I made it back safe and sound from the Gulf Coast, y’all, with only minutes to spare!  The creamy, delicious key lime pie that I was in the process of devouring almost caused a major dieting dilemma that I was totally not prepared for—I gained 3 pounds!  Which easily could have turned into 5 pounds had Gustav not barreled his way through the Gulf causing some serious tropical storm warnings in our area; therefore, causing us to pack our bags and head out of town on Monday; therefore, causing me to leave the remainder of my key lime pie for the cleaning ladies to eat.  Or throw away.  Whichever.  I am both sad and thankful at the same time.

Anyhow, here’s a picture that I took from our patio on Monday morning before we high-tailed it out of town:

You can barely see over the sand dunes, and I should have walked down to the beach to take better pictures.  However, I was afraid that the Nikon camera that I spent my entire freaking life savings on would end up getting rained on or swept away (along with me) into the Gulf of Mexico.  I am willing to risk my own life, but never that of my precious Nikon.  Never.

But prior to our unwelcome visit from Hurricane Gustav, we had several days of fun in the sun and oysters on the half shell.  And as for my list of 13 things to do while in the Gulf, well, I did most all of them.  Mainly the eating of the key lime pie.  Mainly eating in general…