April

 

Lunch with Sheri my old college roommate

Beginning of the month I was able to meet for lunch with one of my old college roommates, Sheri Fairbanks Smith.  It was so fun to visit and catch up.  It has been about 21 years since we last saw each other when I had a BBQ with Steve Johns, Devin Allred, Brenda Butterfield McCann and Sheri.  It was so fun to see her again.

Friday, April 3 we flew to Pensacola Florida to begin our week vacation in the Gulf Shores.  We decided to fly in a day earlier than our condo check in, got in around 8 p.m.

Lunch at Whataburger on our way to 
Gulf Shores.

The next day we got up, had breakfast, packed up and headed to Goodwill to look for some t-shirts for Ben.  We listened to General Conf. as we then drove down to the condo.  On the way we stopped at Whataburger.  

We arrived at our condo and the views were amazing from our place!

View from our front balcony

Ben's family

Dock at the back of the property

Pool at back of building right by the 
dock

Checking out the beach

Picture of our living room

Picture of our bedroom

After checking in we went out to see the pool and then down to the beach.  The weather wasn't hot, but it was pleasant.

We were hungry so we went to dinner at Lulu's...a place suggested by  one of Jason's coworkers.  It was not just a restaurant.  It had a gift shop, a ropes course, an arcade, etc.  Since the wait was an hour it gave us stuff to do and look at.

Dinner at Lulu's

Elias eating a Po Boy sandwich.  Teneya
had some grits

Jacob eating his Po Boy

Jason had grits and I had a shrimp taco.
I tasted his grits and they were good!

After dinner we headed to Walmart to get food supplies for the week. This was roughly 10 p.m. and the store was packed!  I made a list and Jason and I divided and conquered.  It was sooo busy.  

Sunday was cloudy, cold and rainy.  That was Ok as we stayed in to watch General Conference.  Afterwards some went out to the beach to walk around.  My hip was kind of sore so I stayed in and worked on dinner.

Monday I got up and went to the small gym on site and because it was still cloudy and chilly, in the afternoon we went to Fort Morgan.  It was used mainly to protect the area during the Civil War.  It was pretty interesting.

Jacob in the cannon kiva

In the kiva looking place, at the bottom was originally a cannon.  It was on a pedestal and chained  to the walls.  They would load the cannon, pull the chains and it would lift it up to the top of the wall height to fire.  Then it was let back down to reload.   

Teneya, Jacob, Ben and 
Elias as the base of the 
REALLY steep stairs

At the top of the fort

Down inside the fort

This shows how steep the 
stairs were

 

When we were done with the fort we went to Tacky Jack's for lunch on the way back.  It was Ok, but wouldn't go back there again.  Can't remember what I had, but Jacob had a burger.

Tuesday was still a little cool, but late morning we went down to the beach.  The water was COLD!  Once you got in (apparently) it was better.  

Enjoying the beach.  

Jacob and Elias out doing the boogie boards

Jason and Ben doing the boogie
boards.

A view from our balcony.  Ben, Andrea, and the 
kids are by the right most umbrella.  Under it
and in front of it. 

Dinner at sunset

Look how the ocean made a "shelf" out of
the sand to sit on.  The next day it was 
flat like normal.

After the day at the beach we came back to house and Ben and Andrea did dinner.  While they prepped dinner Jason and I went down to the pool and got into the hot tub.  I just put my feet in as it was so HOT!  Came back in a  ate out on the deck.  So pretty with the sunset!

That night we watched Goonies.

Wednesday morning we left at 10:45 to drive to Mobile to catch our air boat tour at noon.  It was an eco tour and the guide was very knowledgeable.  

Starting on the airboat

If you look REALLY hard you can see
the alligator

 

Riding the airboat

Riding along the inlet

After the alligator airboat ride we drove over the the USS Alabama battleship.  It is huge and you can walk all through it.  When you enter the building to pay they have an entire warehouse size room with WWII airplanes.  It was cool to see!

Jacob and Jason with the planes

USS Alabama 

So big and so many levels to climb down.

From there we went to Felix's and I had crab soup.  Jason had grits again, which I tasted and they were very good!  My soup was OK.  Jacob had a burger.  That was pretty much what he wanted all week. 

After Felix's we drove back to Gulf Shores and went to the famous Buc-ee's.  It is pretty big and has tons of stuff in it, but since we didn't need anything we just walked around.

We then continued back home and stopped at The Warf.  Ben and Teneya watch Survivor every week and at The Warf they play it on the big screen.  So we sat on the fake grass and watched.  It was fun!

Beautiful night.  A little cool.

Getting ready to watch

Here we go!

On Thursday it was cool again so we went out to the beach later.  It was still pleasant.  I walked along the beach with Jason and Jacob quite a ways.  My leg had been feeling better (I believe due to lack of walking and the cortisone shots), but by the time we were done walking back it was sore!

Beautiful beach

Catching some sun

All week we had been going to restaurants and asking if they served fresh caught fish.  Amazingly most do not.  The Catch was recommended to us so we tried it.  We go there and it was an hour wait.  Jacob and Elias decided they would rather get McDonald's so Jason left, drove them to McDonald's and then back to the condo.  He got back just as we were being seated.  The specialty of the night was swordfish.  Yum!  I got that and Jason got coconut shrimp and grits.  They were both so good!

Linde, Jason, Teneya, Ben and Andrea
The boys were back at the condo eating
McDonald's

Yummy swordfish

A beautiful place

We were talking about Gulf Shores and what we thought.  Other than the beach there isn't a ton to do unless you drive quite a ways.  I thought, for people down there, it was probably similar to us going to St. George for a few days.  You drive down, stay and hang out. As a "destination" it was good, but we wouldn't fly out there again.  

On Friday we left mid morning to get Ben's family to airport.  We stopped for lunch before we had to go back for our flight.  

What did we eat?  Burgers!