Gulf Shores - Last Day

We're back home now - no more beach and pool, no more pigging out at restaurants every meal, and no more days off from work.  I am off today, though, taking a vacation from my vacation before I head back to work on Wednesday.

Monday we woke up to rain and wind and rough waves.  It didn't look like a lot of oil was washing up, though.  We had planned on going to the pool one last time Monday morning before we left, but even though the rain stopped early it was still pretty windy.

We packed up and went to Tacky Jack's (or Wacky Jack's as Matt called it) for brunch.

This is where President Obama went a couple of weeks ago during his visit to the Gulf Coast.....but we still went there anyway.

This isn't a good picture, even for a camera phone, but this is what Betty and I got - shrimp and grits.  It was really good!

Matt and McKenzie shared a pancake with strawberries and whipped cream.  Yes, that's one pancake!

We stopped for a late lunch in Hattiesburg at the Olive Garden.  Our final stops on our pig out tour were in Jackson at the Marble Slab Creamery for ice cream and shakes and then at Krispy Kreme for a dozen donuts for our breakfast this morning.

We had a great time on our vacation - probably our best beach vacation yet - in spite of the oil!

Gulf Shores - Day 3

Today was our last full day here and we wish we could stay all week!  Today, the oil was pretty bad on our stretch of beach.  Here are a few pictures of a large band of oil that made it to shore the morning just before lunch.

The first two pictures were taken from our balcony.  The last one was taken on the beach and it was pretty nasty.

There was no oil in Foley, though, so we headed to Lambert's for lunch!  The home of the throwed rolls!

Somebody told me that there wasn't as long a wait at Lambert's since the oil spill.  Somebody lied!  We had to wait about 40 minutes.  Matt passed the time riding a horse and a truck and the rest of us passed the time getting really hungry!

Lunch was great!  I had a ribeye steak, Matt had meatloaf, Betty had the vegetable plate, and McKenzie had pulled pork.  Along with the generous portions, they also come around with "pass arounds" and, of course, the throwed rolls.  I ate so much that after we got back to the condo, Betty and the kids went down to the pool, and I passed out on the couch.

After the swim and my food-induced coma, we went to see Toy Story 3.  It was really good - we laughed, we cried, we ate popcorn!

On the way back to the condo after the movie, McKenzie got a hair wrap at one of the souvenir stores.

Supper was at Mikee's Seafood.  We've heard good things about it so we decided to try it out.

I guess this is Mikee.  He's shorter than I expected.

Betty got Kellie's Chicken and said that it was her best meal so far.  So far, because we're going to Tacky Jack's for brunch in the morning where she has high hopes for the shrimp and grits.

McKenzie got the chicken tenders.

Matt got the fish....

and I was still stuffed from lunch and the popcorn!

After supper, Betty spied some stores she wanted to check out.  Luckily for the rest of us, there were some rocking chairs and this cool swing outside the stores!

We finished up the day with one more trip to the pool and then went out to the beach to relax in the moonlight again.

Gulf Shores - Day 2

We got up this morning at Royal Palms bright and early at 7:30.  Thanks kids!

 Betty and McKenzie went out and walked along the beach soon after we got up.  When they got back we all went down to the pool and swam a little while.  When Matt got out of the pool, he looked at the water running down his trunks and legs and looked concerned.  Then he asked, "Is that just water from the pool?".  Bless his heart, I guess he was afraid he was peeing on himself!!  

After the pool, McKenzie and I walked along the beach.  The beach didn't look bad today.  I saw fewer tar balls today than yesterday. I'm sitting on the balcony right now typing this and there are three four-wheelers, a bulldozer, a beach cleaning machine, and some other contraption that I can't tell what it is passing by cleaning up the beach.  They are really doing a good job keeping everything nice for the vacationers.

For lunch, we went to a place called Sweetie Pies.  It's a little sandwich place that also has all kinds of pies and sweets.  The sandwich picture was Betty's homemade chicken salad sandwich.  The desserts are Betty's chocolate chip pecan pie, my apple pie, Matt's chocolate chip cookie, and McKenzie's chocolate peanut butter pie with the mountain of meringue (yes, I had to look up the spelling).

After lunch we went across the street to Target.  You knew we couldn't make a trip without visiting Target!

Supper was at DeSoto's.  Betty had Shrimp Creole and I had Grilled Mahi Mahi and it was goodie goodie!

After supper and pictures, we went back to the pool and then out to the beach to enjoy the full moon and the sound of the waves....and some Junior Mints.

Here are some of the pictures we took of the kids.....

Tomorrow's plan includes more pool and beach and a trip to Lambert's!!!

Gulf Shores - Day 1

We are here!  We arrived in Gulf Shores about 4:00 and after getting our stuff into the condo, we went down to see what the beach looked like.  Here are some pictures....

 There were several boats visible in the gulf working on the oil spill.

There were some places on the beach where we could see some oil stains, but it wasn't too bad.

This is the biggest tar ball that we saw on Friday.  It was about the size of a sausage patty.

McKenzie being attacked by the waves!

Matt stayed a safe distance from the water at first. He finally came closer and got his feet wet.

The Diva of the Beach

She's not the bravest diva around, though...

I don't know what this is.  There were several of these clear, jelly like things washing up.
Update:  I found out that these are Moon Jellyfish. They didn't look like jellyfish that I'd seen before, so....it's been an educational trip as well as fun!

We had fun walking along the beach. We're looking forward to a lot more over the next couple of days.  I don't think the oil will be too bad to keep us off the beach.

McKenzie and Matt get to sleep in bunk beds.  They're really excited about that!

Supper was at Ribs & Reds.  Betty and I shared some boiled shrimp. This is Betty's share.

After supper we played a little mini golf. Here's Matt lining up a putt.

After golf, we went to Scoops for some ice cream!

Then it was back to the condo and into the pool.  We swam until the security guard told us it was time to get out at 10:00.  Then we went out to the beach and sat on some beach chairs and enjoyed the full moon and the roar of the ocean.  It was so peaceful, we could've gone to sleep right there!