Orange Beach

Things I've learned about this trip:

• "Never say never:" I have never ever listened to any podcasts and have never ever been interested in trying to get into them. I think podcasts are boring, because you're just listening to people ramble about absolutely nothing. Plus, I'm more of a visual person anyways. But on this trip, I listened to and finished my very first podcast series. Check out S-Town. I was hooked the very first episode!
  
• This is the first time EVER, I did not sleep on the way back home from a trip. Six (6) whole hours of being awake in the car. Even Andrew was surprised! I'm usually knocked out within the first hour of being in the car. LOL.
  
• Andrew can actually play volleyball! He knows the fundamentals and he has ball control. After almost 3 years of dating, I've never knew this about him!
  
• When you say you are going to workout on vacation, you really don't. Don't waste time packing workout clothes. The only "workout" I got, was walking over 10,000 steps on the beach every day.
  
• As if I didn't learn this from my other trips to Cancun, you're going to over-pack clothes. I packed "just in case clothes." Yeah... just don't pack it.
  
• The last time we went to Orange Beach, we had a terrible roommate situation. I was so nervous about this trip, because we were adding 4 more people I've never roomed with. But I have learned, I can briefly live with other people. Well, maybe just these people. Because they were the easiest and most fun roommates.
  
• I appreciate my kitchen knives. I've never thought that I would appreciate something so silly as kitchen knives! I went through a whole set of knives at this condo and none of them were sharp enough to cut through a tomato. A TOMATO!!
  
• Compromise. Andrew and I are both very different when it comes to vacationing. I'm a planner, he's more of a "go with the flow" person. The last two beach trips we went on, we went grocery shopping while we were at the beach. This bothered me because, we lost an hour of beach time in a grocery store we were unfamiliar with. Plus, they jack up the prices for tourists. So this year, Andrew agreed to go shopping beforehand. I can see the downside to this, because we had extra luggage to bring and it took up a lot of space. However, we didn't waste time scrambling around in a grocery store.
  
• This beach is sentimental to Andrew. I love seeing how he glows talking about it and him sulking in the moment. I'm not a beach person (I hate sand all over me), but I go because it matters to Andrew. Even though he tells me the same stories of his memories on this trip, I listen to him as if it were my first time hearing it. I adore that he gets passionate about things he loves. And the beach, specifically Orange Beach, is one of them.