okay, so my roommate lani’s boss has a house in alys beach on 30a, and she let us stay there for free. (for the cleaning fee — so for free, basically.)

before i left, i told some people i’d be going to alys, and one guy explained the area by saying, “you know when you’re driving down 30a and you get to the part where it’s fancy and everything is white?”

that’s alys beach.

if you’ve never been and you don’t know, fear not. i have enough photos of it to catch you up.

lani, like the amazing and generous friend she is, packed the house and invited eight of her friends to join. it was so much fun and such a gift to get to go.

wednesday.

my roommates + jess’s fiancé caleb (who we refer to as our fourth roommate) and i drove down together at 6am. after we arrived, lani went to the grocery store and jess, caleb, and i checked out the beach and the pool, even though it was cloudy and sprinkling a little.

for dinner, we all did our own thing.

thursday.

the day started with clear blue skies, but clouds (and rain) rolled in as the day went on.

i spent the morning with jesus on the patio. then i went to the beach and walked for a bit before going to the pool. after lunch, i rode my bike to rosemary beach to explore and pop into the spots T mentioned she loved.

and then i rode back as it started pouring rain. by the time i got to the house, i was soaked. but it was kind of fun! my hat kept the rain from my eyes and i was still in my bathing suit, so i kind of just soaked it in. even if it took two days for my shoes to dry.

for dinner, all nine of us pitched in to chop veggies, cook meat, and make guac for tacos.

and then, because it was the longest day of the year (and because we could), we went for a walk on the beach.

friday.

i stopped into holiday cafe for coffee before walking on the beach. because i can’t ride a bike with one hand, i put my coffee in the basket as i rode to the beach on the cobblestone road. it wasn’t that far, but my cup had a nice coffee splattered look by the time i arrived.

it was a beautiful, sunny, clear sky day and i spent most of it on the beach. i was the first to arrive and the last to leave, like the true beach girl that i am. i was surprised to realize not everyone does (or wants to) hang on the beach all day — and they were surprised to realize i really do. so much so that caleb started calling me the beach queen.

we all went to dinner at the citizen. all nine of us. as we waited 2.5 hours for our table, we had a photo shoot in the courtyard.

saturday.

another holiday cafe coffee + beach day for me. cassie, who worked remotely from the house on thursday and friday, is a beach girl like me, so we hung out a lot on saturday.

we went to raw and juicy for a late lunch, where i had the most delicious avocado toast (pictured below) and watermelon kiwi popsicle (not pictured).

after that, we went to the pool for the next few hours before dinner. mostly because it was too hot to be at the beach without getting in the water, and i didn’t really want to get in by myself after having seen a shark pretty close to shore that morning.

for dinner, jess had the idea to get takeout and eat it on the beach as the sun set. best idea. best way to round out the trip.