The End of the trip

The last couple of days were rainy so we didn't get to venture out too much.  We did go out to eat and visit some of the shops around town.

 

The rained stopped just enough for us to take one last walk on the beach.

 

 

Entrance into one of the shops.

 

The Pink Pony where we ate dinner.

 Don is standing on the patio of the Pink Pony Pub.

 

A popular party place.  We did not stay long here because it was pricy!

 

 

A misty last walk on the beach!

And the water was a little cold!

 

 

 

The ocean helps to do this.  We had a great trip and didn't want to leave.

 

 

Of course it was beautiful the day we had to leave!

 

 

 

 

 

This is what we came home to.  We traded sand for snow!



Adventures outside Gulf Shores continued.......

The plan this day was to take the Ferry across Mobile Bay to Dauphin Island.  However, when we were driving towards the Ferry, we saw that is was closed.  We then decided to drive the long way around to the island by way of Mobile.  This took us about 3 hours, but it was a pretty and interesting drive... We are sure hoping the the ferry will be open by the time we are ready to leave the island.

Entering Mobile...

 

Driving down one of the tree lined streets of Mobile.

 

We are getting ready to cross this bridge out to Dauphin Island.

We rode our bikes across the island to this beach.  Pretty day, but a little windy.

They have a nice bike trail and path to follow.

 

This is one of the Beach houses on the island.

 

A look at the beach.  Some people were fishing here but I don't think they were catching much.

 

Don and his bike. He flying the razorback colors!

 

After getting back to the car, we find out that the ferry is running so we can take the 45 minute ride across the bay instead of driving the 3 hours back to Gulf Shores YEA!!!

 

Riding on a ferry across a bay is a fun way to travel.  The cars are really packed onto the deck.  Of course, we get out of the car during the crossing.

 

 

This seagull wants a ride to the other side of the bay!

 

This interesting little boat came along side the ferry while docked before the crossing.

 

A view of the fort as the ferry is leaving the island.

 

 

This is the bridge from the mainland to the island that we crossed earlier in the day.

 

A view of one of the oil rigs in the gulf... This was a busy place.

 

 

Seagulls follow the boat across the bay.  Could they be looking for a handout???

 

This is a view of housing at Fort Morgan as we approach land.  It was then only a short drive to our little house in Gulf Shores.  We had a great day!

 

 

A beautiful ending to a fun day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Adventures outside of Gulf Shores....

We spent most of our time in and around Gulf Shores.  However, a couple of days we did venture out of Gulf Shores to do a little sight seeing.

 

 

One adventure was to go to Pensacola, Florida to visit the Navy Air Museum.  This is about an hour drive from our house along the gulf coast.

 

Before we actually got to the museum, we visited the Pensacola Light House which is on the Navy Base just across from the museum.

 

 

Welcome to the light house.

 

View from the light house.  We climbed the 177 steps to the top!

 

 

I am climbing to the top of the light house.

 

I had to take a rest!!

 

 

 Don had to really duck coming down from the top!

 

 

 

 

This is a view of the stairs!... Pretty narrow!

 

 

A view of the light house grounds from the top.  It is a long way down!

 

Looking out one of the windows in the tower! 

 

 

 This is a view of the air museum from the light house.... this is our next stop.

 

 

A close up view of the entrance to the Museum..

 

 

Jet out front.

 

 

We had lunch at the cafe there inside the museum.

 

Presidential Helicopter.....

 

 

Inside the Helicopter....

 

 

There is so much to see here.  We spent the whole afternoon looking around, would have stayed longer, but they were about to close!

 

 

One of the views on our way back to Gulf Shores.  This was a good day.  The Air Museum was great and we learned a lot about the air craft there.

 

 

 

 



View of the Gulf Shores Beaches.....

Beach views are beautiful.  I get really relaxed when I look out onto the ocean and listen to the waves as they wash up on shore!  Following are some of my favorite Gulf Shore beach views, some during the day, and some beautiful sunsets!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See and hear the ocean waves!

 

Now for some sunsets!

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

This was over the lagoon behind the house.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to February at the Beach

I just booked 2 weeks at a beach house in Gulf Shores, Alabama the middle of February.  We will actually be there for Fat Tuesday.
Partly what brought it on was that we are going to be in Little Rock for grand lodge 2/6-2/9 so we thought we would just head on south for a little beach vacation.  It won't be really hot there but hopefully a little warmer.  We have rented a house on the beach (between a lagoon and the Gulf of Mexico)
 I do not really know what to expect at the beach during this part of the year.  It will not be summer warm that is for sure.  I will be happy if it is in the 60's and 70's or so.  I won't mind a little rain if we have some sun thrown on there.
As for the house,  I hope it is as pictured on the Internet.  It looks really bright and cheery just what I need for this time of the year.  It looks like just the right size for Don and I. It does have two bedrooms, one with a queen bed and one with twin beds.  We can use the second bedroom for a dressing room.
Now I have the pleasure of planning for our two weeks away.  I have been researching things to do while there.
One thought is to take our bikes and ride on some of the trails there.  There are also sme old forts that we will probably tour.

I

The joy of riding my bicycle

I love all the new trails that are being built all around Bentonville and Rogers!   A great workout for me is to get on my bike and ride for a couple of hours a around town!

Today, Don mentioned that he wanted to go to the Rogers Wellness Center to do a weight workout.  So I said, maybe we could ride our bikes to Rogers to get our aerobic work out in and then do weights.  It is about 9 to 12 miles from the place we parked just South of Bella Vista, following bike trails and sidewalks.

We got up this morning and ate a pretty good breakfast so we would have enough energy for the bike ride.  I packed a snack of crackers, cheese and apples.  We also make sure we had plenty of water.

We left the parking area at 9:00 and took off down the trail.  We find that there is a lot of gradual inclines all the way to Rogers.  The wind also made it a little more difficult to ride.  It seemed as if we were riding into the wind the whole way. 

After an hour and a half of bike riding, we made it to the Wellness center.  After resting and visiting with a few people, I did a weight workout.  After our workout, we had a little snack before heading back to the truck.

We found it was easier going back to Bentonville because the wind was mostly at our backs and we were going gradually down.  We got to coast quite a bit on the return trip and it took us a half and hour less to do the return trip. 

I do feel good, but and also feel like I did a really good work out today!

I hope this is something that we can do more before it gets really cold.