A Weekend at the Beach!!

In the first pic, that is the state pier still in pieces. The beach is deserted too! There should be some houses or high rise condo's there!

In the second pic, I got a great pic with my Rebel of some shells left on a fence bordering a walkway down to the beach!!

The third pic shows my Dad and Judy, me and George.

The forth pic is a shot of the awesome clouds and sun there on Saturday afternoon. Look how small the people are on the beach!!

We left Dallas to head for Gulf Shores, AL early Nov 9. We knew the trip would take at least 12 hours and the time seemed to really just fly by (except for the part between Hattisburg and Mobile) and then we were there!! Wooo Hooo!!

George and I had not been to Gulf Shores in 6 to 7 years. I don't know why it took us so long to go back but I just got an urge to see a beach a few months ago and nothing here in Texas is even worth the drive so we headed to the Redneck Riveria, aka Gulf Shores, Al.

Hurricane Ivan hit Gulf Shores dead center a few years ago and it's amazing to see all the trees that were killed still standing, all the blank spots where the houses and buildings used to stand and I think the greatest toll for me was to see the former state pier in pieces. The state pier was 825 ft long and went way out into the Gulf of Mexico and there used to be a big parking lot near the pier and the state convention center used to be right new door. That convention center was an eye sore anyway but I still missed seeing it. When we drove down East Beach looking for the turn in to the pier, it wasn't even there anymore. I wonder if the sand that goes across the road was put there intentionally or if it's still there from the hurricane? I suppose the state doesn't want people on the road near the pier or there would be lots of people just looking - I know I would have gone if I could get down there!

The devastation made your heart hurt but it was good to see that buildings were going up again!! We met my Dad and step-mom there Friday night and we ate at Mikee's seafood. What a rip-off! I suppose they can do a good business from all the tourists who see them now from Highway 59 but the food was absolutely bland. My step-mom mentioned it to the waitress and she just blew us off. No more Mikee's for us!

Saturday, George spent the day on the beach fishing and Dad, Judy and I drove around looking for old places we had visited over the years. We rode around in Orange Beach, we drove down the intra coastal waterway and we found the new shortcut to get to the beach from Foley! I don't think I will ever use the short cut, I like looking at everything that SHOULD still be there too much!! Oh, Judy and I found a Christmas on the Gulf sale put on by the local Junior League at the convention center and had to take some time for shopping! I sure got a few Christmas gift and Judy got some things too and Dad napped in the big red truck while we shopped!

Dad and Judy left around lunch time on Sunday so George went and picked up some Hooters Wings and we ate them out on the balcony at the condo, then went down to what we call the cut at Big Lagoon and walked on the beach, then went back to the condo to watch the Cowboys!

George watched the Cowboys and I took a well deserved nap! Then George went fishing at the seawall down on Perdido Key and I went along for the ride! Boy was it cool outside! Actually, nobody was catching anything so we only stayed a few hours!

Then it was back to the condo to catch a few Z's and we drove home on Monday!! We did stop in Vicksburg at the Ameristar and the biggest thing I hit was a thousand nickles on a video poker machine!! Now that was a long trip home!! We left GS at 7:30 and got home close to midnight!!

As soon as we got home, we started talking about early retirement and life at the Gulf, somewhere on the water. I figure we can do it in 10 years if we plan well!! We shall see!!