Long walk on a short pier

I ran out of gas today.  Not my car-my body.  I haven't slept well for about a week and today the fatigue and sun exposure caught up with me.  It was a good day to be lazy.  The weather was chilly, overcast and windy so definitely not a beach day.  We kind of lazed around most of the morning not in a hurry to do anything.

Late morning when we finally started moving we decided to just sight see today.  Our first stop was the Gulf State Park Fishing Pier.  We've driven past it for five years and have never stopped.  The first year we came to Orange Beach the pier was still being rebuilt.  It opened in 2009.  The current pier replaced the original fishing pier that was a popular fishing spot for many years.  It was destroyed in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan made a direct hit.

According to the OBA website  "Ivan struck near Gulf Shores just after midnight on Sept. 16, 2004, as a Category 3 hurricane with winds exceeding 120 mph. Before it was gone, it caused more than $5 billion in damage in Alabama and Florida and drew blame for 13 Florida deaths."  The GSP pier was one of the casualties.  The old pier was 825' long and saw thousands of fishermen each year.  Though it was popular it wasn't a consistently good fishing spot.  Because it was so close to the shore the water was very turbulent on mostdays.  There were only about 100 good fishing days per year.  The pier was redesigned and rebuilt to make it nearly double in length so that the better,calmer fishing waters could be easily accessed.  Here is a composite photo showing both the old and new piers.

 

The pier is a fun walk because of all the fisherpeople, fish and wildlife.  We saw pelicans up close, a blue heron, a tiny fiddler crab and two Sheepshead fish right as they were being reeled in.  I think pelicans were a joke from God as they are very odd looking birds.  They weren't wearing little sailor hats and striped shirts like Pelican Pete (let's see how many of you know who he was).  They patiently wait for scraps from the fishermen.  However, the fishermen don't seem to like their presence and shoo them away.  Here are two photos that Ken took today.

After our walk on the pier we went to lunch at Kitty's Kafe, the #1 restaurant choice in Gulf Shores according to Trip Advisor.  It was a crowded little restaurant with a diner menu.  We sat at "the bar".  The food was just so so.  I've had Fried Green Tomatoes two days in a row now and I am not a fan.  They were two very different interpretations and I really didn't care for either.  It was interesting to hear the waitress talking to "regulars".    Every restaurant we've been to down here has had very friendly waitstaff.  We took a short drive to the west end of Gulf Shores.  There are tons of rental properties along that end of the island.  I don't know how they can possibly fill all of those rental houses and condos.

We returned to the condo around 2:00 and since it was still cloudy we planned to stay in for the afternoon.  I crashed on the couch for a couple of hours while Ken did whatever Ken did while I was asleep.  The sun came out late afternoon so we spent an hour or so reading by the swimming pool.  Now we are being boring old people and are sitting here watching TV while blogging and surfing.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy and cool so we might head to Belingrath Gardens or some other local diversion.  Tune in tomorrow to find out where we decide to go.

Alabama Kisses.



Sun sun sun here it comes!

Hello from Alabama

There is a good chance that today was the last good day on the beach this year.  The forecast isn't promising.  Even if it isn't raining it is supposed to be cool.  We will just have to wait and see.  The fates haven't been with us this year. Also, I guess I don't understand sunscreen.  I was slathered in it yesterday and today and I'm still sunburned.  What's up with that?

Today was a perfect beach day.  Mid-70's, light wind, sunshine.  We walked across the street to Latrieges and bought the world's best steamed shrimp and took it to the beach.  It's great shrimp but is even better when you are sitting in the sun watching the waves roll in.  Ken wants to know why 3 1/2 hours drags by at work but flies by at the beach.

We went on the sunset dolphin/nature boat trip tonight.  The dolphins were very active and swam close to the boat several times.  Another dolphin boat came by and kicked up a wake so the dolphins could jump in it.  It is a very dangerous activity for the dolphins but it is fun to watch.  The company that we go with doesn't do that. The dolphins trust Ceatecean boats and tend to come closer when they are out.  We also went to the very north part of Wolf Bay and saw the fresh water bayou and plants.  The cruise was capped with a beautiful sunset.  Dinner was at Lulu's, aka Lula Buffet, sister of Jimmy Buffet.  Great music, great Bushwackers and pretty good food.

Calls to home this evening were less than good.  Praying for my family back home.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Love to all.

If you don't like the weather...

Greetings!

The heading for today says it all...Yesterday, after grocery shopping and breakfast we decided to go down to the beach even though it was cloudy.  After and hour or so of intermittent sprinkles,clouds and wind we decided to go back to the condo.  Of course, as soon as we had both showered and dressed, the sun came out.  I grabbed my book and went down to the pool area to read for awhile.  Tacky Jack's was our dinner spot.  The food was great, the drinks not so much.

Today began sunny and quickly became overcast.  It was warm enough today to stay out even though the sun popped in and out.  We were able to get in about 3 hours of beach time when it began to pour.  The entire beach crowd made a run for the building.  Of course as soon as we got in, it stopped raining.  With or without the sun the UV rays were strong.  Despite applying sunscreen every 30 minutes or so, my legs are very sunburned.  Ouchy.

I am hoping to sleep soundly tonight.  I've been waking up around 3:00 every morning.  Not sure why but I toss and turn the rest of the night.  The bed in the master bedroom has a definite curvature toward the middle.  I feel like that Lucy episode where she has to tie herself to the bed frame so she doesn't roll out of bed.  We are going to switch to the other bedroom tonight and see if that's any better.

There is a family of cats and kittens who live under the pool deck and in the dunes.  They are definitely feral.  I've seen two adults and at least 4 little ones.  They are so cute!  I hope they will be TNR'd so they don't reproduce to an unmanageable number.  I watched one of the adults stalk something in the reeds today.  She was so quiet and was obviously stalking something.  All of the sudden she pounced and caught a little tiny lizard which she promptly took under the deck.

Tomorrow is going to be a great beach day.  74 and no rain.    Looking forward to it.

So, good night all!

Happy, happy, happy

Mora na maidine dhuit.
More-uh nah mod-gin-uh g-wit.
Top of the morning to you.


We arrived at Sugar Sands in Orange Beach about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. From start to finish, with all of our stops our trip totaled 17:43 hours.  It is good to be here but my mind is also at home.  It's a cloudy day with the threat of rain.  There is a chance of rain every day this week.  I am hoping we do not have a repeat performance of Galveston in 1990 when we spent several days in a condo watching the rain.  There are other things to do but my first love is sitting on the beach relaxing my body and brain.

We were able to leave Wichita very early on Friday because I worked my 3 1/2 hours from 6:15 to 9:45.  I am glad that we were able to leave early as the route Google gave us to Texarkana was full of small towns and stop lights.  It was an interesting drive and we saw a part of Oklahoma and Texas that we'd never seen before.  Our Best Western hotel was new and actually very pretty.  Ate dinner at Pizza Inn for old time's sake and I have to say, my memory of Pizza Inn pizza is much better than the pizza we had Friday evening.

We took this route to Alabama for a special reason.  Ken has always wanted to find the graves of his great-great-great grandfather and grandmother and his great-great grandfather in west Arkansas.  Rev. Young Leander McLemore and his wife, Mary, along with their son Young Leander are buried in the Brightstar Cemetery in Brightstar, Arkansas.  It was very special to visit their graves.  As Ken said, you see their names on paper but to visit their graves makes them 'real'.  The graveyard was on a little hill and covered in tiny wild daffodil like flowers.  There is a mix of graves from the late 1800's to recent.  The McLemore graves were 1901 and 1904.  I'd like to find where they lived while in Arkansas so I guess that can be Ken's next task.

I have recently become a minor fan of Duck Dynasty thanks to my hairdresser, Louis.  Knowing they were from Louisiana I checked out their website and found that Duck Commander is based in West Monroe, LA.  I consulted my handy Google map and found that Monroe was right on our way! I wanted to stop but I was a little apprehensive.  I was worried that we might be the only people there and that I would feel silly.  Ha! We missed our turn the first pass by but I remember noticing bike racers and a few people milling around nearby.  I thought that the people were there to watch the bike race or something.  We got turned around and found our turn...and a man directing traffic.  We were most decidedly not alone.  There had to be around 200 people milling around this little brick building, lining up to buy souvenirs from a truck and packed into a little tiny store.  I really felt silly then.  Looked around, took some pictures, and bought a mug for Louis and a t-shirt for me.   I couldn't believe how many people were there.  The lady in front of us at the truck asked if they guys were there.  She said they never show up on the weekend and I can see why.  It must boggle their minds going from a quiet little (multi-million $) company to a side show attraction with hundreds of fans.  We had a great time and were happy, happy, happy.  If you haven't watched Duck Dynasty, check it out.  I laugh out loud because it's so fun.  We got back in our car and "it was on like Donkey Kong!"

 I was beginning to think they'd moved Mobile but we finally got there, headed south and arrived at Sugar Beach 227.  We had planned to go out to dinner but we weren't hungry so we just called it a day and crashed at the condo.

The forecast calls for rain every day but Tuesday so I am praying there will be more sun than rain.  I am also praying for my parents and if you'd say a quick prayer I would appreciate it.  Age is not being kind to them right now.  I feel a little guilty being here when they are so in need.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you

Dia dhuit.

Gee-uh g-wit

God be with you.
 (I need a laugh today)