Kathryn and Bonnie's 4th Annual Beach Trip



My favorite beach picture. Kathryn took it with her phone. We were waving to Ana because she wanted a picture.

I flew into teeny tiny Gulfport airport. It was deserted. Very different from Charlotte's airport.

We stopped by Alicia's on the way back to Kathryn's. The kids were frolicking in the new pool. It's a salt water pool, and although the water is safe, the chemicals haven't cleared up just yet. They all seemed to be enjoying it, though, nonetheless.

I gave Kathryn her birthday present from me and Bill. It's a Garmin! With lifetime updates! She was very pleased and immediately named him. His name is Nick.

The beach! I believe this is actually a picture I took with my phone the morning after we arrived. But it's lovely, no?

Here is the condo where we stayed. Summerchase. This is obviously the front side.

Hey, how'd they get those trees up there?

Fabulous! It had a gym so we'd be able to work out every day of our vacation! HA HA HA HA HA HA!

The traditional shot of Kathryn unlocking the door while I hold our cart full of supplies.

"Come on in!"

This is what it looked like. It was very nice. LOVE the floor. Of course the view was great too.

Naturally, as soon as we arrived, we had to go out on the balcony and check out the view. Here's Kathryn doing just that.

I wish you could have seen her jump when I said "Hold it. I want to get a picture of that dragonfly right above your head."

Our traditional hold-the-camera-and-turn-it-around shot.

And the traditional shot in black and white just because I wanted to do it!

Kathryn unpacked our wealth of groceries while I put other items in their places. "Hey, we won't run out of olive oil will we?" I see we each packed one of those...

This is my bedroom. This bed was amazingly comfortable. I could, however, have done without the porch light just outside my window, which was - I'm guessing here - about 500 Watts!!!

This is Kathryn's room. Hey, the hostess gets the good room.

This is the view from her room. Lovely!

Here's Kathryn finishing up in the kitchen. (Sam said - "Hey! That picture they've got on the wall looks just like Aunt Kathryn!!")

Looking west from our balcony.

Looking east from the balcony  -  a rainbow appeared as we unpacked and enjoyed the view. Kathryn said "Look! It's Mom!" It's a double rainbow, too. See it?

Kathryn relaxing in the living room before we went out for our first walk on the beach.

This is standing at the water and looking back. That little bundle of stuff in front is our chairs and umbrella!

As I started gathering my mise en place (ha! it's a cooking school term...) I discovered that I'd forgotten to put garlic on the list. And garlic is essential for my vegetarian pizza, which is what was on the menu for that night. So we decided to head out to the store real quick. Kathryn noticed the umbrella had blown away, so we went out to retrieve it. Here's Kathryn doing that very thing.

As she picked up the umbrella, I was like "Hey! That's a cool effect with all the colors and everything. Let me take a picture!"

And then I said "Now you get one of me!" and she did.

The return trek. Heading to the car.

Kathryn's thinking "Now she's just trying to annoy me..." :)

After dinner, which I must say was divine, we strolled on the beach. This big bird was fearless!

Ah. Sunset from the balcony. Peaceful and beautiful.

You may be thinking this is the same picture as the previous one, but it is not! This is sunRISE the next morning.

And a little bit later. Love the way the sunbeams look.

A nasty surpise awaited us on our morning walk. Lots of nasty surprises. Jellyfish had come in while we slept. That's Kathryn's foot - for scale.

Jellyfish Schmellyfish.... Sunrise was beautiful.

Some person with very good night vision left us a surprise!

A couple of people, actually... Or just one very prolific sand castle architect.

These boys dug an impressive hole.

Here we are chillin' on our rented chaise lounges under our rented umbrella. The rainbow umbrella you saw earlier was broken, so we rented some chairs. More sensible, really, and much more comfortable.

The guy in this picture is named Gabe. He's our umbrella tender. He was in charge of the chair rental and came by every hour or two to ensure our umbrella was securely anchored and properly postitioned to keep us in the shade. He was great.

Our little setup.

We frolicked in the water some, and walked on the beach. Here's Kathryn looking lovely!

And here's me!

Our shadows on the sand.

And me again!

Our balcony is the one with the blue thing hanging off it.

I can't get enough of the beautiful sunsets....

The sunset in a different perspective. OK it's almost the exact same picture, but I just wanted to post both of them so get off my back, ok?

Moonrise over the ocean. How cool is that?!?

And the moonrise slightly later.

Last one, but you have to admit, it's beautiful.

Guess what we did that night. Right. Scrabble. Have you ever seen a worse Scrabble hand?? It was mine. I lost.

The next afternoon, a storm blew in. Kathryn is still unbothered by it. See her there reading?

I love this picture! It's Kathryn coming out of the water into the big wide expanse of sand and sky and water. You should click on it to get the whole effect. Then, if a magnifying glass appears when you hover over it, click it again to see its full glory. Just press the BACK button on your browser to bring you right back here. Go ahead. I'll wait.

We headed in because the storm looked pretty bad.

From the balcony. Ominous, right? You should click on this one, too, for the whole effect.

Next day was fine again. Here's my Kindle wearing its new wetsuit.

And here's our spot. With Kathryn in hers....

This is sunrise through the sea oats.

And again. I'm getting kinda artsy, right? :)

I thought this little barbecue shelter at the condos was really cool looking. Asymmetry appeals to me.

After the storm, all this seaweed appeared. But at least the water was crystal clear, which it most definitely was not while the storm approached. I guess it churned up the bottom, making the water cloudy.

Yeah, yeah.... Another sun set....

The moon over the water looked way cooler than my camera could capture. No matter what setting I used.

Our last morning. We walked the beach, of course. I love these birds. They all face into the wind.

This little guy hung out near the foot washing spigot. He startled me more than once.

On the way out of Gulf Shores, we stopped at Kitty Kat's for breakfast. This is it.

And we talked and laughed and ate. Just like we had been doing for the previous 5 days. It was a great time. Thanks Kathryn!!! Kiss kiss...