A Shore Thing

Friday, January 28, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

After another month spent at beautiful Perdido Key, we reluctantly made our way back to chilly Georgia.  We miss our view of the Gulf and the vacation mindset of an open schedule every day.  Recorded here are some things we enjoy remembering from our month at the shore.

1.  Spending Time with Family
    During our month on the coast we managed to spend time with 20 of our loving relatives.  What a treat!  We visited with:
Adam, June, Jessica, Bruce and Reese

Aunt Helen and Dianne's mother Sylvia

Myles, Alex, Avery, Gina, and Joe

Carson and Andrew
(also Jeanne, Don, David, and Uncle Jim- not pictured)

Steve and Betty
(There's an interesting story about the police cars in the background.)

2.  Hiking Trails: 
    We walked some old trails and discovered some new ones in our month on the Gulf Coast.  Some of our favorites:
Backcountry Trails in Orange Beach, AL

Gulf State Park Pier

Trout Point Nature Trail at the Pensacola Naval Air Station

3.  Lingering on the Beach
    From Pensacola to Mobile, we savored the beautiful sugar white sands of the Gulf beaches, even though some areas were still undergoing some beach clean-up from the BP oil spill.
Pensacola Beach's sugar sand

Dauphin Island with a warning just for Dianne
 (Too bad there wasn't a sign like this at the Tombigbee River way back when!)

Gulf Shores getting more clean-up

Last look at the beautiful Pensacola Beach

4.  Exploring the Local Sights
    A month gave us time to visit some new places and return to old favorites.
National Museum of Naval Aviation

T. T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum
(Yes, that's a child's riding toy made from a "practice bomb" used in military training.)

Barrancas National Cemetery at the Pensacola Naval Air Station

The generous and welcoming Orange Beach Library

Pensacola Ice Flyers games at the Civic Center

5.  Hanging Out with New Acquaintances
    At the Gulf Islands National Seashore near our condo, we met two young hitchhikers from Michigan.  Both 21 years old, Austin and Shannon left icy Kalamazoo just after Christmas looking for warmer weather.  The night before we met them, they had spent a very cold and rainy night in the elements.  We gave them a ride to Spanish Fort to help them further their goal of getting to New Orleans.
Austin & Shannon
    On the Gulf State Park Pier, we met Sam, a young pelican who spends most of his time on the pier.  We learned from a fisherman that Sam is less than a year old and was rescued from the oil spill and given a good cleaning, during which he apparently became desensitized to humans.  (He will even allow visitors to pet him on the head. See photo here.) Fishing folks on the pier feed Sam and if he doesn't feel he had enough to eat, he perches on a post outside the window of the concession stand and waits for the employees to supplement his diet with some tasty bait minnows.
Sam

6.  Searching for Letterboxes
    No matter where we are one of our favorite activities is following the clues that others have created to lead us to artistic treasures hidden in the woods-- or along a trail, in a park, under a bridge, or in any of the other myriad places where we have found letterboxes. 
Sometimes a letterbox container is a pouch rather than a box.
If you aren't familiar with this fascinating hobby, check out www.atlasquest.com or www.letterboxing.org.