Gulf Coast- Thanksgiving Antidote

Tuesday Nov. 20, 2007        At 6:00 a.m.  we left for a 12 hour drive to Mobile Al.  Our neighbors and their two kids in their car joined my wife and I and our two kids in our car and we caravanned through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and finally Alabama.  We ate at the Brick Pit (my boys devoured their giant 1/2 orders of ribs.) and arrived early enough at our motel.   Early enough that is that we drove to downtown and toured the Mobile Police Museum.   It is located in a working police station and while not the Smithsonian its an interesting enough place.  Our neighbors work in law enforcement so it was even more interesting to them.   There is a beautiful park across the street that we strolled through and eventually we walked the 2-3 blocks down to the Exploreum, just to see where it was at.  Walking back a different way, we met the owner of the Cafe Royal which is an historic restaurant  on Dauphin  St.   We also marveled at Mobile's newest tall building, the tallest building in Alabama.  That was one busy day, time for bed.  

Wednesday  Nov. 21     Up early 7:30 we ate the free breakfast at the hotel. Neither better nor worse than most such meals it got us through until lunch.  We got to the Science Exploreum as it opened and quickly toured the

Grossology exhibit.  Needless to say both children and adults liked this.  The kids played with the many hands on exhibits while we waited to see Sea Monsters in the Imax.   It was really good and the digital show on the outer planets was also worth seeing.  Too much to do.  We left and walked down to the Battle House Hotel recently re-opened after 33 years of inactivity.  Stunning!  We asked the clerk if they had any old pictures and yes after a 5 minute absence she reappeared with some very historic pictures of the hotel in an earlier day.  I know its expensive but if I ever come back I'm staying there.  Time to eat lunch,  its.....Arby's .  If not cheap its at least quick and gets us quickly on our way to the USS Alabama.  I was amazed at the collateral damage everything else suffered from the  04 Hurricane.  It would be hard to hurt the ship and as this was our second trip we concentrated on the minutiae while our friends toured heartily.  In the aircraft museum we rode the flight simulator which the kids really enjoyed.  Okay enough already, we came to see the beach and here we come.  Across Mobile Bay, down 59 highway, on to Orange Beach and here we are Phoenix V.      I know its late November,  I know the waters cold, I know the yellow flag is out, I know all these things , BUT my boys love the beach and the neighbor girls have never any large body of water.      They play all evening and then go back and hunt crabs at night.  They don't really get out in it, but they get really wet.  That night we eat at The Original Oyster House.  The food here is great, every time.  But it is really loud in there, I guess everyone is having a good time.   Another busy day.

Thursdy, Nov 22   THANKSGIVING    Up early for shell hunting.  For those who don't know,  the Phoenix V is right on the beach and while not one of the newest condos is still in real good shape in my opinion.  After sand castle building and burying bodies up to the head in sand.  It is time to do what I thought was the funnest thing on the trip.  I called my sister and had my nephew bring up the Phoenix V webcam  on his computer back home (okay they weren't home either, they were in Branson.)  and we all waved at our family far away.  My little great niece and nephew both waved back at us.  My wife did the same with her whole family at Thanksgiving dinner. Our neighbor showed his friends at the Sheriff's office what they were doing.......  You might be a redneck if you eat Thanksgiving dinner at Bubba's.  At $8.95 it was the cheapest meal around.. and good. Cajun turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, greenbeans, and cranberry sauce.  Okay it wasn't home but it wasn't  bad.  We then drove down the road so they could see Florida.   Then back to Souvenir City - t-shirts, shells and shovels, then over to the new Wharf.  Of course its closed on Thanksgiving but it really looks great.  Then its time for miniature golf at Pirates Island.  Pretty expensive, we could have had about as much fun throwing dollar bills out on the highway, but it did provide some good photo ops. Then back to the beach.  This morning was beautiful  70 degrees, sun shining , but this evening was much cooler 50's and cloudy.  We went our separate ways for dinner;  Shrimp Basket for us (yum yum) and Pizza Hut for the neighbors.  Another busy day.

Friday Nov 23   Even though we aren't home the wives can't pass up Black Friday.  Up at 4:30 and into Wal-Mart at 5:00 a.m. We can't haul back 42 inch TVs but they do get a new Garvin GPS device and a new digital picture album at super low prices.  Walgreens offers candles buy one get two free and GIANT candy bars 50 cents each.    After they get back its off to Hazel's for breakfast,  this is a tradition with us and it never fails to please.  After breakfast, I take Greg and we head off to Fort Morgan.  We surveyed Dauphin Island from afar and walked the fort and the museum.  Its an interesting place.  At home the kids were...... on the beach but it had gotten really cold.  When we returned it was off to Pensacola.  First we toured the Naval Air Museum.  Its always a great time and there is almost too much there to see.   For dinner we waited until the Cactus Flower Cafe opened.  I had found this place on the internet but almost couldn't find it in person.  The strip mall its in is being remodeled and only a very small banner proved its existence.  The food was excellent, everyone was happy we found this place.   Then on to the......Winterfest Trolly Ride.   This was probably the highlight of the trip.  We rode the trolley around while different groups performed for us at eachstop.  At one it was the Grinch and the Whos at another it was Elvis, at another it was Scrooge.  About 10 stops and everyone great.  This is a must see for anyone in the Pensacola area and will be showing from now til Christmas on weekends.  Back to the Condo for us.  Only one more day.  Its gone by too fast.

Saturday  Nov. 24  Last day, early on the boys play racquetball while the girls go shell hunting one more time.  I sleep.  We can't get a dolphin tour so we load up the car and head to Fairhope.  We go down to the pier and walk through the town, its such a delightful place, the flowers are still so pretty. We buy pecans and satsumas on the way back.  We stop at Foley and shop the outlet mall for 1 1/2 hours and then we eat our last meal at.....Lambert's.  Everyone down here talks about this place , but we live in Missouri, less than 2 hours from one.   But we eat here anyway and it is good.  I eat too much, even cleaning up everyone else's plates.   Back to the condo, time to load up, clean up and bed down.   It has been a very fun time.  We will die poor but our kids will have seen something of our country.

Sunday.  Nov 25.   Thirteen long dreary hours driving home through several torrential rain storms.  Time to start working on the next trip.  Now ... what long weekend can we pull of this Lincoln thing?