Gulf Shores

"I was born in Alabama, but I only lived there for a month before I'd done everything there was to do." Paula Poundstone

We've been terribly busy since the last post so here goes in very short form ... well, kind of. I want it all to fit in one post. And, we've done a lot recently.

Our drive into Pensacola was interesting. Actually, we're currently at a park in the gulf of Alabama only a few miles from the Florida panhandle. The Blue Angels are having their homecoming next weekend and we wanted to visit their home base. To celebrate the homecoming there will be a big celebration at the base while they display their flying skills. We had originally hoped to be able to watch it but now we may be running from the incoming hurricane so be displaced. Who knows where we'll be next weekend? We certainly don't.

Friday meant more food and more "new" friends. We didn't actually go anyplace but just ate at our place. We had originally planned on having a big-time BBQ. Those things you have to plan. We spent so much time not planning it that it ended up just being food. It was a great evening and we topped it off with a Wii challenge in bowling. And, as usual, the women folks wiped the men folks. As usual, I said.

On Saturday we did a little alligator hunting out of Meaher State Park which sits on Mobile Bay. The park has walkways across the swamps and alligators live in the marshes. Folks indicate that the alligators are common visitors to the grassy areas of the parks. Our thought was we'd rather view them than have them unknowingly view us. Terry did indicate he and the alligators had an agreement. He wouldn't eat them if they wouldn't eat him. We did see an alligator but not at close range ... thank goodness. Folks in the park said that many times the gators will come up on the grass by the RV sites. We thought the park was nice until we heard that. The last thing that interested us was having a gator as a neighbor! We also had a lesson from Rich (Spiker's friend) on how to tell the difference between dog poop and coyote poop. I'm sure that's more than everything we needed to know. Nope ... no picture on that stuff.

Later that day we made a trip to Battleship National Park and two Navy vessels -- the USS Alabama and the USS Drum. Both of these have been designated as historic monuments and are open for tourists to view. And, this we did. The USS Drum is a submarine. Neither of us had been in a submarine so that's where our main interest was. In addition to the two Naval ships there was also a naval museum and a Navy simulator. The aircraft in the museum were older spy planes and war planes. It was very interesting to read the history of the actual planes. In true Disney fashion, there was also a Navy simulator you could ride for $4.75. I wanted to do this. I've been in a real training simulator so I thought it might be similar. All I did in that one was crash so I figured I could do nothing but improve. Well, it was more like the Star Wars ride at Disneyland than a real flight simulator. The flags were for Veterans day.

After the touring we went with Joe and Miz Holly along with Rich and his wife for dinner at Ed's Seafood house. What a great setting. It's right on the bay with tropical palm tree huts and gorgeous views of the bay.

On Sunday we discovered the most gorgeous beaches we've ever seen. Now you've got to realize we've seen beaches! We've seen them along the east coast, in the gulf, the pacific coast, all over the Caribbean, Mexico, Galapagos, Hawaii, Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.... I think you get the point -- we've seen beaches! The beaches at the Gulf Islands National Seashore are drop-dead gorgeous. The sand is pure white, soft powder. The beaches go for miles. Of course, the winds were churning up -- after all, a hurricane is coming. And, we even discovered several RVs boondocking on one of the beaches! Staying here would be a little bit of heaven. With storms heading this direction, they were pulling up and pulling out. The National Seashore Island was being closed down as of 10 PM Sunday as the hurricane can dangerously toss the waves across the beaches and the roads. The island is just a very narrow strip of land between the ocean and the bay.

Currently -- we're watching our options. Being close to the center of where Hurricane Ida is predicted to hit land .... should we hunker down and hope for the best? Or, should we run for it? Or, is it possible to run for it?

Stay tuned ......