon after a mn sat down beside us and i swear his hands were so greased that they blended in with his black mechanic shirt.  He didnt even consider washing them and i watched Joey stare with amazment and disgust.  I was laughing inside big time.  He and the girl behind the counter started grunting to each other in some weird dialect, some sort of english, talkin about how they had each quit three times that week and the only reason they stayed was for the money.  The women started talkin, very loudly i might add about how her daughter had been ditching school and she was afraid she was pregnant, again.  I beleive she was 17.   At one point i asked the man with the hands next to me "Sir, can you pass me the syrup"  and he looked me straight in the eye and said, "son, i havent had someone call me sir in over 20 years"  He gave me this big smile and at this point Joey was still staring at his hands as they picked up his food and instanly coated it with black grease.  All in all, it was one of the best waffle house expiriences i can remember, i highly recommend that location if you're down there sometime.  joey remained in shock for a couple hours.
     The next day we headed out for the soft sandy beaches of Nokomis.  Joey saw his first draw bridge on the way over and instantly decided it would be his life's goal to design and build these modern technological wonders.  Well, maybe not.  The beaches were absolutely gorgeous. I spent a good portion of the day chasing dolphins along the beach trying to get a good picture.  I would have had several good pictures however somebody forgot to tell me that you need to take the lens cap off first.  D'oh!! We ended up at this local fish camp where we drank cheap beer and watched the water.  Some middle aged drunk guy came up to us and started telling us about how he was the real inventor of the snowboard but didn't bother copyrighting the idea.  That's really too bad for him, because had he struck it rich, he would have been able to afford a pair of shorts that covered enough of his white hairy fat ugly body to not make children cry.  Come on pal, short shorts went out in the eighties. 
       Anyway, the sunset later that evening was absolutely unbelievabe (check out the pictures).  Finally we went to a seafood place where I tried oyster shooters.  What was I thinking!! 
        So everything was going well at Nokomis until our third night.  Wow, what a terrible situation.  Joey wasn't feeling too well and I thought he was just tired.  It turned out he was violently ill and committed some unwarranted violence against the toilet several times.  At that point I figured it was something he ate and hoped to heaven that I didn't eat the same thing.  Well I must have-or we both had 24 stomach flu-because I took my turn praying to the porcelain God the next day.  Needless to say, we were out of commisssion for the next couple days, which turned out okay because we were at the condo with my grandparents who were taking care of us.  Thanks again guys!!  We were slowly nursed back to health with toast and soup and lots of seven up.  Then it was off to Miami...