Yes,
from the title, you can already tell this is going to be interesting, so let’s
get started. Anxious to get to Florida, the Sweatt’s (Lynne, Matt and Savannah)
grabbed lunch from the drive-through at Taco Bell in Phoenix City, Alabama,
while Dennis and I scarfed down a quick Chick-Filet lunch before leaving Lithia
Springs. Dennis and I rolled into Dothan, Alabama just in time for four o clock
traffic (central time zone) and our ETA of 5:25 p.m. suddenly changed. By the time we made it to Panama City (not the
beach), we were now in six o clock traffic and of course getting stopped by
every traffic light.
The
tone on my iPhone rang indicating I had a text and the evening was about to get
interesting. Lynne and Matt had arrived,
successfully opening the gate with the code we were given, and retrieving the
key from the lock box for the unit, my text read something like, “The condo has
not been cleaned and it is filthy, can you call Mark and let him know?” I called Lynne and we discussed the
situation and she took pictures of the state of the condo while she waited on
me to reach Mark. After phone calls and
text back and forth, he apologized and said this had happened to him before,
but he would get someone out to clean it for us. By the time, Dennis and I
arrived and unpacked, we were still getting “I’m working on it and I’m so sorry”,
from Mark and the rental management company for his condo. I told Mark we were going to dinner and if we
needed to clean it, we could, but we expected a refund of cleaning fees and
more for our trouble and time. He promised he would honor that or find someone
to clean it before we got back in. Obviously, we did not unpack everything, and
would wait until the maid had finished cleaning to move in for the next four
nights.
Frustrated
and tired was an understatement at this point, but we were in Florida, at the
beach, and headed to a restaurant where someone could wait on us and bring us yummy
food; so it wasn’t all bad. If we could
just get the maid situation worked out, all would be good. Captain Jack’s
Seafood buffet sounded good to us and was very close by on Thomas Drive, until…
we drove through the parking lot and into the overflow lot and no spaces
anywhere. Ok – this is not happening, next choice – one of Matt’s favorite’s “Angelo’s”
and we knew they had plenty of parking.
When we arrived, we did find a parking space – at the back of the lot!
This place serves consistently good food and moves crowds fast, we stayed J
Dennis
and I split – N.Y. Strip / Baked Potato and Salad
Savannah
– Chicken and Fries
Lynne
– Shrimp
Matt
– Hamburger Steak
My
steak was a little too rare for me and very thick, and Matt’s hamburger steak
was a bit over-done so we ended up swapping some and everyone was happy. In the
middle of dinner, Mark called and a maid service was on the way to clean the
condo. Yay, finally!! After dinner and feeling very full, we
stopped by Walmart to stock the kitchen for breakfast, lunch and snacks. We
planned on eating out every night – this is Florida after all; eating seafood
is mandatory, right?
Lynne
and I shopped while Matt and Dennis stayed with Savannah in the car. We tried to hurry with our not-so-long list,
but this Wal-mart was layed out differently than ours at home and the shelves
and freezers looked like a hurricane was forecasted. This is absolutely the
worst Wal-mart either of us have shopped in.
2 cartons of Blueberries in the store – 1 bad, 1 good; no Kitchen trash
bags (unless we wanted to by a box of 80); Strawberries – eeew, No way, yuck
(mold, wrinkled) and the ice-cream freezer was bare. We got essentials, enough to make do, and
finally checked out. All three in the
car swore we took forever in the store – Lynne and I thought we were quick,
considering what we had to work with.
That’s ok –next time they can tackle the mess. Which is exactly what happened, Dennis ended
up going for short grocery runs to the nearby Publix for the next few
days. On the other hand, anytime the
five of us were in the car at night, out for dinner, when we would pass the
Walmart, Matt would say, I don’t care where we need to stop, but it’s not going
be Walmart”!!
Excited
to enter a clean condo, we walked in, unloaded the groceries and disappointment
hit. The bathroom had been cleaned, so that was good, and the sheets and two
towels (yes, this place sleeps five) were in the dryer – still wet. Savannah’s feet were a little black, so we
realized the floor needed mopping. Lynne
and I had bought some Clorox spray cleaner, so she mopped the floors throughout
the condo, and I sprayed everything with Lysol, thoroughly. After several timed rounds in the dryer, the
very thin sheets and towels were still not dry – ugh, this is not fun at 11:00
p.m. at night (central – so to our Georgia bodies it is midnight).
We
decided we could sleep on the beach towels we had brought and cover up with the
blankets we had in the car, not ideal, but we are tired. Time to pull out the sofa-bed for Dennis and
I and treat with Lysol…. Hmmm, really – the mattress is about 2 inches thick
and slants down at the head into the bottom of the couch back – this is not
going to work –clearly! We Lysol’d but quickly decided that I would just sleep
on the couch by myself, as a couch – not a sofabed and put it back
together. Savannah would sleep on the
love-seat, and Dennis took the wall bed, that was actually in good shape (super-twin
size). Now that we had the living room
sleeping arrangements figured out, Matt and Lynne took the small bedroom, the
floor was clean, hopefully linens would be dry in the morning, we called it a
night. Surely things would look better
in the morning. Night.
