City Social Magazine in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Issue link: https://citysocial.epubxp.com/i/793515
14 Christee Gabour Atwood is a speaker, trainer, and author. Her humor book, In Celebration of Elastic Waistbands, is available at bookstores, online, and wherever books of questionable literary value are sold. Her business books are available too, but you wouldn't want to take advice from her after reading this column, would you? For daily silliness and insights, follow Christee at Facebook.com/ unCommonSense101 or through the links on her website at Christee.biz. Life's Lumps By Christee Gabour Atwood In this magazine, there are articles by the awesome travel writer Cheré Coen. For this travel issue, we thought it might be fun if she did her usual high quality article, while I travelled with her to give the layperson's view. Okay, in truth, I wanted to go to the beach and she didn't lock her car door fast enough. We picked a delightful weekend for travel. We started out from Lafayette in a freezing cold rainstorm and I laughed at the poor folks having to deal with this unusual Louisiana weather. Seven hours later I realized we had escorted the storm across the South and deposited it on the doorstep of the Henderson Resort in Destin, Florida. We immediately discovered what first class service was. We were surrounded by people helping us out of the car who never once giggled at the cracking sounds my knees made as I got out of a car or the long groans that accompanied my attempts to straighten up. Another great discovery was the wonderful bar with its great views and sunset ritual of bell-ringing. And here I discovered more of the famous Henderson service when I accidentally applied a portion of my drink to the wood floors of the resort liv- ing room. Note to self: Never try to look at the photo on your phone when it is in the same hand that is carrying a carefully crafted, full-bodied IPA beer. An attentive and friendly crew in the dining room made dinner a delightful experience and pretended not to notice as I got impatient and ended up brutally stabbing some of the best sushi I've ever tasted. Hey, if I'd waited until I could have used those chopsticks correctly, I'd still be sitting there. The Henderson is so cool with its nearly 500 pieces of art, all commissioned from local artists. The art ranges from beau- tiful scenic paintings to vintage photos, glass art, and even art from a chef who uses icing tubes to apply paint and create 3D masterpieces. Note: Licking is discouraged as this is actual paint, not icing. Breakfast was wonderful. Our server, Toni, made great recommendations and didn't laugh as I practiced taking photos of my food. She made so many trips bringing coffee to our table that I wanted to ask her to wear my "fit" watch so I could count her steps as my own. Vicarious exercise, I like to call it. At this point I realized that every window shone immaculately. Yes, I could take photos through the glass. This was a good thing, because every time I stepped out into the 30 degree outdoors with an approximate wind chill factor of -172 degrees, I yelled curse words. Another note to self: Screeching "Ack! I'm freezing my buttocks off!" is apparently not an appropriate greeting in Florida. Or at least should not be said to octogenarians who are sitting with their grandchildren and a priest. Who knew? In the afternoon we found the Craft Beer Bar. I don't remember much of that afternoon. Guess I'll figure out what hap- pened when I get my credit card bill. And then we had an evening with some incredible folks who know all about the Destin area. You wouldn't believe the amazing stories they had to tell. And, unlike mine, I sensed that theirs were true. I learned important things like why you must try the vanilla doughnut at the Doughnut Hole, which Destin events I should put on my must-attend list, and which places had my favorite meal of "breakfast for dinner". I heard about history and future. And I found out the most important things, like which places have drink specials. I feel like I learned enough to say that this is a place I have to revisit…whenever Cheré leaves her car unlocked again.