Happy Sun Day!

It's been a beautiful week of Beach Sitting and relaxing but sadly it's been much too short, as usual.  We haven't done much this week and that's just fine with me.  Ventured out to a couple of restaurants but mostly, just beach sitting.  The weather has been perfect but tomorrow is going to be another story.  There's an 80% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow so possibly no beach time unfortunately.
Sadly, the Panama City chaos of drunk teens seems to be migrating west.  There were 115 arrests just yesterday for underage drinking.  A young man died Sunday from alcohol poisoning.  Very sad.  Our beach area is still relatively calm although I think there were more young people here than in the past.  Not real thrilled with that. 

Today we went to the Gulf Shores History Musuem.  The museum is housed in historic home that was moved to the municipal complex of Gulf Shores.  At first glance it looks like a very nice museum.  We were greeted as we walked in the door and invited to watch a video.  Ok, a video about the area would be very interesting.  Perplexingly, the video was not about Gulf Shores.  It was a segment of "Big History" about the importance of gold throughout history.  I'm not quite sure why that particular video was being shown but after about 10 minutes we decided to tour the museum instead of finish the video.  I'm really not sure who put the museum together or how the exhibits were designed but it was one of the most confusing museums I've ever been to.  It all looked like it went together but when I really started reading the display cards,  I realized there was no rhyme or reason to the displays.  We didn't stay long.

From there we went to the Tanger Outlet Mall where I bought a pair of Skechers that just screamed my name.  Very colorful and tropical.  Can't wait to wear them to school.

Went down to the beach around 2:00 and spent the afternoon reading, walking and snoozing.  Around 5:00 there was a lot of excitement around a young man who was fishing.  We watched him reel and reel and reel his line in.  Low and behold he'd caught a sting ray.  Everyone was very excited but the young man wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do.  Luckily there was a young woman nearby who just happened to be a marine biology student who works with sting rays.  She got a towel, threw it over the tail and kneeled down on the tail so the ray couldn't sting her.  She pulled the ray up by its nostrils while the man removed the hook.  She let people touch the sting ray and take photos before she let it go.  It was very cool to see a wild ray that close up.  The girl said it was a male Atlantic Sting Ray.  Don't know how it got clear over to the Gulf...must be on spring break too.

We were going to fix Shrimp Creole for dinner using Lartigue's shrimp (the best shrimp I've ever eaten) but we were still too full from lunch.  We just gorged ourselves on the cold shrimp instead.  After dinner we decided to try out Matt's Ice Cream Shop based on rave reviews on Trip Advisor.  It was delicious.  Took a short ride over to Florida and then turned around and came back to Alabama.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  Still want to go to the Gulf State Pier and explore the Gulf State Park a little if the weather isn't bad.  Hopefully there will be enough space between rain drops that we can have one last day on the beach.  Friday we are going to head to New Orleans and the National World War II Museum.  I've wanted to do that for many years.

So, until then...

Rainy Days and Saturdays..."

Greetings from Sunny (finally) Orange Beach Alabama!

We made it!  There were a few times yesterday that I found myself praying for safety as Ken drove because of the heavy rain and the traffic.  God is good and we made it, later than we thought, to our condo at Sugar Beach.  Poor Ken was exhausted so I put him to bed without his supper shortly after we arrived.

I always enjoy driving through the southern states, especially Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.  They have a different flavor than the Plains states.  There are places where it seems that time has stood still and metropolitan areas that are modern.  I would like to spend more time exploring in the future.  We are always in a hurry to get where we are going when we come down on Spring Break so we haven't explored as much as I would like.

One place I really wanted to stop at was the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum in McGehee, Arkansas.  This is the internment camp where George Takei lived with his family as a little boy.  The museum is housed in the refurbished train depot where the detainees arrived at the end of their journey from the west coast.  I can't imagine what they thought, or how they felt as they looked across rural Arkansas.  There were two camps near McGehee-Rohwer and Jasper.  These camps took the names of the towns they were near.  About 17,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to the camps, significantly increasing the population of the area.  Governor Homer Adkins was not in favor of the camps coming to Arkansas because he hated the Japanese (according to the docent) but once he saw the economic benefit to his state, he relented.  However, he would not allow the Japanese Americans to take significant jobs outside of the camps. Many local people resented the Japanese American detainees because their living conditions in the camps were much better than their post depression living conditions.  As one exhibit narrative asked though, was it better to be free to do and go as you please or to have a comfortable cabin 2000 miles from your home that was taken from you?  Camp Jerome closed 18 months after it opened and those detainees were sent to Camp Rohwer.  Camp Jerome then became a German POW camp (whose prisoners COULD work outside of the camps).  Camp Rohwer closed after VJ day.  Of the 17,000 Japanese Americans detained in Arkansas, only one family of 4 remained as permanent citizens of Arkansas.  The wife lived to be 99 years old, passing away in 2014.  She was instrumental in establishing the museum and preserving the cemataries at both camps.  The museum is small but very well done and I highly suggest a visit if you are in the area.

We zipped, or crawled depending on conditions, on south, stopping in a very seedy section of Jackson, MS for lunch.  Ken had to repeat our simple order 4 times and then it still wasn't right...

      "You want a foot long coney and a Sprite Zero with cherry?"

       "No, I want a regular coney and a Coke Zero with Diet cherry"

      (silence) " and a #1 combo with what to drink?"

       " I want a #1 combo with mustard and a Coke.  I want a regular coney and a Coke Zero with Diet Cherry."

      (silence) "You want a #1 combo with a coke and a foot long coney with a Sprite Zero"

       "No...(repeat the order)"

       "Ok.  I have a #1 combo with a Coke.  A regular coney and a drink with cherry"

So, when she finally brings it out we get a #1 combo with MAYONAISE and Coke, a regular coney and a SPRITE zero with cherry.

Call the carhop back...we wanted a Coke Zero with Diet Cherry...well, what'dya get?...we got a SPRITE...ok I'll be right out.

I bet she spit in my drink.

South of Jackson we ran into traffic and a terrible rainstorm.  It only lasted for about ten miles but it was harrowing and there was no place to stop.  Plugged along to Mobile and headed toward the shore.  Right after dark it started pouring again.  Traffic was heavy with all the spring breakers heading to the Gulf.  We finally made it about two hours later than originally planned what with our stop and the weather. 

Our condo is older and a little shabby but not bad.  Kind of on the tacky décor side but it's beachy.  We ate breakfast at Kitty's Kafe and once there, we realized we'd been there before.  It was excellent.  Shopped at a very picked over WalMart with tons of college kids.  The alcohol was definitely the item of the day for them. 

I am going to stop here as I hear the beach calling my name.

Sun and Sand to you till we meet again.