We have had a fairly busy week, especially Friday & yesterday. After our lovely weather all the way home, we got a real change on Tuesday - COLD & WET!!!
Tuesday, we started at Tim Horton’s for a chili lunch then we went to the cemetery in Sarnia and arranged for a marker for my parents grave and fortunately by then the rain had stopped although it was still cold. We then went and visited with John’s brother for the afternoon. I had hoped to use my computer at his place but he has the internet password protected and neither Doug or his wife’s son could remember the password so I was out of luck to log on. His wife Fran is a teacher so when she came home we visited for a while then went out to a little Italian restaurant for dinner.
Wednesday was a nice sunny day, but still cool, we drove through back country roads to Sombra then back to Sarnia along the St. Clair River – a very pretty drive but we didn’t see a single freighter on the river which was disappointing. When we got back I did laundry so that is out of the way for a while.
Thursday was overcast and cold and the weather forecast called for rain so we went out for breakfast as we had heard the restaurant at Reeses Corner had good meals - the breakfast was very good. We came back and John wanted to get the trailer hooked up before the rain started but of course as soon as he went out the rain started, fortunately it didn’t rain too hard so he didn’t get soaking wet. The rest of the day we spent reading – a nice quiet day. I had put spagetti in the slow cooker in the morning and it was a good day for comfort food.
Friday we woke up to sun but still cool, we arrived in Kincardine about 11:30 and then the fun began – unloading the trailer and getting the cottage organized. We spent the rest of the day moving stuff and getting everything in the cottage going so by the time 10:00 rolled around we were done in.
Saturday morning was more of the getting organized and moving stuff back and forth, then around noon Mike & Margie walked in, they had decided to come back here for the season but didn’t tell us, it was good to see them again. I had told Margie a couple of weeks ago that we were going to the Erie Belle on Saturday night with Alison & Bob for fish and chips and Margie walked in and asked if I thought we were going to go without them!
We had a coffee with them then John went to help Mike park the trailer. Other than helping Mike John spent all day raking the lawn and getting stuff out of the truck into the shed – we are getting there but still haven’t moved anything from the freezer in the trailer to the cottage.
I finally managed to get into town around 4:30 to pick up a few groceries and we were just ready when Alison & Bob picked us up about 6:30 to go into town. The six of us really enjoyed our fish and chips then they all came back to our place for a drink and desert – great fun catching up with everybody’s activities over the winter and it is so nice to see friends again after the winter.
Today is a beautiful sunny day, still a little cool but a nice breeze blowing, so I got towels washed and out on the line to dry. This morning at 11 the park had their annual Meet & Greet so it was nice to say hi to all our friends and neighbours here again. I think today we will try to take it a bit easier and I may just pick up a good book in a while.
As always, the last week has been a great gift here in the cool north and we look forward to another good week ahead.
Showing posts with label Winter 2008-09. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter 2008-09. Show all posts
Monday, April 27, 2009
Today was another gorgeous day with a high on the truck thermometer of 82F (26C) but it was WINDY again. Fortunately it was a tail wind until we turned east at Lansing, MI then we had it broadside on the curbside of the trailer so John had stopped before we headed east and really nailed the awning down with duct tape, fortunately it worked and we had no problem.
There was a Cracker Barrel 2 miles down the road from the park so we stopped there for breakfast. They have a new offering, skillet breakfasts, and we both had one and they were delicious but far more than we could eat so we have left overs for another day.
We had a good drive, customs was easy, and we arrived at Country View Motel & RV Resort (the word resort is used very casually at parks in Ontario!) at Wyoming, ON about 3:30. We are parked next to another couple from Green Acres, Kincardine, so when we pulled in Shirley came over and welcomed us back and invited us over for a drink when we got settled.
We had a nice visit with Shirley & Harry and caught up on each others winter, then came home and had chicken burgers for dinner. The wind was still howling so John wanted to do something quick on the barbecue.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is cold and wet, oh boy, I think I will have to find my jeans which I haven’t worn since early last December.
There is no WiFi here so I will have to find some place to stop and try to pick it up to get this posted and check e-mail.
It is nice to be back in Canada and as always, today was another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
There was a Cracker Barrel 2 miles down the road from the park so we stopped there for breakfast. They have a new offering, skillet breakfasts, and we both had one and they were delicious but far more than we could eat so we have left overs for another day.
We had a good drive, customs was easy, and we arrived at Country View Motel & RV Resort (the word resort is used very casually at parks in Ontario!) at Wyoming, ON about 3:30. We are parked next to another couple from Green Acres, Kincardine, so when we pulled in Shirley came over and welcomed us back and invited us over for a drink when we got settled.
We had a nice visit with Shirley & Harry and caught up on each others winter, then came home and had chicken burgers for dinner. The wind was still howling so John wanted to do something quick on the barbecue.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is cold and wet, oh boy, I think I will have to find my jeans which I haven’t worn since early last December.
There is no WiFi here so I will have to find some place to stop and try to pick it up to get this posted and check e-mail.
It is nice to be back in Canada and as always, today was another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Today was another hot day but not as sunny as it has been, not a problem as that is better for driving. It was also very windy but again we were fortunate it was a tail wind so we should have another good day for mileage.
We stopped at a Wal Mart to finish up some shopping and are now at what used to be the Auburn/Fort Wayne KOA, it has undergone a couple of owner changes so I am afraid to say what the name is now! This is the park where we spent our first night out last November so we have come full circle.
I didn’t take any pictures today and it has been an uneventful day so there isn’t a lot to write about. Hopefully we will cross over into Ontario tomorrow and plan on being at a park at Reese’s Corners until Green Acres opens on Friday, May 1st. I don’t think the park at Reese’s Corners has WiFi, or if it does it is ridiculously expensive, so I don’t know how often I will get to post next week.
But, as always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
We stopped at a Wal Mart to finish up some shopping and are now at what used to be the Auburn/Fort Wayne KOA, it has undergone a couple of owner changes so I am afraid to say what the name is now! This is the park where we spent our first night out last November so we have come full circle.
I didn’t take any pictures today and it has been an uneventful day so there isn’t a lot to write about. Hopefully we will cross over into Ontario tomorrow and plan on being at a park at Reese’s Corners until Green Acres opens on Friday, May 1st. I don’t think the park at Reese’s Corners has WiFi, or if it does it is ridiculously expensive, so I don’t know how often I will get to post next week.
But, as always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Today was another beautiful, hot, sunny day – the high on the truck thermometer today was 87F (29C) – wonderful. I talked to our daughter Kelly late this afternoon, as well as my sister Pat, and both said today had been hot and sunny but then they were getting severe rain storms – just keep those there guys!!
We had a good drive today other than a bit of rough highway south of St. Louis, KY but it wasn’t as bad as we had heard it was and didn’t last too long so no problem – we sure have been on worse roads than that.
Nashville
It was nice to drive through spring with all the trees in Tennessee and Kentucky in their spring finery and lots of lilacs and dogwood in bloom – so pretty.
And We Passed Through Kentucky
It was also nice to see some hills and rolling countryside after almost 5 months of flat countryside!
And We are Now in Indiana
We are spending the night at Woods-N-Water Kampground near Columbus, IN., it is an old KOA campground with lots of trees that created a very challenging course to get to our site. Fortunately, I got out to walk John through a very tight turn and saw that he was almost right against two small trees, had he kept going we would have lost an awning arm so he didn’t complain when I yelled at him to STOP!! A bit of maneuvering and he made the turn and then another tight one before we got to our site; a few minutes after we stopped a fellow came by and said he was behind us coming in and he was impressed with how John had handled the tight turns – nice to hear.
When we were registering the fellow on the desk said there was another couple here from Ontario and they were sitting in the lobby waiting for their laundry to do so we chatted with them for a bit, turns out they are from Sarnia.
Tonight will be another quiet evening and we are hoping for another sunny, warm day tomorrow.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
We had a good drive today other than a bit of rough highway south of St. Louis, KY but it wasn’t as bad as we had heard it was and didn’t last too long so no problem – we sure have been on worse roads than that.
Nashville
It was nice to drive through spring with all the trees in Tennessee and Kentucky in their spring finery and lots of lilacs and dogwood in bloom – so pretty.
And We Passed Through Kentucky
It was also nice to see some hills and rolling countryside after almost 5 months of flat countryside!
And We are Now in Indiana
We are spending the night at Woods-N-Water Kampground near Columbus, IN., it is an old KOA campground with lots of trees that created a very challenging course to get to our site. Fortunately, I got out to walk John through a very tight turn and saw that he was almost right against two small trees, had he kept going we would have lost an awning arm so he didn’t complain when I yelled at him to STOP!! A bit of maneuvering and he made the turn and then another tight one before we got to our site; a few minutes after we stopped a fellow came by and said he was behind us coming in and he was impressed with how John had handled the tight turns – nice to hear.
When we were registering the fellow on the desk said there was another couple here from Ontario and they were sitting in the lobby waiting for their laundry to do so we chatted with them for a bit, turns out they are from Sarnia.
Tonight will be another quiet evening and we are hoping for another sunny, warm day tomorrow.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Today was the start of our trek north and it was a long day, 670 km (416 miles). We are now at Texas T Campground, Cornersville TN.
The drive was good except around Cullman, AL where we did 3 miles in an hour, when we finally got going we saw no evidence to tell us what the hold up was, but we presume there had been an accident. We considered getting off the interstate but decided all the other roads would be congested with cars getting off so just stayed where we were and figure that had been the right move as after about 5 minutes in a rest area north of the stop up two motor cycles came in who we had seen getting off on one of the exits to avoid sitting!
Today was very hot, the high in the truck was 90F (30C) – thank goodness for a/c!!
Crossing the Tennessee River near Decatur, AL
Alabama Welcome Centre
We're In Tennessee
Tomorrow we will have to do some rerouting off I-65 between Elizabethtown and St. Louis as we hear the interstate is a nightmare from ice damage in the winter, just hope we pick a route that wasn’t damaged!!
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
The drive was good except around Cullman, AL where we did 3 miles in an hour, when we finally got going we saw no evidence to tell us what the hold up was, but we presume there had been an accident. We considered getting off the interstate but decided all the other roads would be congested with cars getting off so just stayed where we were and figure that had been the right move as after about 5 minutes in a rest area north of the stop up two motor cycles came in who we had seen getting off on one of the exits to avoid sitting!
Today was very hot, the high in the truck was 90F (30C) – thank goodness for a/c!!
Crossing the Tennessee River near Decatur, AL
Alabama Welcome Centre
We're In Tennessee
Tomorrow we will have to do some rerouting off I-65 between Elizabethtown and St. Louis as we hear the interstate is a nightmare from ice damage in the winter, just hope we pick a route that wasn’t damaged!!
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Today was another sunny, warm day – we are treasuring these days as in another week we will be back in Ontario where we expect to find much cooler temperatures - we are not looking forward to that!
We picked up Ginny & Gil at 7:30 this morning to head over to Pensacola to watch the Blue Angels practice. They practice every Tuesday & Wednesday morning during their stay at Pensacola and these practices are open to the public, as well as the Air Museum, and it is all free – how good can that be!!!
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show, they are amazing and at times they were flying only 18” apart at speeds of over 500 mph – wow!! John and I had seen their practice back in the spring of 2000 but today was a much clearer day weather wise so we had a better view of them coming by the bleacher area and doing their formations.
The Blue Angels
After the show we toured the museum, it is very interesting with lots of good displays.
Presidential (JFK) Helicopter - 1962
Other Vintage Helicopters
From there we drove out to the beach area between Pensecola Beach and Navares Beach, the white sand and blue/green water was beautiful. It was quite windy on the beach but we did stop and spend a bit of time there and dipped our toes into the gulf. It wasn’t exactly warm and the water was very rough but it was oh so pretty.
Gil & Ginny on the Beach
We stopped at Flounders
in Pensacola Beach for a late lunch, John & I had had lunch there a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it and we weren’t disappointed as it was every bit as good today as it was then. Flounders is right on the beach so we could see the water and John & Gil could watch some gals in bikinis playing beach volleyball – LOL!
On the way home we stopped at Joe-Patti’s, a fish place that Barb & Jack had told us about and John and I bought a couple of pounds of headless, cleaned Royal Red Shrimp to bring home. Joe-Patti’s has every kind of fish & seafood you can imagine, as well as baked products, various sauces and even gelato. Gil treated Ginny & I to some gelato, John has will power and passed on Gil’s offer to buy him some, and it was very yummy!!
It clouded over on the way home and started raining as we came into Gulf Shores – what, this wasn’t forecast!! Fortunately it didn’t last long, about ½ hour, and at one point it really poured but that was fine as we had enjoyed a great day and the weather was beautiful until after we had done everything we wanted to do – what more could we ask for.
Tonight will be a quiet evening of TV or reading.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
We picked up Ginny & Gil at 7:30 this morning to head over to Pensacola to watch the Blue Angels practice. They practice every Tuesday & Wednesday morning during their stay at Pensacola and these practices are open to the public, as well as the Air Museum, and it is all free – how good can that be!!!
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show, they are amazing and at times they were flying only 18” apart at speeds of over 500 mph – wow!! John and I had seen their practice back in the spring of 2000 but today was a much clearer day weather wise so we had a better view of them coming by the bleacher area and doing their formations.
The Blue Angels
After the show we toured the museum, it is very interesting with lots of good displays.
Presidential (JFK) Helicopter - 1962
Other Vintage Helicopters
From there we drove out to the beach area between Pensecola Beach and Navares Beach, the white sand and blue/green water was beautiful. It was quite windy on the beach but we did stop and spend a bit of time there and dipped our toes into the gulf. It wasn’t exactly warm and the water was very rough but it was oh so pretty.
Gil & Ginny on the Beach
We stopped at Flounders
in Pensacola Beach for a late lunch, John & I had had lunch there a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it and we weren’t disappointed as it was every bit as good today as it was then. Flounders is right on the beach so we could see the water and John & Gil could watch some gals in bikinis playing beach volleyball – LOL!
On the way home we stopped at Joe-Patti’s, a fish place that Barb & Jack had told us about and John and I bought a couple of pounds of headless, cleaned Royal Red Shrimp to bring home. Joe-Patti’s has every kind of fish & seafood you can imagine, as well as baked products, various sauces and even gelato. Gil treated Ginny & I to some gelato, John has will power and passed on Gil’s offer to buy him some, and it was very yummy!!
It clouded over on the way home and started raining as we came into Gulf Shores – what, this wasn’t forecast!! Fortunately it didn’t last long, about ½ hour, and at one point it really poured but that was fine as we had enjoyed a great day and the weather was beautiful until after we had done everything we wanted to do – what more could we ask for.
Tonight will be a quiet evening of TV or reading.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Well, here I am playing catch up again, we’ve got to stop having so much fun so that I can get back to routine and keep things up to date!!!
The weather forecast for yesterday was for rain, with severe storms possible, so we decided it would be a good shopping day. It turned into a nice day, mainly cloudy but no rain, so we were quite happy as severe storms just aren’t fun.
Gil picked John up about 11 and they headed off to Mobile to tour the battleship USS Alabama and a submarine, by all accounts they had a good time and were fortunate that it didn’t rain as it wouldn’t be fun touring a battleship in the rain. Jack opted to stay home so didn’t join them.
Barb, Ginny & I headed out shopping about 11:30 with our first stop being the Old Time Pottery which I have never been in before – what a huge store with everything imaginable for home decorating, lots of fun wandering around there. From there we headed to the Outlet Mall and our first stop was for something to eat - a pizza slice filled the void. We then checked out Fossils as Ginny wanted to look at their watches, then a kitchen store, then the Corning Store, oh yeah, now we need to check out some clothing stores so we did that, with our final stop being Fresh Produce (yes, that is a clothing store) where we were told it was closing time – bummer!! Not really as I think we were all three shopped out by then!!
Ginny & Gil had asked us all to dinner at their place and I had put a pork roast in the slow cooker first thing in the morning to make pork pull, so we took that for dinner and Gil cooked some pork chops and Barb brought asparagus and Ginny did some potatoes so we had a great dinner with good company.
By the time we got home the evening was pretty well done and another great day had come to an end.
Today was a beautiful, warm sunny day with a high temperature in the mid 70’s – my kind of weather!!
This morning John and I had a couple of returns to do then we drove down to the beach, the water was rolling in pretty good so although there were a number of people on the beach no one was in the water. We then drove out to Fort Morgan, which is at the end of the road on Mobile Bay. You can take a ferry from Fort Morgan across to Dauphin Island, then there is a bridge joining Dauphin Island to the mainland at Mobile, this is a lot shorter than driving around Mobile Bay to Mobile but it is also very expensive.
Mobile Bay Drilling Rig (There are a lot of these rigs in the bay as well as the ocean)
Fort Morgan
We couldn’t believe all the houses built along the intercoastal waterway on the road to Fort Morgan, I can’t imagine building a house there with the constant threats of hurricanes each year. There are huge areas of dead trees along there from Hurricane Ivan which hit Gulf Shores dead on in 2004 and then Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the storm surge brought in so much salt water that there were thousands and thousands of trees killed.
Just A Small Beach House
Dead Trees
Beach Houses
We had invited Gil, Ginny, Barb & Jack for happy hour at 5 so got home just in time to do some veggies and dip to serve at happy hour. The Blue Heron kindly came to the pond beside us while we were sitting out on the patio so we had fun watching him stalking his dinner.
Blue Heron By The Pond
Jack, Barb, Gil & Ginny
Around 7 we all headed out to Lulu’s for dinner, Lulu is actually Lucy Buffet, Jimmy Buffet’s sister, and Ginny & Gil are Jimmy Buffet fans so wanted to go there for dinner. The restaurant is right on the intercoastal waterway so has a great view and we had a great dinner with lots of chatter and laughs.
It is now pretty well bed time and we have to be up early tomorrow morning for our planned event so do come back and check out our next adventure.
As always, the last two days have been great gifts here in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
The weather forecast for yesterday was for rain, with severe storms possible, so we decided it would be a good shopping day. It turned into a nice day, mainly cloudy but no rain, so we were quite happy as severe storms just aren’t fun.
Gil picked John up about 11 and they headed off to Mobile to tour the battleship USS Alabama and a submarine, by all accounts they had a good time and were fortunate that it didn’t rain as it wouldn’t be fun touring a battleship in the rain. Jack opted to stay home so didn’t join them.
Barb, Ginny & I headed out shopping about 11:30 with our first stop being the Old Time Pottery which I have never been in before – what a huge store with everything imaginable for home decorating, lots of fun wandering around there. From there we headed to the Outlet Mall and our first stop was for something to eat - a pizza slice filled the void. We then checked out Fossils as Ginny wanted to look at their watches, then a kitchen store, then the Corning Store, oh yeah, now we need to check out some clothing stores so we did that, with our final stop being Fresh Produce (yes, that is a clothing store) where we were told it was closing time – bummer!! Not really as I think we were all three shopped out by then!!
Ginny & Gil had asked us all to dinner at their place and I had put a pork roast in the slow cooker first thing in the morning to make pork pull, so we took that for dinner and Gil cooked some pork chops and Barb brought asparagus and Ginny did some potatoes so we had a great dinner with good company.
By the time we got home the evening was pretty well done and another great day had come to an end.
Today was a beautiful, warm sunny day with a high temperature in the mid 70’s – my kind of weather!!
This morning John and I had a couple of returns to do then we drove down to the beach, the water was rolling in pretty good so although there were a number of people on the beach no one was in the water. We then drove out to Fort Morgan, which is at the end of the road on Mobile Bay. You can take a ferry from Fort Morgan across to Dauphin Island, then there is a bridge joining Dauphin Island to the mainland at Mobile, this is a lot shorter than driving around Mobile Bay to Mobile but it is also very expensive.
Mobile Bay Drilling Rig (There are a lot of these rigs in the bay as well as the ocean)
Fort Morgan
We couldn’t believe all the houses built along the intercoastal waterway on the road to Fort Morgan, I can’t imagine building a house there with the constant threats of hurricanes each year. There are huge areas of dead trees along there from Hurricane Ivan which hit Gulf Shores dead on in 2004 and then Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the storm surge brought in so much salt water that there were thousands and thousands of trees killed.
Just A Small Beach House
Dead Trees
Beach Houses
We had invited Gil, Ginny, Barb & Jack for happy hour at 5 so got home just in time to do some veggies and dip to serve at happy hour. The Blue Heron kindly came to the pond beside us while we were sitting out on the patio so we had fun watching him stalking his dinner.
Blue Heron By The Pond
Jack, Barb, Gil & Ginny
Around 7 we all headed out to Lulu’s for dinner, Lulu is actually Lucy Buffet, Jimmy Buffet’s sister, and Ginny & Gil are Jimmy Buffet fans so wanted to go there for dinner. The restaurant is right on the intercoastal waterway so has a great view and we had a great dinner with lots of chatter and laughs.
It is now pretty well bed time and we have to be up early tomorrow morning for our planned event so do come back and check out our next adventure.
As always, the last two days have been great gifts here in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Time to catch up again, yesterday wasn’t a real exciting day so I didn’t bother to do my blog. It was a hot, humid day and the first thing on the agenda was laundry, Barb had said there was a nice laundromat down on Fort Morgan Road so that was where we went to get that job out of the way. Once we finished with the laundry we went to Wally World to do some shopping and we ran into Ginny, Gil, Barb & Jack there, they had planned on a walk on the beach in the morning but they said it was too windy so they had gone out for lunch and stopped for some shopping.
When we got home we unloaded the laundry and groceries then John drove up to Foley to try and find a bracket for the slide on the bathroom drawer which had broken, having no luck at either Lowe’s or Home Depot he came back and managed to make do with the broken one until we can find a replacement. By the time he finished that it was time to start dinner – where oh where do the days go!!!
Today John & I decided to drive up to Fairhope which is a beautiful little town on Mobile Bay. We took all the back roads to get there and once we started driving up the bay boy did we see some gorgeous homes. Fairhope is a quaint little town with lots of neat stores but we have done the stores before so didn’t bother doing any today as it was very busy there.
Nice Sculpture in Park at Fairhope
Mobile Bay at Fairhope
Beautiful Flower Beds in Downtown Fairhope
Fairhope Traffic Calmers
Roses in Garden at Fairhope Park
Fountain in Rose Garden
Now This is a Stretch!!!
I Don't Think I've Ever Seen Pretty Shrimp!!
From there we drove up to Spanish Fort as Kelly had asked me to get her some stuff at a Bath & Body Works if we were near one and at Fairhope we were only about 12 miles from Spanish Fort, where there was one, so figured we had nothing better to do. What a huge shopping mall there, one could have a really great time if they were really into shopping!!
We again took the back roads home and found a brand new Wally World out in the middle of nowhere so stopped and picked up a couple of things, then on home.
This Guy Was Standing at the Pond Beside Our Trailer When John Went Out to Barbecue
Last night we got caught up on phone calls – talked to M & M, my sister and my friend Janet – it’s always nice to get caught up. I also talked to my brother in Australia for a bit on Skype but again the internet signal wasn’t great so I am looking forward to trying it when we get home.
As always, the last two days have been great gifts here in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
When we got home we unloaded the laundry and groceries then John drove up to Foley to try and find a bracket for the slide on the bathroom drawer which had broken, having no luck at either Lowe’s or Home Depot he came back and managed to make do with the broken one until we can find a replacement. By the time he finished that it was time to start dinner – where oh where do the days go!!!
Today John & I decided to drive up to Fairhope which is a beautiful little town on Mobile Bay. We took all the back roads to get there and once we started driving up the bay boy did we see some gorgeous homes. Fairhope is a quaint little town with lots of neat stores but we have done the stores before so didn’t bother doing any today as it was very busy there.
Nice Sculpture in Park at Fairhope
Mobile Bay at Fairhope
Beautiful Flower Beds in Downtown Fairhope
Fairhope Traffic Calmers
Roses in Garden at Fairhope Park
Fountain in Rose Garden
Now This is a Stretch!!!
I Don't Think I've Ever Seen Pretty Shrimp!!
From there we drove up to Spanish Fort as Kelly had asked me to get her some stuff at a Bath & Body Works if we were near one and at Fairhope we were only about 12 miles from Spanish Fort, where there was one, so figured we had nothing better to do. What a huge shopping mall there, one could have a really great time if they were really into shopping!!
We again took the back roads home and found a brand new Wally World out in the middle of nowhere so stopped and picked up a couple of things, then on home.
This Guy Was Standing at the Pond Beside Our Trailer When John Went Out to Barbecue
Last night we got caught up on phone calls – talked to M & M, my sister and my friend Janet – it’s always nice to get caught up. I also talked to my brother in Australia for a bit on Skype but again the internet signal wasn’t great so I am looking forward to trying it when we get home.
As always, the last two days have been great gifts here in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Today was the day to say goodbye to Betty and head east to Gulf Shores so after hugs and promises to return we headed out of Betty’s about 9:30.
It was a beautiful day, warm with temperatures in the low 70’s – a good day for traveling. The traffic wasn’t too bad and the roads, on the whole, were okay but there were some rough spots where we got bounced around pretty good.
Crossing the Achafalya Swamp (An 18 Mile Causeway)
The Mighty Mississippi
And Here's One For My Brothers & Sister
Entering Mississippi
Downtown Mobile Alabama
The U.S.S. Alabama
We arrived at Gulf Breezes Resort in Gulf Shores AL about 4:30. When we checked in the lady said there were no spots left near Ginny & Gil but we got a nice spot beside a pond and have no one near us on the curbside so we don’t mind that. We were just getting set up when Gil came by and asked us to come over for a drink when we were ready so that we did.
We met Barb & Jack at Ginny & Gil’s, they are a couple from the Cleveland area that Ginny & Gil met in Texas and Barb & Jack have been here at Gulf Breezes since late March. After a drink and good conservation it was time to head home to make a late dinner (as our kids would say – so what else is new!). Dinner is over, the dishes are done and I don’t think it will be long before I snuggle down into my comfy bed
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
It was a beautiful day, warm with temperatures in the low 70’s – a good day for traveling. The traffic wasn’t too bad and the roads, on the whole, were okay but there were some rough spots where we got bounced around pretty good.
Crossing the Achafalya Swamp (An 18 Mile Causeway)
The Mighty Mississippi
And Here's One For My Brothers & Sister
Entering Mississippi
Downtown Mobile Alabama
The U.S.S. Alabama
We arrived at Gulf Breezes Resort in Gulf Shores AL about 4:30. When we checked in the lady said there were no spots left near Ginny & Gil but we got a nice spot beside a pond and have no one near us on the curbside so we don’t mind that. We were just getting set up when Gil came by and asked us to come over for a drink when we were ready so that we did.
We met Barb & Jack at Ginny & Gil’s, they are a couple from the Cleveland area that Ginny & Gil met in Texas and Barb & Jack have been here at Gulf Breezes since late March. After a drink and good conservation it was time to head home to make a late dinner (as our kids would say – so what else is new!). Dinner is over, the dishes are done and I don’t think it will be long before I snuggle down into my comfy bed
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Today was another beautiful day, sunny and warm with a high in the high 70’s. Ginny & Gil left this morning as they wanted to drive along the gulf on their way to Gulf Shores and spend a night around Bay St Louis.
John & I had a quiet day, I spent a long time getting yesterday’s blog posted as there were a lot of pictures. John went out this afternoon to get fuel so we can head out on a full tank in the morning, so I took advantage of his absence and did a good cleaning and wiped down the floors – they really needed it, especially after last nights crab fest – LOL!! I also got the inside ready for travel tomorrow.
After all that hard work I had a bit of a lay down and read for a while then about 5 we went over for happy hour.
We came back and did chicken burgers for dinner and now the dishes are done and we will enjoy a bit of TV before calling it a day.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
John & I had a quiet day, I spent a long time getting yesterday’s blog posted as there were a lot of pictures. John went out this afternoon to get fuel so we can head out on a full tank in the morning, so I took advantage of his absence and did a good cleaning and wiped down the floors – they really needed it, especially after last nights crab fest – LOL!! I also got the inside ready for travel tomorrow.
After all that hard work I had a bit of a lay down and read for a while then about 5 we went over for happy hour.
We came back and did chicken burgers for dinner and now the dishes are done and we will enjoy a bit of TV before calling it a day.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Today was a gorgeous sunny day but cooler than it has been, just a perfect day for today’s adventures! Twelve of us from the park had reservations for a swamp tour at 10 a.m. so we left here just before 9 to head to Lake Martin for our guided eco-tour into the largest Atchafalaya Basin swamp & Louisiana’s largest nesting area of wading birds. The tour was absolutely wonderful, our guide Bryan Champagne has lived near the swamp all his life and knows it inside and out and was a fountain of information plus had fun stories to tell, I will let the pictures show you some of what we saw on the tour.
The Swamp
Fishermen In the Swamp
Aligator
Hollow Cypress
Largest Cypress in the Swam
Roseate Spoon Bill
Egrets Nesting (We were lucky to be here in nesting season)
Duck Blind in Swamp
Inside Duck Blind - Yuck!!!
Gator
Blue Heron
Yellow Cap Night Egret
Spider on Cypress
Sure Hope They Don't Catch a Big One & Get Pulled Overboard!
Sharing a Log
A Big Guy
This Guy is Just Soaking Up the Sun
At times we were only in water a foot deep and it looked like you could get out and walk but not with those big gators handing around!!!
After the swamp tour Ginny, Gil, John and I went into St. Martinville, a beautiful town on the Bayou Tesche. We toured St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church, which was established in 1765 and is the mother church of the exiled Acadians. The church has an ornate baptismal font which, according to legend, was a gift of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and a replica of the Grotto of Lourdes, an absolutely gorgeous church. John and I have visited this church before but this is the first time it hasn’t been under renovation so it was nice to see it without yellow tape all around it!! There is also a statute of Evangeline in the churchyard but my picture didn’t turn out very good.
St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church
Altar in Church
Grotto
Baptismal Font
These are some pictures we took while walking around St. Martinville
Evangeline Tree in St. Martinville
Gil, Ginny & John in St. Martinville
Pretty Lanterns at Front Door of Funeral Parlour
Neat Mail Box in Downtown St. Martinville
We went into a cute little restaurant for lunch but after we sat down they said they closed at 2 and all they had left was salad so we asked them what else was open and they recommended another little restaurant a block away called the Café Oaks. What a wonderful little restaurant it was, John and I shared half of a French Quarter Mufelatta which is Mufelatta bread with mortagella, salami, ham, provolone & olive dressing as well as an order of onion rings which were to die for (Ginny & Gil also had the same for lunch & enjoyed theirs as much as we did). The onion rings weren’t the least bit greasy which was so nice and the French Quarter Mufelatta was wonderful. John & I ordered Iced Tea and it came in a mason jar then the waitress put a jug of Iced Tea on the table for refills and Ginny & Gil got the same with their water – neat! Ginny & Gil treated us to lunch – thanks again guys it was very nice of you.
The owner came and chatted with us and told us to check out their garden before we left, such friendly people and their garden was beautiful. They have a live oak tree in the there and Frances, the owner, explained that if the live oaks are over 125 years old they go on the National Registry and you can name it so their tree was called Canary.
Next door to the Café was a bakery, oh no, we just couldn’t walk on by!! Gil bought some beignets which are like a flat donut with icing sugar – yummy. I bought Ginny and I each a chocolate éclair (the fellows declined) which were also very good.
From there we went to see the cemetery as John and I think it is the prettiest one we have ever seen and I think G & G agreed.
On the way back we were in New Iberia so we got John to drive by Shadows on the Teche which is an old antebellum home that is open for tours. We found out that we could pick up the last tour of the day as it had just started, John & Gil passed on the tour but Ginny & I did it and it was a beautiful old home, with an interesting family history and the young fellow who did the tour was very good and knowledgeable. I asked our guide if they had any live oaks on the National Registry and he said they had 12 – wow! John thanked Ginny for going with me while he & Gil enjoyed a couple of cold ones!!!
Back of Shadows on the Tesche
Pretty Flowers in the Side Garden
It was about 7 p.m. when we got back and Betty came out to tell us she had got the blue crab today and ours were in a cooler waiting for us – we had said we would take a dozen if she could get them and the price was right at $8/dozen.
Blue Crab
Gil & Ginny had also asked for a dozen but I guess Betty hadn’t heard them and it was just as well as the four of us were totally stuffed after eating the dozen we had ordered (and Gil had to insist on paying for their half!!). Gil has an outdoor propane burner that we put the pot of water on so it saved heating up the trailer while cooking them and Ginny had some crab boil to add to the water.
And Into the Pot We Go
Man were they good, but messy to eat, and the crabs and a spinach salad were a good dinner after a late, filling lunch.
It is too late to try to do my pictures and publish this so will do that tomorrow.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
The Swamp
Fishermen In the Swamp
Aligator
Hollow Cypress
Largest Cypress in the Swam
Roseate Spoon Bill
Egrets Nesting (We were lucky to be here in nesting season)
Duck Blind in Swamp
Inside Duck Blind - Yuck!!!
Gator
Blue Heron
Yellow Cap Night Egret
Spider on Cypress
Sure Hope They Don't Catch a Big One & Get Pulled Overboard!
Sharing a Log
A Big Guy
This Guy is Just Soaking Up the Sun
At times we were only in water a foot deep and it looked like you could get out and walk but not with those big gators handing around!!!
After the swamp tour Ginny, Gil, John and I went into St. Martinville, a beautiful town on the Bayou Tesche. We toured St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church, which was established in 1765 and is the mother church of the exiled Acadians. The church has an ornate baptismal font which, according to legend, was a gift of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and a replica of the Grotto of Lourdes, an absolutely gorgeous church. John and I have visited this church before but this is the first time it hasn’t been under renovation so it was nice to see it without yellow tape all around it!! There is also a statute of Evangeline in the churchyard but my picture didn’t turn out very good.
St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church
Altar in Church
Grotto
Baptismal Font
These are some pictures we took while walking around St. Martinville
Evangeline Tree in St. Martinville
Gil, Ginny & John in St. Martinville
Pretty Lanterns at Front Door of Funeral Parlour
Neat Mail Box in Downtown St. Martinville
We went into a cute little restaurant for lunch but after we sat down they said they closed at 2 and all they had left was salad so we asked them what else was open and they recommended another little restaurant a block away called the Café Oaks. What a wonderful little restaurant it was, John and I shared half of a French Quarter Mufelatta which is Mufelatta bread with mortagella, salami, ham, provolone & olive dressing as well as an order of onion rings which were to die for (Ginny & Gil also had the same for lunch & enjoyed theirs as much as we did). The onion rings weren’t the least bit greasy which was so nice and the French Quarter Mufelatta was wonderful. John & I ordered Iced Tea and it came in a mason jar then the waitress put a jug of Iced Tea on the table for refills and Ginny & Gil got the same with their water – neat! Ginny & Gil treated us to lunch – thanks again guys it was very nice of you.
The owner came and chatted with us and told us to check out their garden before we left, such friendly people and their garden was beautiful. They have a live oak tree in the there and Frances, the owner, explained that if the live oaks are over 125 years old they go on the National Registry and you can name it so their tree was called Canary.
Next door to the Café was a bakery, oh no, we just couldn’t walk on by!! Gil bought some beignets which are like a flat donut with icing sugar – yummy. I bought Ginny and I each a chocolate éclair (the fellows declined) which were also very good.
From there we went to see the cemetery as John and I think it is the prettiest one we have ever seen and I think G & G agreed.
On the way back we were in New Iberia so we got John to drive by Shadows on the Teche which is an old antebellum home that is open for tours. We found out that we could pick up the last tour of the day as it had just started, John & Gil passed on the tour but Ginny & I did it and it was a beautiful old home, with an interesting family history and the young fellow who did the tour was very good and knowledgeable. I asked our guide if they had any live oaks on the National Registry and he said they had 12 – wow! John thanked Ginny for going with me while he & Gil enjoyed a couple of cold ones!!!
Back of Shadows on the Tesche
Pretty Flowers in the Side Garden
It was about 7 p.m. when we got back and Betty came out to tell us she had got the blue crab today and ours were in a cooler waiting for us – we had said we would take a dozen if she could get them and the price was right at $8/dozen.
Blue Crab
Gil & Ginny had also asked for a dozen but I guess Betty hadn’t heard them and it was just as well as the four of us were totally stuffed after eating the dozen we had ordered (and Gil had to insist on paying for their half!!). Gil has an outdoor propane burner that we put the pot of water on so it saved heating up the trailer while cooking them and Ginny had some crab boil to add to the water.
And Into the Pot We Go
Man were they good, but messy to eat, and the crabs and a spinach salad were a good dinner after a late, filling lunch.
It is too late to try to do my pictures and publish this so will do that tomorrow.
As always, today was another great gift of a day in the sunny south and we look forward to another good day tomorrow.
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