Christmas Comes Early in Gulf Shores

Monday afternoon our niece, Stephanie, showed up from the Atlanta area to spend a few days with her parents.  Pam made dinner while I provided fudge cake for dessert.  Since I used Pam's cookie sheet, she was stuck with the leftovers (which she has since frozen, and then shared with us).

Mark and Stephanie digging in.

We saw this in Walmart. 

Very disturbing for September 25.

Stephanie was once again kind enough to bring her dog grooming tools with her to give Butch (and Darla) a haircut.  She convinced us to let her cut all the hair off Butch's tail.  We love it!

I found this guy while walking on the walkway over the swamp right next to the RV park.

We finally got to the fishing pier early enough to see some fish.  There was a very large school of "blues" and also quite a few sharks.  Unfortunately, we only saw the little ones (2-3 ft.).  One fisherman told us that a 5 ft. one was playing in the water that morning, jumping out like a dolphin.  I would have liked to see that, but only on the pier; not on the beach where we swim.

Mark thought this was funny.

Thursday we saw lots of smoke coming from the State Park a couple of miles away.  It turned out they were doing a "controlled burn" but it got out of control after dark. 

There was no wind today, so Dennis and Mark decided to put the new decals on the front of the trailer.  It turned out perfect. 

To celebrate, we all headed to Tacky Jacks for lunch.  None of us had ever been there, but the food was delicious.  Now its nap time since the rain has arrived, and will most likely be here until Tuesday. 

Stripping and A Little Head banging!

Yesterday we headed off on the bikes to try out the bike trail that goes to the golf course we played on Wednesday.  The whole state of Alabama is flat; this bike trail was not!  By the time we finished, we had gone 15 miles.  My legs are still killing me today, especially after walking 4 miles with Pam and Dennis the day before.

Found this guy on the sidewalk up the road.

Everybody wants to hold Darla (except Butch).  Too bad she doesn't really like to be held - she always wants to chew on things.  We just spoil her and send her back to her parents next door.

Yesterday as we gathered for Happy Hour at Pam and Dennis' trailer, Mark forgot to duck underneath the whole width of the trailer:

Ouch!

This morning Mark removed yet another decal from the trailer.

An hour later we had this:

Next step will be putting on the new decals.

Earlier this evening we headed down to the fishing pier.  We only saw two fish being caught, but a whole lot of people on the pier.  We watched one guy reel in this fish, while the pelican watched and even tried to get the fish before the hook was out of its mouth.  Once the guy threw the fish to the bird, he wouldn't eat it, and he just flew off.  Guess it wasn't what he wanted for dinner tonight.

A New Cousin For Butch

We've been away from the beach for a few days.  It was very crowded on Saturday so we just hung out at the pool.  No one in this RV park uses the pool except us.  We biked down to the Hangout to check out the band Saturday night.  I think the name was "Cornbread" and they were very good.  Hopefully they will be back this coming weekend.

There's a "bubble machine" on the outside of the Hangout.  It's always fun to watch the kids play in it.  First they are all rolling around in the sand, or climbing the sand mountain, then they all head to the bubble machine.

Since it was a rainy day on Monday, we headed over to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola.  This is the first time I've been there, and Mark hadn't been in at least 30 years.  It was very impressive.  We arrived in time for a two-hour tour led by a former Navy person who also teaches History at the local college.  Unfortunately, the only planes he talked about in his two hours were World War I and World War II planes.

My favorites are the Blue Angels.  On Tuesdays and Wednesdays the public is welcome to watch them practice.  Hopefully we can get back there before leaving here.

On Tuesday, Pam, Dennis, and the new puppy Darla finally arrived.

Darla is a 6 lb. ball of puff.  She's part Australian Shepherd, and part poodle, and very, very cute!

Butch doesn't know what to make of Darla.  She lunges at him because she wants to play, and he just hops backwards to get away. 

Today Mark and I golfed at the Peninsula Golf Club.  It was a gorgeous day and one of us played very well.  The other one got their money's worth (me).

We've been playing corn hole with the group in the two motorhomes next to us.  Sadly, we are not very good, but enjoy playing.  Hopefully next time I will get some decent pictures to post.

Gulf Shores 2012

It's been quite a while, but we're finally back traveling again - at least for a month.  We left home on Sunday morning with the trailer to get to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  We stopped for the night in Canton, Mississippi and headed out early Monday to arrive just after lunch time to our favorite campground. 

After a couple of trips to Walmart, we finally got to the beach on Tuesday.  It seems that the word is out about being here in September.  While not jammed like in August, we notice more and more people here, especially in the campground. 

Wednesday before the rain arrived.

We headed 15 miles north to check out the campground where we will be wintering (Jan-March).  We are very excited about being in this park.  Everyone was very friendly and even inquired if we golf, because they get a group of 20 or so people together once a week to golf.  Hopefully this place will work out for us because it's close enough to home that if we really missed everyone, we could drive back in one day.

Yesterday we headed down the beach road to just over the border in Florida to meet up with my Aunts and Uncles who are vacationing in a condo.  We all live within an hour of each other at home, but never see each other (other than funerals).  It was great to visit, and they made us lunch.

Uncle Jim and Aunt Carol, Uncle Dave and Aunt Jeanne

Three different flavored pork tenderloins along with french fries and veggies made for a perfect lunch.

The view from their very large deck. 

Mark has been working on the trailer since we arrived. He is still removing decals that have failed and cleaning the fiberglass to get ready for a coat of wax. Apparently our fifth wheel is now at an age (four) where certain plastic or vinyl parts start to break or just look so weathered that you need to replace them. We have been to Camping World for several items even though we brought stuff with us from home.

Butch has settled in just fine and is getting along with the other dogs in the park. Hopefully he will write a blog entry while we are here.