Gulf Shores Vacation--February, 2013

This was our first look at the beach..  It was cloudy and a bit windy this day.. However I still like looking at the water and watching the waves.

We saw this Pelican beside the Little Lagoon Pass....
I think waiting for fish as they pass through the lagoon.

 

We are waiting for the Madi Graus Parade to start in Gulf Shores... Had a blast eventhough it rained some.  You would not believe how those "seniors" push and shove to get the trinkets thrown out from the floats!!  We rode our bikes from our rental house to the parade route.  This was ok until it started raining hard on the way home.  Fun nun the less!

 

Just one of the floats that were in the parade!

 

The day after the parade, we drove into Florida to the highest point there.  Really not much to see but was a nice drive anyway.  This took up most of the day.

Here it is!!!

On of the things I like about going to Gulf Shores is walking on the beach.  Although the water was too cold for swimming, we enjoyed walking along and hearing the waves coming ashore.  Very peaceful.  There were people there, but not the big crowds that come there in the summer.

 

Beautiful blue water and ski and white sand! 

 

One of the days during the first week, we took our bikes to this trail for a ride.  It was very nice and fun.  Eventhough the wind was a little cool, the sun felt nice!  This was one of our better weather day during this first week there.

 

Another day, we drove a little north of Gulf Shores to this seafood market for fresh shrimp.  The drive was pretty and the shrimp was "good!" 

More shrimp boats!

 

Great seafood market a short drive from Gulf Shores.  Must the good, 5 cars followed us there the day we went!

 

 

This was a very nice place to take a walk.. It is really across the lagoon where our house was, but the drive to it was around the lagoon to the other side.  We didn't see any alligators as they were probably hibernating, but we did see a lot of birds and beautiful foliage.

 

Don walking along the trail.

 

A small lake in the refuge.  We saw several birds here.

 

 

We are in the refuge looking across the lagoon towards the house we are renting.

 

These are a couple of pictures

of the Great Blue Herrings we saw on our walk.

 

Another trail in the refuge..... it was beautiful and quiet.  There were not very many people walking the trails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just one of the pretty plants we saw along the trail.

Our last full day at the Falls.....

Friday, April 20, 2018

We slept until 8:00 and then went out exploring again.  We viewed the falls from the viewing platform first.
Then we walked to Goat Island to view falls from that vantage point.  We also walked to 3 sister Island to view Canada Rapids.  We also got to view the falls from Luna Island which gave us a real close up look.
We had a late lunch at TGI Fridays.  That evening, we walked back to the falls to view lighted falls for our last look.

So there you are. We had a great time here even if it was cold.  Seeing everything frozen was an interesting experience!

Tomorrow we head back to Chicago to visit Kids before heading home.

Canada side of Niagara Falls

Thursday, April 19, 2019

It is still cloudy and cold....ugh...We walked over the Rainbow Bridge into Canada.  We spent the day looking at the falls from that vantage point.  There seem to be more people on this side.We ate lunch at the Secret Garden--just ok.  We needed passports to re-enter US.  Good thing I had them!!

We had reservations at the Red Coach Inn, right next to hotel.  It was quite good.

We have enjoyed the lack of people and crowds even though it was cold.

This place can get very crowded in the warmer months!

Driving to Niagara Falls and our first Look

Wednesday, April, 18, 2018

It is still cold..... We took our time getting around, then left hotel in route to Niagara Falls. Don and I had never been here so will be new experience.
We drove on through Ohio into Pennsylvania, a state I had never been to.  We drove by lots of big farms and there was also a lot of snow on the ground by the highway.
Next was New York state with several wine ie grape farms and other types of farming.

We got to Niagara Falls around 1:00 pm after driving through Buffalo, N.Y.
We got settled into our room and just chilled for a bit.
The hotel is nice and close to everything.  We parked the car and walked everywhere.
We at dinner at the Hard Rock.

We took a look at the falls and went back later and looked at them all lighted up.

That is all for this day!