Actually, we came home today. Jeff's aunt, uncle, and cousins got a condo down at Gulf Shores. They invited Jeff's grandparents, and even though they didn't have room for us to stay with them, invited us to come down and hang out with them! So we packed our bags, got a great deal on a hotel in town, and headed down to the coast for a few days, oil spill and all.
It was a lovely trip. We headed down on Tuesday and got a little later start than we intended, but it was a good, easy trip anyway. We didn't stop at Peach Park, but did stop at Priester's Pecans. I had never stopped there before and it was a nice pit stop. Then we had lunch at Lambert's, which is an experience that also warrants its own post later on. After lunch we checked into our hotel and had dinner with the rest of the family, including baby Isabella, and went for an evening walk on the beach.
There are not words for how much I needed those few days. I don't care anything about getting in the ocean. I do care about listening to the ocean and hanging out with family! I did incorporate a little bit of my family tradition in with Jeff's, and made a chocolate pound cake to take with us. I almost made cheese straws, but since we were only there for a couple of days, I figured I'd save those for another time. I'll share the recipes for both later in the summer.
It was a lovely trip. We headed down on Tuesday and got a little later start than we intended, but it was a good, easy trip anyway. We didn't stop at Peach Park, but did stop at Priester's Pecans. I had never stopped there before and it was a nice pit stop. Then we had lunch at Lambert's, which is an experience that also warrants its own post later on. After lunch we checked into our hotel and had dinner with the rest of the family, including baby Isabella, and went for an evening walk on the beach.
Wednesday we got up and headed out to the condo, where we spent the whole day. It was wonderful to sit on the balcony and do nothing, hang out in the pool and hot tub, and relish the peace and quiet! First thing we tried to go down to the beach, and it was nice but a little overcast and windy. After a few minutes we felt like we were getting sand-blasted, and it started to rain. Jeff and Jerry got in the ocean. Sherrie and I toughed it out on the sand. I put on my beach towel snuggie, pulled it over my head, and enjoyed it until I felt like I was going to blow away! We had lunch at the Original Oyster House which was nice, although getting there and back was interesting since it was pouring rain and some of the streets started to flood! I got to read a good new book, too. I'm definitely going to have to download a few things before Branson!
Thursday morning we checked out of our hotel, went over to the condo for a while, then headed home (with a pit stop at the outlets in Foley). It was exactly what my little heart needed! I have to admit, I'm now head over heels in love with Bath Junkie. More info will come on this.
As for the oil spill - I did see some tar balls, but the whole thing was not an oil slick. I saw a few clean up crews out near the public beach but nothing out where we were. It didn't stink. I couldn't smell a ton because of the Funk anyway, but I did catch an occasional whiff of the ocean and it simply smelled like the ocean! There wasn 't sludge all over the place. We could still walk barefoot on the beach. Everything was very quiet, but everything was open. We had great food without having to wait, very little traffic, and an overall fantastic visit. The only thing you couldn't do was use a boat, and that wasn't anything we needed/wanted anyway. We had more problems from the wind and the rain than we did the oil! Seriously, go visit!
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