W.W. - Finally, the story behind the seagulls.

My parents started taking the fam on vacation to northwest Florida in the late '70s. We used to go to this sleepy little fishing town - you might have heard of it - Ft. Walton Beach.

Back then, it pretty much consisted of four-story hotels, a handful of condos, a few docks and a lot of military. The Sand Flea was the place to order grilled amber jack, and Alvin's Island was the tourist trap to hit for souvenir airbrushed t-shirts before making the six-hour trek back to the Atlanta burbs.

Eventually, the secret of the Caribbean-blue water and white-sand beaches spread like kudzu. Soon Ft. Walton became wide awake, so we moved east, along the sand-dune flanked strip of Hwy. 98 (now barren thanks to Erin, Opal, Ivan and Dennis), and discovered Destin. Then later, during the early '80s, moved even further east, to a one-road strip of pastel colored bungalows - a new development - Seaside.

To this day, my father curses the fact that he couldn't scare up $20,000 to buy one of those original homes. They now go for a million +.

What's the point to this trip down vacation lane?

It's this: during all this travelling up and down 98 and 30A, my family must have passed the Seagrove Villas and Motel a thousand times. And I was intrigued with every view. The place dated back to the early 1950s, and it looked like it had stayed there - in a kitschy, amber glass ashtray in every room, heartwarming kind of way.

This past year, it closed. The piece of land rumored to have sold for $16 million - down went the used, up went the shiny. In this case, some boutique hotel with only a fraction of the charm.

That put an end to all the characters I once imagined inhabiting the Seagrove Villas and Motel - including the lady in Villa 9, who ran away from her adoring husband and two beautiful sons because she needed to find a piece of her old self.

Or maybe she's still there?



For better Wordful Wednesday posts, visit Angie at Seven Clown Circus!

UPDATE: 7/12/09 - turns out the real estate company that purchased the old Seagrove went belly up before they could demolish the place. Someone bought it and refurbished it. Looks great. I hope they didn't scrub away all the character though.