Today was supposed to be the day Beth and I went kayaking. Adam was in school, we both had the day off, and Cheryl was too sick to venture outdoors. Wa-la! The perfect day to rent a two-person kayak and tool around the the intra-coastal waterway for the day. The weather looked like it was trying really hard to do it’s part. It warmed up quickly around lunchtime and hovered around 70 all afternoon. The winds looked pretty calm at the house so it looked like the gulf would be pretty calm.

I knew it wasn’t going to work out when we hit the causeway and the flags at the gas station were showing a lot of activity. So now I had to explain to Beth why I didn’t want to take her out on her first kayaking trip around the island in 25-30 mph gusts and three ft chop… on open water. It wasn’t easy. I would have told her about swimming with sharks, but I’d still like her to go with me some day.

Honeymoon Island is just down at the end of the causeway, and Beth decided a little more “exploring” (like there’s anything left to explore) was a fair consolation prize, so we kept going. Ah, but I felt bad about the kayaking. She’d been looking forward to it for a long time, so I decided to see if the ferry was running out to Caladesi (a beautiful island just south of Honeymoon with the best beaches I’ve ever seen). The Caladesi ferry docks just inside the park entrance to Honeymoon Island, so I figured I could make a quick left inside the park, and before she knew it, we’d be on our way to a surprise day trip to paradise (and she’s wanted to go there for a while too.) We drove in, walked over to the little hut where they take your money for the ferry fare, and I plunked down my VISA.

Well, it turns out Caladesi Island is one of the nation’s best beaches, but if you want to walk it’s powdery, white sandy shores you better come with your own boat… or bring something other than your VISA card, because VISA isn’t taken everywhere either (with apologies to AmEx).

All they took was cash and traveler’s checks. As it happens, I rarely carry cash, and I don’t think I’ve ever carried a traveler’s check. (Though, I haven’t done much traveling either.) Sure enough, I had neither.

AGH! Mother nature and the cash curmudgeon were conspiring to ruin my day!

Fortunately, even after building up her hopes and crushing them twice in twenty minutes, Beth is still a pretty easy-going kid. We decided to park by the pet beach and wander the south end of the island, which turned out really cool.

I still feel bad though.