Day 5 ~ Part 1

Borrowed this photo from an Alabama State Parks website. We visited the Gulf State Park Pier this morning. It is the longest pier on the Gulf of Mexico @ 1,540 feet. This pier opened July 23, 2009 after the last pier was damaged in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan.
Man was it windy out there, especially at the very end. That is why I opted to use this photo about half way there.
A view of the Gulf Shores hotels lining the beach in town.
Here is a view down the pier to the middle from the start. Once you get to the middle you have the same length to go before reaching the end.

Day 5 ~ Part 2

Beach rakes seen going by the pier.
These were big trucks working by pier.
Double red flags mean no swimming. This has about summed up our vacation.
Big waves from the strom surge from Hurricane Alex.
And the yucky mess the storm surge has brought up onto the beach.

Day 4 = Football on Beach

We had rain most of the day today so we took it easy while hanging out in the house watching tv, reading & taking naps.
Chris & the kids played football this evening on the beach. We went down fairly late, about 7:30pm or just after. The cool sand felt so good on our toes. I plan on going back tomorrow evening if the weather holds out & read.
Here is a picture to show how the beaches are all stained up. We basically are on a private beach w/ hardly anyone in sight on either side of us. Not that it's ever really crowded but this year it's vacant! Someone told Retha earlier today that some baby sea turtles hatched out down the beach from us today. Wish we could've seen that.

Day 3 @ beach

This afternoon we went to Lambert's Cafe for lunch. There are two locations in MO but we've never been to one of those. They are home of the throwed roll & it's very good food. You do leave w/ a huge doggie bag too. The guys & kiddos headed back to the house while Retha & I headed to a scrapbook store close to Lambert's. The store decor is all nautical & they had tons of beach themed paper.
Usually we take family photos on the last night. I decided to do them earlier this year in case it rains like forecasted. There is a tropical storm in the Gulf that might give us some rain this week. Although it's expected to make landfall between Mexico & Texas it could cause some issues w/ rain for us. Better to get them done & over w/ I think. A nice bonus was this big piece of driftwood log that was up on the beach. Perfect place for photos.
Looking online at beach photos they seem to do a lot of this pose. It's an easy one to do because we don't have to force the kids to smile. We were farther up on the beach & not right on the shore line so you can't see all the stained up sand from the oil. Lots of foam in the water today also :(
Stephanie took this one of me & Chris. She is a really great photo taker.
Another one Steph took of me/Chris. I'd never thought to do this, & I really like it a lot.

Beach Day 1 & 2 recaps

Day 1~
We headed out of AR about 12:20am on Saturday morning. Arrived in Gulf Shores about 1pm, & stopped for lunch. Had to take a breather after bringing in all the junk stuff we brought. Walked down to the beach that evening & saw small tar balls here & there, nothing bad though.

Day 2~
Lunch out to a seafood place called Shrimp Basket. Chris & Retha wanted some seafood & in all these years we've only ate out at Lambert's Cafe. On the way home we stopped to take a couple photos of this bay.
This is Bon Secour Bay. It is on the highway about 6 miles from our beach house. In all these years we've never stopped there. It is mainly a boat ramp, but I think very cool because it's right on the highway.
Once we arrived home we all slathered on the sunblock & headed down to the beach.
Yes the oil spill has made it to "our" beach. Last night was just small tar balls scattered along the beach. Tonight was bad. We've been seeing lots of clean up crew & hopefully they'll work miracles & have it looking good soon.
Up close & personal w/ a big 'ol glob of oil. YUCK!!

Mall of America trip

This was a trip that the Girl Scouts went on.
Here's a shot of the inside. You can see the first floor on the far left side. Second floor is seen on far right. And I'm on the third floor & isn't it fitting to have the "Love from Minnesota" store in the photo?
This is a sight that scared me more than once I'll admit while in the tunnels at Underwater World Aquarium. Hopefully that will be the only time I ever see sharks swimming over my head in my lifetime.
Not sure how but this photo turned out really well of a jelly fish.
Another jelly fish that had really long tentacles. It was swimming sideways. Lights in the bottom of the tank would change color & make the jelly fish take on that color.
I had to have someone take a photo of me sitting on the rooster, lol. It was the only animal left once I got on the carousel. I didn't get to ride on the rooster though because the belt was to small & all the adults had to get off the animals & stand............like we weren't smart enough to hold on, but you know they do have restaurants that serve alcohol upstairs so maybe they've had some accidents of people falling off animals in the past.
Nickelodeon Universe photo taken from 3rd floor. It's located on the first floor & is 7 acres.
Rain Forrest Cafe sign that we had to have photos taken by (of course)
This Samsung Mobile Charging Station was located in the food court & I thought that it was the oddest thing ever but in a way cool too. I'm sure people do spend so much time in the mall that their phones go dead. I don't carry my charger with me though so I'm not sure how handy this would be. They might have them other places but I've never noticed one before. Nickeleodeon Universe can be seen in the background.