|
| |
Rosemary Beach - Part 1
Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino
Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
The hardest story one has to write is one where you have nothing to complain about.
Writing about Rosemary Beach, Florida is one of the most difficult assignments that I’ve ever had to do. Rosemary Beach is so perfect; it worried me that my story would come across as too praising and therefore unbelievable. In addition, since it's such a nice destination to visit, there was little for me to joke about. To further increase the literary pressure, my notes basically seemed to say, "Rode Bike. Ate. Slept. Walked on Beach. Swam. Repeat."
We flew to Pensacola, located on the western end of the Floridian panhandle, just near Alabama. Most of our friends have never heard of Rosemary Beach, but they’ve at least heard of the Florida panhandle. The remainder of that sub-group of friends who have heard of the panhandle, didn’t know much about it, but were quite upset to later learn that Disney World wasn’t nearby. They didn’t know that the beaches are untouched, which is what makes it such a good place. Fortunately, their lack of knowledge about the beaches help keep the sands pristine. In fact, don’t go there simply because you enjoyed this article to any degree. You might go to the beaches and be in my way, so stay away!
It was a two-hour drive to Rosemary Beach, which increased both the carsickness and anticipation in tandem. That’s my only complaint. There’s nothing else I can complain about from here on in, and I only mention this now because it sets somewhat of a balance for what is to come. You wouldn’t believe what I write, if I started off too praising, so I decided to begin with a negative. Again, it was a long car ride, and boring. Oh, yes, it was terrible, quite terrible and upsetting. There you have it. I have nothing else to complain about, but at the end, if you feel my story is too positive, simply remember the fact that I did start off whining about a car ride which was two hours long and quite boring. You can even add in, that the ride was terrible and even monotonous. Of course, we could have flown into a closer airport, but then the story would be overall too positive, and I would have nothing to complain about.
However, we eventually arrived from the difficult journey, and went directly to eat. We only saw Rosemary Beach from the restaurant’s front step, though located in the development; it was still at a slight enough distance to see Main Street at just the edge of our vision. It’s a bit disconcerting at first. The town is only a few years old but yet some of the buildings looked like they were built in New Orleans, at the turn of the century.
We ate at The Summer Kitchen and tried their Rosemary Chicken, as it seemed to be the type of dish one should order at Rosemary Beach. You would not order onions at Basil Beach, or basil at Onion Beach. If the place is named after the herb, I feel inclined to eat the associated herb. I’m not going to tell you the food was damn good, because some people find those details boring and the praise will seem too intense (but the food was damn good).
After eating, smiling, drinking and relaxing we headed straight for our "room" at the Bennett Carriage House.
I say room in quotes, as we didn't really stay in a room. Well, yes, it was a bedroom and not outdoors, but while you’re paying the same as you would for a regular hotel room, you get an actual house. Margherita said it was big enough to live there, but I tried explaining that the commute would be rather far. She settled on just visiting.
They stock the house completely, and we mean completely. They have little coffees, biscotti and detergent, in addition to the standard plates, knives, soaps, etc... They even have board games, VCR tapes and detergent. Every house is different, as a different person owns every one, so the little touches vary, but you do feel like you’ve just moved into somebody's home.
We were about to unpack, but then Margherita ran around exploring every nook and cranny of the room. We weren’t allowed to sleep until she checked every corner and learned where the VCR, washing machine, answering machine and coffee maker was located. Why she wanted to learn how to use the garbage disposal is beyond me, but she was playing and it was making her happy.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
