Go East young man... to FLORIDA!

Wednesday July 2^nd

Welcome to Wednesday!  Today we’re venturing out!  We get up and active slowly, we’re still on beach time, so there’s no rush, but we want to drive to the Naval Air Station today in Pensacola.  So we’re really ambitious, we’re heading to another state (which is less than an hour away).  But the Air Station also has the oldest lighthouse, and we can go up in it – and we’ll check out the Orange Beach area on the way there and back, maybe head to Flora-bama for lunch or dinner.   But first, breakfast!  Patti and I have been watching a show on TLC, “The Next Great Baker” – our friend and fellow ya-ya, Angela’s cousin Lia is on the show, and she’s doing very well at making St. Louis proud!  On the first episode of the show the bakers had to make something that spoke to the judges about where they came from, and Lia made a gooey butter cake (of course).. and came in 2^nd – but the dish that came in first was biscuit cinnamon rolls.  The judges just loved them, and the recipe was posted on the website – so I thought it would be fun to bake something while we were on vacation and packed up what we needed (pre-measured all the dry ingredients and put them in zip-locks).  Patti said that today would be a good day to make them and offered to be by sous chef.  We have a few pics of our work and the final product – they were good, but a little dry – if I were to do it again, and I might, I would use just a white flour (they asked for a white wheat flour), or may even just use a Bisquick biscuit recipe, and I would roll them looser.  They were just a little dry and may have had more room to expand if the roll were more “relaxed”..  but it was fun and I’m glad we did it!

Notice I'm using my can of beef as a rolling pin

Making the icing

The further behind I get on the blog, the harder it is to remember all the little details, and really, that’s what makes the blog for me when I go back and read it.  I don’t want to just list out: made cinnamon rolls, went to Naval Air, Lighthouse, shopping, Crab Trap..  it’s the little silly moments that I want to remember and that we’ll be talking about for vacations to come.  But it’s been sooo lazy that I’ve even slacked on taking notes in my phone. 

It has kind of become our daily ritual to watch our “cabana boy” Chance (yes, his real name) set up the chairs for rental down on the beach.  There are wooden lounge chairs with padding and umbrellas that you can rent for $20/day, and every morning about 7:15, Chance sets them all up – about 20 chairs or more – walking back and forth with the padding and umbrellas, and then having to plant each umbrella in the sand.  The whole process is a workout – we get tired just watching him.  No we don’t.  J 

After our exciting morning we pile in the car and Amy drives us over to the Naval Air Station – it’s not a very long drive and we spot some shops we want to check out on the way back, and Flora-bama (at the Alabama/Florida state line) that we want to try on the way back.  We get to the Naval Station and at first we’re not sure we’re in the right place because it looks like we’re entering a secure base (I guess we are) – and we have to state our purpose of our visit,  I guess we got it right because he gives us a parking pass for the Museum and Lighthouse only, and keep it displayed at all times, and as soon as we leave the base, DESTROY the pass. I will tell you that we didn’t destroy it when we left – we are clearly in violation and I hope that no one that can do anything to us is reading this right now.  It reminds us that Patti has already had one violation on this trip – from the Condo people.  She hung her towel over the balcony to dry and there was a notice on our door, a violation served… Patti quickly learned her lesson and has not  been violated since.  Well, until now.  I'll post a pic of all of our violations at some point...  Until then, you wait! 

When we walk up to the Naval Station there is a trolley parked out front and Patti wants to ride it – the tickets are free, and while we have no idea where it takes us, Patti doesn’t care, it’s a free trolley ride, C’mon!  But when we ask at the desk for our free tickets, they only have 3 left – one of the women working tries to plead our case and asks if they can fit just one more person on the trolley, and no, no they can’t.   So we walk around the station and gawk at the HUGE airplanes everywhere – it’s a pretty cool place and we learned some stuff.  It was interesting to see that it was their 100^th anniversary and their first planes were in 1914 (if you’re doing the math with us) – they looked very similar to what you envision when you think of the Wright brother’s planes – it’s so interesting to see how the aircraft evolved in their design for different purposes.  There was one plane that was a multi-passenger plane that seemed to made of out of the parts of the airplane hangar – I would not want to fly in that plane. 

Big plane!

Inside the carrier

The outside of the plane, made from an old airplane hanger? 

Dana thought that I looked like I was sitting in the plane

This is also the place where the Blue Angels practice and you can hear them flying above as well as see some of their planes hanging on display.  The ones hanging have a strange “thing” (not sure what to call it) extending from the front of the plane, it looks to me like one of those mics on the headsets of the Time-Life operators – but I know that planes don’t need that.. so another guess we had was that it was the sky-writing apparatus.  Anyone know?  The other plane that was parked outside didn't have it, but all of the ones on display inside did. 

What is that thing on the right of the plane?

There are some cute retro historical displays all around, and we have a good time posing at the old movie theatre, in the bunk room, Dana tried washing her hair with the old Navy shower system, and I loved the old poster for foot care (with the strategically placed socks).   

Amy gets her ticket

Gonna wash that man right outta my hair... 

Ready for lift off!! 

My favorite poster

We head back downstairs via the old rolling stairs (made me think of the stair-car from Arrested Development, but Patti wanted to be Jackie-O coming off the plane, and Dana and Amy wanted to be the Beatles)…  

Dana spots this cut up Blue Angel plane that they let you sit in – it seems to only be kids lining up, but we have no shame – we’re kids at heart and we do what we want.  The line to the plane was back a ways from the plane itself, giving some “ATM” line space to the people in the plane getting their pictures taken, but some people see that as there not being a line and try to just walk right up the stairs to the plane.  There were two boys that seemed really excited about getting in the plane and with my adult guilt, I told Dana to let them go on ahead of us because I thought it was just them and they just wanted to look.  But it turns out it was rude grandpa that told them to go on and get in the plane despite the line – and then took his time getting the pics – Dana would not be letting that happen again.  Don’t let them smell your weakness in line, or you’ll be waiting there for days.   Dana gets her turn and follow as the photographer – Amy sets up on the other side to get another angle of Dana in the plane – I actually got video of Dana getting in the plane, but I think that I’ve been banned from showing it. 

In the Blue Angel plane

Dana with her famous Top Gun plane

We get done and then I ask Amy if she wanted her pic in the plane too – sure why not?  So we get back in line after a short bathroom break, and we get there just before a group of kids traveling in a school group get there.   I’m waiting to take Amy’s picture, and Dana is going up with Amy to get the picture from the other angle, and I hear these boys talking to each other, “Man, I really want to get up in that plane.. I don’t think there’s a line, we should just go… do you think we can …”… and then they head toward Amy and Dana.  These boys are all up on that plane, they have no notion that these adults are actually in line for the plane, despite Amy’s checking body language – I’m waiting for a throw down, Amy keeps getting closer to the plane, and the boys keep trying edge between her and the plane to get past her.  Finally Dana tells them that they need to get in line, that they’re in line first – very disappointing moment for those boys, but Dana and Amy are having none of it. 

Don't even try it kid... 

We head outside an get some pics with the full Blue Angel plane before getting back in the car and driving across the way to the Lighthouse.  

It’s a MUGGY day, and we’re contemplating 172 (?) step climb in an enclosed space… When we pull up we see the light house is being painted, we wonder if maybe the painters can just take us up that way.  We enter the gift shop and it has the AC on blast! So nice, and we know that it’s going to feel great when we come back through there at the end of our climb.  There is a little museum in the house attached to the actual lighthouse, and we look around a bit before heading to the spiral staircase for our “safety lecture” – no shoes are allowed without backs (no flip-flops, and no sandals with no backs – Navy regulations), which includes the shoes I’m wearing, so since those shoes are not allowed on the stairs, I’m told I have to carry my shoes and climb up barefoot.  

The stairs are narrow and those coming down have the right of way, if we meet someone coming down as we’re going up, we are to go to the center of the stairs and cling to the pole.  There are windows along the way if we want to take breathers we can step aside and get a little air (very similar to our climb up the tower of Pisa).  The stairs are beautiful, winding with a design in the wrought iron.. as you look up and down it just a cool sight.  The windows do make great places to stop and catch your breath, and there is a nice breeze coming in.  We’re doing ok until we hit about 150 steps (some of them are numbered), and Patti and I take a little more time before heading all the way up.  The view is worth it, and the designs in the light is really cool – Dana got some of her artsy shots of the stairs and the light, and some pics of us huffing and puffing.   The way down for me actually hurts my feet more, the stairs are steep enough that there is quite an impact as you step down on each step, and the design in the iron is making my feet tender.  I consider violating Navy regulations and putting on my shoes – but I don’t.  We’ve been violated enough.  J

Dana with her certificate that says she did it!

We are quite moist after our climb down – and we are really looking forward to the AC of the gift shop and we pick up some frozen Italian ices out of their freezer.  It’s the perfect thing after a lighthouse climb.  We spot someone in front of us wearing a Cardinal shirt and Patti approaches them to see where they’re from – we see a lot of people down here from St. Louis (I think I’ve mentioned that), but everywhere we go we see someone wearing Cardinals shirts or St. Louis gear of some kind..  there must be a pipeline.

We find Flora-Bama.. but it’s not exactly what we’re looking for.  It’s a big complex and there are different sections of the bar and signs pointing in all directions to the Oyster bar, and the Main Bar, and if you go left then you’re in this big hall where they’re playing bingo.  We stick our heads in the Oyster bar and looks like a “pro shop” snack bar  - so we head up to the “Main bar” which seems a little dark and shady, and maybe not fully functional for lunch.  So I head up to the bar to ask if they serve food here, and some of the local identify us as lost tourists and we hear them laugh that we don’t look like we’re from around here.  The bartender tells me that the only food is down at the Oyster bar, and we look at the menu (fried bar food) and decide to head back to a place that we had passed that looked promising, The Crab Trap (although we all thought that is had different names – the Crab Bucket or the Crab Basket.. ).  And we were very pleased with that decision.  Our waiter was Ethan and had a lovely voice for radio – he did not seem to mind at all that we weren't from around here.. and the food was amazing.  Best meal I’ve had since Felix’s – the crab cake on top of a fried green tomato, with corn stuff relish… I want more please.  Amy’s mahi mahi was cooked very well, and Dana had some SUPER yummy crab dip that she shared with us -  Dana asks if we can have one of the kiddie sand buckets that are piled up near the hostess station and Ethan tells us that we can take as many as we like.  Dana wants to use them for our late night crabbing adventures..

We head back down the road and stop at some of those shops on the way back – Amy finds a cute top in one of the boutiques, and Patti finds a shirt that brings out the crazy, I mean color, in her eyes.. I am tempted by the Mango Mai Tai, and it doesn’t take much arm twisting for Amy and Patti to join me.  We get up to go and Amy still has about half of her drink left (and the car keys), and in the short walk to the car, Amy no longer has a drink.  Dana asks for keys and Amy insists that she’s ok to drive because she won’t be drinking WHILE she’s driving, that’s why she downed the rest of her drink while we were walking to the car, so she’d be good.  Ummmm… yah…  so give Dana the keys…  cause it’s better to slam a drink right before you get behind the wheel..  oh Amy. 

We find a Wal-Mart on the way back, it looks less chaotic than the Wal-Mart in Gulf Shores, and Amy wants to find a raft like we all have (they’re called papasan rafts and they’re easy to get in, relaxing.. ) – but this Wal-Mart is a special kind, it’s all food, called a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market – interesting. Dana and Amy drop us off with our new food supplies and head up to the big Wal-Mart so Amy can get her raft – and mission accomplished.  But if you’re looking for it in the seasonal/raft section, you won’t find it – they found it in the kids/toy section for some reason. Amy came in dancing, she was so happy to find one, and in her favorite colors of pink and orange.  It’s a good day at the beach. 

The night is full of excitement.. some drinks, some laughs, and patiently waiting for Orange is the New Black to load on Netflix.  

Blog, blog, bloggity blog...

Tuesday July 1^st 2014 –

Welcome to JULY!  It’s Tuesday… BLOG day.  I’ve been putting it off, I am on vacation after all…   and today I just stay in and hang out.  I’m a little pink and I need to let my skin rest a bit, and I figure that I need to take a bite out of this blog before it gets away from me.  So today I got 5 days of blogging done!

It was an early morning for me – I got up at 4:30 for some reason and just hung out on the balcony and watched the sunrise with my cup of coffee.  As the lights come up I notice that there has been a bit of shenanigans overnight.. I notice what I first think is a heart on the sand, made out of seaweed that was collected.  But as I look further, it’s not a heart with an arrow, it’s a large phallic symbol (like 20 feet long) with “Alabama sucks” down the middle.  I regretted not getting a picture of it later because as soon as people became aware of it, it was cleaned up.  But then what do I really want with a picture of it?  Would I post it?  Probably not.  

As it gets a little lighter, at about 5:00, Amy comes out on the balcony with some of her leftovers from dinner  for breakfast (Felix’s).. and we chat… and we notice that there seems to be some of our things missing from the beach.  We had two chairs and we can see just one, and the one that had Amy’s towel and our blankets is not there – her umbrella is there, but moved down the beach a bit.  We get the binoculars and look up and down the beach to see if we can see the other chair, but no luck.  Amy decides to just head down to the beach to see what she can find, and immediately she sees her beach towel hanging off the back of a chair, but it’s under one of the tents.  There’s a man under there too, packing up things into a wagon – she talks to him and she finds that all his things were moved around too, and one of his umbrellas is gone, he thinks that he sees it down the beach, but it could belong to someone else and he doesn’t want to take it if it isn’t his.  But from now on he’ll be taking his things up every night – and today after we’re done, we will too.  Amy suspects that it could be the same people that had a good time with the art work.  Drama at the beach! 

The others get up, get ready and they head down to the beach – and Logan is back – we had missed him the day before, not sure where he was but his family was around.  Amy heads down about noon, and I just had a lazy day inside, reading on the balcony, catching up on the blog.. The waves were milder today and they didn’t take the gals into shore when they were out floating – the past couple of days they’ve been a little rough (in a fun way) – with the rafts it’s a good time to ride the waves.

It’s now about 4:30 and I’ve caught up on the blog!   The others have come in and we’re watching the USA vs. Belgium game – they’re all showered and dressed (I’m still in PJs!), well mostly, Patti is still a slacker and not dressed yet.   The game is in “extra time” .. we made it CLOSE didn’t we?!  Exciting game, and just as I get some lingo down, we’re out.  It’s all about me.  While we were finishing up the game I made a quick video of the condo if you’re interested:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M48gJ2ixWNw

Tonight we’ll try another place on our list. With the game over we head out to The Steamer – we’re like locals now, we know back roads cuz we’re cool like that.  We stay off the strip as much as possible just because it’s so slow going.  The place we go tonight promises no fried food on the menu (and I think that it’s both an advertisement and a warning to those people that want fried).  It turns out to be our favorite spot so far (besides Felix’s).  We have the Royal Reds because they come recommended by Patti’s friend Jackie.  They’re HUGE, and they taste more like lobster than shrimp – we are sure that someone is shaking their heads because we’re not sucking on the heads.  Someone somewhere is saying, “but that’s the best part!” – we realize that the table next to us is laughing at us – to the point that they we’re now chatting with them about how we’re not sucking heads.   

The food come like a boil pot with corn and new potatoes (or potato salad if you so choose) – both were really good!  The slaw was really good too, slaw is one of those things that is a matter of taste, and the reason I mention it was because Dana thought that the slaw was “too cabbage-y”.. ummm… it’s cabbage.  Amy and I order the bacon wrapped scallops – I have a thing about duplicating orders, it’s kind of a waste of an order because then there’s one less dish on the menu that you got to try (when you taste each other’s food),  I almost got the crab legs (which Dana got) and I think that when we go back (we’ll probably go back) that I’ll get them. They looked really good!  The scallops were good, but (don’t tell Randy Rhyne) there was too much bacon on them.  Lost the scallop.  Patti got the crab cakes and the really good potato salad.  Good meal (finally!).

Crab cakes

Bacon wrapped scallops

Crab legs and shrimp

After dinner we walk across the sleep and shop a bit again – it’s just T-Shirts and local souvenirs, but we find some cute shirts and we’ll be back to that place.  We're here long enough that we can check them all out and then go back to the places where we want things. 

It’s 7:30 now, and we head back to the condo so we can watch “The Next Great Baker” (on TLC) – there is a St. Louis team on there and our friend Angela is friends with them (Al and Lia, the blue team, if you’re watching – Lia works at Hendel’s in St. Louis).  While we’re watching I post the blogs and Dana has a frozen mango margarita (which she hands off to Amy because she gets light-headed – she’s a lush).  

As the blog post, they’re all reading them.. and giving me corrections.  Now, let it be known that they all we given an opp to read it and fix things before I posted them – but now they have edits (which I’ve fixed – I had the wrong people rooming together and walking down the beach).  

Reading the blog... 

I try my own experiment with the Strawbe-ritas – I froze two ice cube trays of them and then put them in the blender (with a 3^rd one for some liquid) and it turned out well.  We even got to use the margarita glasses that the condo owners left for us.   

Chill’n now, watching more Orange is the New Black.   Probably heading down to Orange Beach tmw to the wharf and check out Flora-bama at the state line.    

I leave you with the art work from our respective bathrooms - the drunken hedonism of the adult bathroom:

Drunk rasta lizard... 

Happy dancing animals in the kids' room

Da BEACH!! Sand, sand everywhere!

Sunday, June 29^th

We take our time getting up and about.  Dana and I are in a room together, the twin bed room, clearly the kiddie room. We have happy dancing lobsters and crabs on our walls and in our bathroom.  Amy and Patti are in the adult bedroom, queen bed, view to the ocean, and drunk frogs at the tiki bar… I’ll post some pictures of the condo – I took a few before we put our stuff all over it.  But it’s a great place.  You open the back door and it sounds like someone has the wave sound on the sleep machine turned all the way up to 11.

Susen and Dana's room (more pics to come)

Since we don’t have supplies yet we decide to eat breakfast at the Waffle House across the street.  Been a while since I’ve been south enough to have one, and I’ve missed my hashbrowns, smothered, covered and country… this place is very busy, but they have a system.  There are a line of chairs that you wait in and they rotate out pretty quickly.  They ask us how many (4).. and then they ask Amy how many.. (still 4).. but the waitress kind of laughs at herself because there are just 4 people there.  While we’re waiting we see a family entertaining their children as they wait for their order to arrive.  The mother has take the sugar dispenser and emptied a PILE of sugar onto a napkin in front of each child (about 6-8 years old each) and then teaches them how to wet their finger to make the sugar stick to their fingers so they can eat it.   Mmmmm…mommy, I want some SUGAR!! 

Breakfast is good, and we laugh at conversation that we overhear behind the counter.  Two of the waitresses are joking, “You don’t know me like that.. you don’t even know how many holes I have in my ears!”..  and the other replies, “Well you don’t even know how many holes I have in my butt!” – the kitchen erupts in laughter.  We think it’s pretty funny too – stealing it…  you don’t know me…

As we’re paying and leaving Amy sees a group of people come in the door and take seats at the front of the chair line (those people had just been seated and the people behind them didn’t have a chance to move up to take the “on deck” seats) – and just then another table is available and these people that just walked in are about to get a table ahead of everyone who was been waiting.  Amy steps up and fixes the injustice – she’s a fighter for those who can’t fight for themselves.  There’s no trouble.  This time.  There may be a rumble before we leave. 

We head to Wal-Mart for supplies – we need food for some meals at the condo, some beverages to quench our thirsts, and toilet paper.  Wal-Mart is madness.  It’s like the just announced that we’d be getting 12 feet of snow… we finally get what we need and get out, but it takes us a while to come together and get what we wanted.  Back to the condo and supplies unpacked… 

Our haul... 

Putting the food away

We head to the BEACH!!   The sun feels great, the waves perfect – white sands.. ahhhhh…   

We quickly pick up a friend, a boy named Logan who will be going into the 7^th grade.  We love him.  He’s here with his father, he gets to go to the beach twice a year, once with his daddy and once with his mamma.  He’s from a town about 2 miles wide and he loves to read.  Once he finds an author he likes he sticks to them, but he’s not much into Harry Potter, he’s more of a mythology person.  He just hangs out with us and chats.  He teaches us about the flag system (yellow flags mean moderate waves, red means strong waves – stay out, purple means dangerous sea life has been spotted) – and his favorite beach (Panama) – his favorite restaurant in the area (Hooters – because they don’t have one back home), and he says, “I know you ladies are older than me, but they have a great amusement park and even adults enjoy that”.  He really seems to love Amy – if we drift apart, it’s Amy that he sticks by.  He asked when we got here, and then tells us that actually he saw us arriving in the parking lot.  They got here the day before we did and they’re here for 5 more days – he’s jealous that we’re here for 2 weeks. 

We hang out on the beach until we get hungry, and yes we just bought food – but I want some seafood.  There is a restaurant on our beach, just 500 feet away called Sea-n-Suds and it’s been recommended.  We take our stuff up and walk down to dinner.  It’s little seaside shanty – and they advertise on their sign “great salad bar!”.  We get in and I check out the salad bar.  It’s about 5 feet long (one section of a rolling salad bar cart) – iceburg lettuce and your average toppings….  The menu is mainly fried food, but we get some oysters (of course), some fried crab claws, fried oysters (which I’d actually never had, and taste just like fried morel mushrooms to me), and fried stuffed crab (which is stuffed with stuffing that tastes like stove-top stuffing).  But we do learn something that made us feel totally dumb.  We ask for cocktail sauce and the waitress says yah, you just make it yourself… (umm…. )… there is horse radish on the table in containers, you just add ketchup and mix.   Dana knew this.  And while Patti and I knew that things could be created (like you can make your own tartar sauce from mayo and relish in a pinch, but it’s not “real” tartar sauce) – this is really cocktail sauce, and tastes better than most other sauces actually.  Dana laughs at us, but we don’t care.  Every place we’ve gone since has the same set up – horse radish in plastic containers on the table – make your own.  As good as the sauce is, we miss Felix’s.  yum.  Spoiled us.

Fried crab claws

Back to the condo and just chill – we brought the Roku box so we start Dana on “Orange is the New Black” (never watched it).  But the internet is iffy here – goes in and out, so there is quite a bit of buffering.  It’s all good, we’re on beach time.  Buffering ain’t no thang.   Tomorrow… the beach.  And the day after that?  Beach.

Monday June 30^th

Ok this one is really going to short and sweet (I say that and then we’ll see what it becomes)…    we got up and had breakfast – bagels or cereal, whatever we have laying around..   Amy was up at 5am and took a walk along the beach (she keeps bringing up that no one wanted to go with her.. but um, it was 5am).   

Patti and Dana headed down to the beach first, about 9:30.  It’s nice to just have the beach in the back yard and be able to head down at any time.   We’ve noticed people on the beach at night with flashlights, and we looked it up.  They’re crabbing, you can see sand or ghost crabs along the beach at night.  They’re tiny and not edible, but just fun to watch – or some people catch them and keep them as pets, or just catch and release, making a contest of how many each person caught.  We’re going to give it a try one of these nights.  By the time Amy and I wander down to the beach Patti and Dana have wandered off.  We’re there for about an hour before they get back  and I text them to ask if Amy and I are going to be interviewed for an episode of Disappeared.. and we find that they went on a walk down the beach to the pier.  They got some cool pics of the pier and a jelly fish that had washed up.  Logan had told us the day before that there were jellyfish in the ocean, but it was ok, only 3 people had been stung so far (whew!).   

Typical beach activities ensue – we read, go get wet, come dry off and lay in the sun, relax, repeat.  At the end of the day we decide to leave all of our stuff on the beach – our chairs, blankets and umbrella – because we see that everyone around us has done that same thing.  Some people have those tent awnings that they keep up all night, all of their chairs and everything piled up in the middle of their tent, and because that it’s a private stretch of beach and all of us are from the condo, everyone trusts everyone else not to mess with their things.  We figure that if anyone takes it then they needed it more than we did – and we head in to shower and get ready to go to dinner and shopping. 

Today we’re heading to The Original Oyster House – another recommended place on our list – another disappointment (Damn Felix for spoiling us).  I get oysters (still not as big, but you can’t go wrong with them) – and the ahi tuna (DRYYYY)… Patti gets fried crawfish.. the scampi is ok – but the cheese grits are amazing. The one thing that we really can rave about – really. Really good.  But before all that we shop – the wait for the Oyster House is long and they make sure to let you know that the pagers they give you have a massive range and you can feel them buzz from any of the shops in the complex (and it’s a large complex) – we’re eager to check out some local shops, so we take advantage of our wait.  There are some cute boutiques, but nothing I need to have – a shop with tons of shirts that I would love to have (everything from Superman, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, to Seinfeld, Arrested Development and even Dukes of Hazard).. but I don’t leave with anything.  

After dinner we hit the big souvenir T-Shirt complexes – you can buy nearly anything made of a shell or driftwood, tons of Gulf Shores shirts, and hermit crabs.  We’ll likely be back to look at shirts again, but we have plenty of time to look around.   Back to the homestead and we have some dranks and watch some more Orange is the New Black before heading off to bed fairly early for us (10ish).   The plan for tmw Pinky?   Try to take over the beach!  (and blog)… blarg... (it obviously happened because you're reading this...).  Don't blink.  Blink and you're dead.  (That's for the one person that will read this and know what it's from). 

Entry way from the front door

Patti and Amy's room

Living room (Patti on the balcony)

The view from our balcony

Gulf Shores 2014!! We arrive!!

I should be blogging…. That’s what I’ve been thinking for the past few days.  J  It’s Ya-Ya vacation time again, and this time we’re staying in the states and for the most part, staying put.  No trekking to a new destination every 2-3 days, packing and repacking – we are in Gulf Shores, Alabama for 2 weeks, and I have even put clothes in drawers (gasp).  This will be a very relaxing and low key vacay – so a warning to those that actually attempt to read this, it may be just a lot of food pics and “we went to the beach… again”..  And as always this is where I insert my annual disclaimer – this blog is really for us, a diary of our trip that will help us remember the details when we want to look back (and there will be a lot of mundane details). If you enjoy it too, that’s great – but we’re just here to entertain ourselves.  And just a side note about last year's blog - I never finished it.  We're still in Edinburgh if you believe the author.  I'll try to update it with notes that I have, but I just wanted to warn you in case you subscribe and it sends out.  

It is now Tuesday, July 1^st – but we actually left St. Louis on Friday June 27^th… and we’ve been so busy relaxing that I haven’t a moment of spare time to blog (cough).  I just keep notes in my phone and take some pics to mark some memories and then I fill in the gaps with what may or may not be the truth, at least my version of it.  If the others want their version, they can write their own blog.  There’s just 4 of us on this trip – me, Patti, Dana and Amy.  We actually tried to get others to come, even for a night or two, and we couldn’t get any takers.  The condo sleeps 6 – so if anyone reads this and wants to come down for a visit, we’re here until July 12^th.  Give us a buzz!

Our reservations actually started on Saturday June 28^th – but it was about an 11 hour drive, so we decided to split it in two and spend the night in Tupelo about half way down the road.  We got a nice deal on a hotel thanks to Dana’s co-worker Sherry (thanks!) so we couldn’t pass up staying for a bit in the birthplace of the King.   That Friday Amy met at our house about 2:00 and we loaded up her car.  We were going to take Patti’s car which is a little smaller, but Amy convinced us to go with her car so we’d have more room for stuff.  We all took that a little too much to heart and didn’t limit our packing because we had “so much more room”… by the time we got our stuff in her car we had room for little else.  And we still had to go pick up Dana at her office and put HER stuff in there somewhere.  But we got this..  Except that Dana has a little extra stuff too (this is where Dana balks a bit – no, Dana not as much extra stuff as SOME of us, but a little more than we might have packed if we were in Patti’s car).  We unpack the whole car and re-pack in the middle of Edward Jones’ parking lot.  A few of Dana’s co-workers drive by and wish us well (and maybe heckle a little) as we’re creatively using every available space. Finally we get the right combination of stuff, and the door closes.  We are ON OUR WAY!  

Patti is our driver and Amy our co-pilot, in charge of all things musical – she is super impressed with her tech skillz because for the first time since she has owned this car she gets her phone to hook up to her car speakers so we can listen to Pandora on the way down. And we didn't even help!  If you don’t know Amy, this is truly amazing.  No.  Really. 

We're on the road 10 min and Dana decides to give us our surprises. We’ve been hearing about this surprises for a few weeks now (Dana claims that technically it’s only been one week, but it feels like longer just because of the anticipation that she’s built… our big surprises for the trip that we’re all going to LOVE).   Love Dana because she’s always thinking of the rest of us like that, finding little things that make life fun – and now that’s she’s built them, she’s suddenly full of disclaimers… don’t get too excited, they’re from the Dollar Store… but they're really cool, even though I do love giving Dana a hard time (but don't tell her those nice things about her – she won’t believe you anyway).  They're clamps/spikes that hold down the edges of your towels on the beach.  Dana got dolphins (duh)... Amy the flamingos, Patti the sharks (when you're a shark you're a shark all the way, from your first cigarette... Yes, I know that's the Jets.. But the Sharks don’t have a fun song). And I got crabs.  Makes me smile in a silly way. I got the crabs just so I could say that.   I got the big reveal on video – you can check it out here if you’re interested:   http://youtu.be/iZLCjqxkZC0

Patti is driving down for this trip – she says it’s because I drove all of our last trip (UK) after she had said that she would help drive, but that was a year ago, I’m rested up now and could take a shift if needed.   Amy will drive too.. but not in the afternoon (too tired), or at night.. Or in traffic.. But if you need a morning driver she's you're girl.  If we would have left at 4am - she would have been perfect, she points out.  Next time. Noted. 

Driving in the Midwest is always fun, you never know what you’re going to come across… like a camel in a yard, a live camel... Amy said what was it doing?  Well what do you think?  Smoking a camel.. what else do camels do?   The trip is fun – we’re reading and singing.. because we’re listening to Pandora we get very few commercials and we get themes. I think that the 70’s was the best track, lots of tunes to sing along to (more video… if you dare.. http://youtu.be/gZpfFSvIYAI) .  

The towns we pass are great too – Friendship, Biggersville, Tishomingo, Black Land (Amy thought she might see some of her people there).  And our favorite was Guntown… we’re not sure if it’s pronounced Gun Town or Gunton… like Gunton Abbey.  We laugh at that a lot too.  It really does not take much.  We love some Gunton Abbey… can’t you see Maggie Smith as an old west gunslinger?

We reminisce – 10 years ago today we were on vacation in Key West.  Well actually Key Largo on the way to Key West, and Amy had her stroke.  We have since called that vacation “Stroke Tour 2004”. Amy had her stroke, we took her swimming.  And then the next day when she couldn’t cut her own food, we took her to the hospital – and then she insisted that we continue our plans and head to Key West, while she was transported to Miami.  Dana called Amy’s mother to tell her, oh your daughter had a stroke.. and we all got toe rings to remember the trip (except for Amy, who got a full key lime pie delivered to her hospital room instead).   Amy still hasn’t been to Key West.  But she’s not bitter (maybe a little).  She called her mother from the car to wish her happy 10^th year anniversary – but she wasn’t home.  90 years old and she’s out and about on a Friday night.  Our kind of lady.

We’re getting closer to Tupelo and we’ve switched over the Mamma Mia soundtrack (all singing all at top volume of course) and Amy reads out a road sign, “30 miles to Tupelo!” – Patti is incredulous -  “Impossible! Has to be 38!”…  and then she check the gps..  29 miles… oh…  and this is one of those truly stupidly funny had-to-be-there moments, but it’s worth mentioning for us because it will be a recurring joke now.  At each road sign, 14 miles to Tupelo… IMPOSSIBLE!! Must be 24!!  Amy is just aghast that she has been doubted – she is after all the bifocal wearer in the group.  She knows an 0 from an 8.. Yes. It’s dumb. And no. It does not get old.

We’re getting hungry and as we get closer I look up recommended places to eat in Tupelo – it’s about 9:30pm though and the Midwest shuts down at about 9pm, so we’re not sure what we’re going to get.  I find a place that is billed as “Steak and Seafood”… except that ALL of the “seafood” is catfish (like half a page of different kind of catfish preparations and combinations – imagine if Bubba liked catfish instead of shrimp). We are obviously in catfish country, and I want some.  I got a hankerin now… Dana calls the place – they closed at 9.  Of course they did.   Well, we find the hotel and get checked in and the only place we can find that’s open to eat is a Cracker Barrel.  I’m a little down about eating at a chain on vacation – but the others rally around me and lift my spirits by telling me that technically vacation doesn’t start until tomorrow, so chin up.  And they did have catfish, so there’s that.  The food beside the catfish is pretty bad though – but tomorrow we feast on seafood!

Saturday June 28^th-----------

The bed was pretty comfy – higher end than I expected for the price. Dana and I were in one room and Patti and Amy in the other – and each of us had our own bed war.  The comforter was one of those really heavy down comforters that’s perfect if the AC is set on 63, but otherwise is just smothering.  Amy and Patti both fought to keep it off of them and ended up with what equaled a 3^rd body wadded up between them.  I thought that the comforter was just not big enough, coming only the edge of each side of the bed – until I got up for a midnight trip to the bathroom and saw it draped to the floor on Dana’s side as I returned.  Dana woke up and we evened out the blanket – but by morning we were back to the way it was.  I took pictures for evidence – not that I’m trying to prove that anyone is a blanket thief or anything.

My side

Dana's side

Showering brought on another challenge.  I felt like I was back in Europe, each shower was different and you had to figure out how to work the thing, and sometimes that took a committee of people to gather around and brain storm.  Makes me feel like I’m the monkey in one of those experiments where they hang the bananas in the middle of the room and someone is watching to see if I know how to stack the crates to get to them.   There is the larger knob that clearly turns the water on and off, and then within that there is a smaller knob that determines temperature – but how to get the shower to turn on… you actually had to bend over and under to see the little button you push in for that.  Patti and I laughed later that it reminded her of our showers in Europe – “Why do I get undressed before I figure out how to work the shower?” … we’ll never learn.

We get and take advantage of our free breakfast courtesy of Hampton Inn.  We were informed last night that the hotel was completely booked, and this morning we see all of those people foraging for free breakfast like the rest of us.  There is only one person working breakfast and she’s just beside herself, can’t keep up with the eggs and bacon, poor dear.  Dana will not be denied, and even though I have given up hope of a hot breakfast, she is a beast and not only gets her a plate but gets me one too.  Thanks for lookin’ out! 

We are in Tupelo, MS – birthplace of Elvis Aaron Presley – and Patti thinks that we’re just going to hit the road.  But at the last min I put the birthplace in my gps and just as it calculates, the next exit (like 5 ft in front of us) is the one we need – exit NOW!   We park – which surprised Amy – she thought we were just going to do a drive-by.  Patti jokes that white people don’t do drive-bys.  And that’s how we roll. 

The house is TEENY TINY – we get our pics and have to ask this guy just hanging out on the porch swing to move please..  we actually thought that he worked there and was working the entrance to the house, but realized later that he was part of a youth group travelling together.   We take our silly pictures and we hit the gift store – who doesn’t love a gift store.  We’re tempted to buy the potholders with the peanut butter and banana recipe… but we leave it behind in Tupelo.  We take more pics at the guitar at the entrance before we get back on the road - a little over 5 hours before Gulf Shores.

We’re leaving early enough and we can’t check in until 4pm, so we’re checking out things along the way, and we see this sign for “Captain Amish” store… duh, Captain Obvious – we’re going to the Captain Amish store.. The Amish stores at home (well, Bowling Green) are better (more actually Amish), but I walk out with some cheese curds and a can of “Beef”.  Just canned beef.  I can’t not try it.  I’ll let you know.  

 Next door there is a flea market and we peruse that as well.  I’m so tempted to get the John Deere lamp made from an old Singer sewing machine, but we just can’t fit another thing in the car.  Amy has her eye on some leopard print wicker chairs – I tell her that we could strap them to the top, but sadly they stay behind as well.

Patti is watching the gas tank – it tells us how many miles are left in the tank, but Amy insists that once it hits 30 that means 0 – it lies.  We were at 70… and then we went 50 miles without a gas station.  At 30 it stops telling us how many miles are left and just reads “-----“.   So that’s awesome.  We finally stop for gas and its hoppin...because it’s the first place for gas in 50 miles.  We’re in line for gas and the car in front  has MO plates.  Patti tells Amy to go ask them where they're from - so she does.  And they’re from St. Charles. And Also going to Gulf Shores!  It quickly becomes a pattern.  We see people later in stores with MO shirts on – 4 out of the first 5 people that we talk to are from MO.  Now I see why so many of our MO friends had advise about Gulf Shores – it seems to be a favorite MO vacation spot.  We saw some boiled peanuts - must be a southern thing because they're everywhere.  I may have to get some and eat them with my canned beef. 

We’re about an hour from Gulf Shores – but we see water!!  We smell ocean!!  And then we see Felix’s – a place that Patti’s friend Larry had recommended and we decide that we should take advantage and go ahead and eat before we hit Gulf Shores.   We do not regret it.  If you are in the area, you MUST go here.  It’s now 2 days later and we have yet to find anything to compare to it.  Have the oysters, they’re the size of fists (not just a hand, not just your palm).. the crab soup?  Dear lord.  And whatever you order, make it “Oscar” (add crab meat and hollandaise)… mmmmmm.  Just do it.

OCEAN!!!

Under Felix's

HUGE Oysters!!

Snapper "Oscar"

We are really happy with our decision both because of the food, but also because soon after we hit the Gulf Shores traffic – slow going all the way in – like Branson slow (6 miles in about 45 min).  By the time we check in it’s about 7pm (left at about 10:30).  The condo is beautiful.  Patti handled all of that, I was just along for the ride on this trip – and since we usually get a house, that’s what I was picturing – but this is a condo complex.  We have a unit facing the beach, and it’s the smallest condo among a strip of condos (which means much fewer people on our strip of beach).   We unpack and walk down to the beach – had to dip our toes.  And then we just hung out and went to bed.  TMW – big plans.  Wal-Mart.