Thanks to Bill, I didn't have to drive there. Here is the tiny plane that flew me from Charlotte to Gulfport Mississippi.
This is the place we stayed, just outside of Gulf Shores, on the border between Alabama and Florida.
The kitchen.
Looking from the kitchen into the living area.
The master suite. I was kind enough to let Kathryn take that room. :)
This is my room. The bed was very comfortable. And it had an extra bed in case I wanted to switch out!
This is the view from the living area.
The living room
Aaahhhh.... we spent quite a few hours sitting here, watching the water (and the weather) and catching up on each other's lives.
Beautiful view up the beach.
In front of the patio
And down the beach. Since Fay (the tropical storm) was also due to arrive, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.
We walked the beach and even swam a little the first day, but I didn't want to mess up my cool new camera in the wind, sand, and salt air so I have not photos of that. We were walking on the beach at sunset, though, so I snapped this.
The next day (Friday) storm shutters were appearing on many of our condo's windows, but the day was quite beautiful. We spent the day laying in the sun. Once again, no pics of that because I didn't take my camera down there. Kathryn has pictures. Post them, Kathryn!
We - and this cute bird - didn't pay the approaching storm any mind. We laid on the beach ALL DAY - I wallowed in the surf, we read books, chatted, and drank. It was a very relaxing and lovely day. Perfect weather.
This is Kathryn carrying everything we needed down to the beach for the day. She set up quite a site for us. Umbrella, chairs, cooler, etc. She sets up a hell of a beach site.
And once again, a perfectly lovely sunset....
The next day, Saturday, we walked the beach first thing, since we knew the weather was supposed to come through that nite. Kathryn in the surf.
These crabs were big enough to eat. They just lounged on the bottom of the surf. They skittered away when you approach them, though, so no danger of stepping on one (at least that's what I kept telling myself).
Although the storm hadn't hit us yet, apparently some outer bands were affecting the surf. Significant erosion!
See this fly?? These darned flies bite!!
Kathryn in front of our condo. Good grief, I've got my Saturday and Sunday pictures all mixed up... This one is Sunday, I think. The day after the storm passed. Oddly, it was very sunny, but very windy and we spent most of that day at the pool due to the vicious blowing sand!
These birds were all in a line, noses into the wind. They were "hunkered down". This was a very windy day. One of the birds tried to fly and kept being blown backwards. Also, the wind was blowing the water AWAY from shore giving the illusion that the waves were going backwards.
We saw a rainbow.
We spent about a half hour worrying about the storm (Saturday), then decided the heck with it, and holed up in the room playing Scrabble.
This guy is pointing right at where we were.
This is what the beach looked like on Saturday evening. Yuck.
These crabs were big enough to eat. They just lounged on the bottom of the surf. They skittered away when you approach them, though, so no danger of stepping on one (at least that's what I kept telling myself).
Although the storm hadn't hit us yet, apparently some outer bands were affecting the surf. Significant erosion!
See this fly?? These darned flies bite!!
Kathryn in front of our condo. Good grief, I've got my Saturday and Sunday pictures all mixed up... This one is Sunday, I think. The day after the storm passed. Oddly, it was very sunny, but very windy and we spent most of that day at the pool due to the vicious blowing sand!
These birds were all in a line, noses into the wind. They were "hunkered down". This was a very windy day. One of the birds tried to fly and kept being blown backwards. Also, the wind was blowing the water AWAY from shore giving the illusion that the waves were going backwards.
We saw a rainbow.
We spent about a half hour worrying about the storm (Saturday), then decided the heck with it, and holed up in the room playing Scrabble.
This guy is pointing right at where we were.
This is what the beach looked like on Saturday evening. Yuck.
So that night, we played games, watched old movies, and OK drank a little. I won this Scrabble game (eek! I'm sunburned BAD)
Kathryn (who covers herself in SPF 50 at all times) won this game. No, I won't say how many I won versus how many she won, but let's just say that she was VERY PLEASED that she won this one.... :)
The weather gets bad on the last day - Monday.
Windy!!!! Fortunately, this was the last day. We sadly said goodbye to the beach. (And did a little "I'm flying" pose just for the hell of it)
On the way back to Gulfport, I noticed a slew of ants in Kathryn's car. No idea where they came from, but we can only assume from the parking deck at the condo. Kathryn was mortified and we both began to itch almost immediately. We stopped at her office and she had someone use some industrial vacuum to try to get rid of them.
This is where she works.
Kathryn and Vic.
Tee hee... Vic has a framed photo of George Bush on his office wall.
AND a football signed (personalized, too) by Archie Manning and Eli Manning.
So I flew on home, thinking beach thoughts. I was totally relaxed - Thanks Kathryn! Thanks Bill! I had intended to lie on the couch and watch tv, but needed my glasses, which were in my luggage. I decided I better unpack. That's when I noticed this sticker on my tag.
And this LOCK on my luggage!!?!?!
After much swearing and sweating, I was finally able to cut the little lock off. Inside my suitcase was a message informing me that my luggage had been searched by the TSA. No mention was made of the lock. See how it says TSA 007 on it? Weird.
So that's it. Lovely vacation. It was very relaxing even though Fran came through.
1 comment:
Love the beach pictures, Girlfriend! You should enlarge a few and frame them. Am I always suggesting that? Maribel
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