Life After 50: December 2013

Shopping At Tangers~Blue Angels~Sightseeing in Gulf Shores AL Dec. 2013

Woke up this morning to warmer temperatures and a beautiful sunrise over the ocean. Oh this is the life of Riley to me. I am like most people who wants vacation to end? Loving our time spent here in Gulf Shores AL. Have met some wonderful people and spent time with some great friends.

GOOD MORNING ALABAMA what adventures do you have for us today? It's 6:45am and I am loving being out on the beach. No cold wind nothing but sunshine and warmth. I took my time and walked along the ocean taking in the beauty of my surroundings. I absorbed all that was around me because in a few days I will not have this it will be back to reality. But for now......its mine all mine. I took several photos of birds that at the time were the only ones out here with me. I looked on down the beach and saw a Big Blue Heron just standing looking out at the ocean. Maybe he was wondering what he was going to do for the day or where will he spend his day at. There are so many huge beaches here.

I love the SANDERLING birds. They are so much fun to watch. They move very, very fast and seem to run away from the ocean when the waves come in. It's like they don't want to get there feet wet.....

I'm finally back to the condo and Marlon had made some walnut spice muffins. Yummy.....now its time to get out and enjoy the day. First stop was a visit down the road at the Bon Secour birding area.

We pulled off and drove down a gravel road. The surroundings were beautiful.....trees lined the road and at the end of the road was a huge tree with moss hanging from it. It's the largest one I have seen so far.

We are ready to adventure some more of Gulf Shores, so another adventure is ahead. Travelling down a back road towards the Bon Secour Beach area is lots of trees and swampy areas that have alligators. I did not see any alligators but kept my eyes open in case you decided to cross the road.

We have reached the beach and parked the car. NO ONE is here, this beach is very secluded and so happy we have found it. This house is beautiful and has a beautiful view of the ocean. It's like in the middle of no where but still only 10 miles from town. The huge sand dunes are very protected here and if you get caught walking on them you will be paying a hefty fine. The sand dunes on this beach made it so the boardwalk at to be boarded up due to them trying to cover up the boardwalk that leads to the beach.

At the end of the boardwalk the ocean was only a few feet away and the beach was beautiful. As I look back at the sand dunes I see all these vines running across them. It looks like a trap that would trip you up telling you in its own way to STAY OFF THE DUNES.

Marlon went out to adventure around the beach....Love these photos I took of him as he is heading down the boardwalk. Can you tell I'm loving my new camera...?

As Marlon and I are enjoying the scenery we hear this sound and we both look at each other wondering where in the sky is this plane? The planes were so far up and finally when we spotted them they started flipping over and over. Next they were up in the sky and started flying straight down towards the ocean. OMG this must be the Blue Angels practicing. What a neat thing to see it was like they were giving us our own personal show. Boy am I glad we took this little adventure :-)

Before we left this area I saw a big bird land on the boardwalk. There is just so much to see here on this beach. Thank you God for showing us all the beauty you have created.

It's time to take off and I spot a bird sitting on a wire after trying to get some shots of them I gave up. The bird was far away and the sun made the bird dark so I cannot see the markings on it. I don't know what kind of bird this is.

For the rest of the day we are spending at Tangers Outlet Mall and pick up on some great end of year deals going on. We spent the day shopping here and I can say I think Marlon even liked getting some great buys. His leather jacket looks great on him especially since he got it for $35 at Wilsons Leathers when the jacket was a $300 jacket.. Marlon shops one time a year and what better time then when stores are trying to get rid of stuff so they can get new stock in. We ate lunch there and had some rice and noodles at a Chinese place. I saw this pony ride and thought how special it was when Mom would find enough change so we could have a ride. I hopped on this pony and yehaw.........let the fun begin.

I tried the new application FIND YOUR CAR. When it was time to leave I can't beleive it but this app works great. Showed us exactly where we parked. I will use this app more often.
I'm hungry and tired, we have decided to go to Oyster House where our favorite bar hostess is. We ordered a sampler platter of baked oysters. Yummy I'm starting to really like these. Also ordered our IPA Sweet Water beer.

We met some really nice people who live in Indiana. I love meeting new people. We have swapped phone numbers and I am going to keep in contact with them. :-)

Nighty Night♥

Bellingrath's Magic In Lights Dec. 2013

I have been looking forward to today's adventures since I got here :-) Walking through the gardens that has more than a million lights and 835 custom designed lighted designs. We will get to tour the Bellingrath's home which will be decorated for the holidays. In 1903, Walter and his older brother William heard about an opportunity to purchase the new franchise to sell bottled Coca-Cola in southern Alabama. After being turned down for the necessary loan by every bank in Montgomery, Alabama; the two tried once more and were successful. The franchise territory stretched down to the Gulf Coast and when it was determined that they should split the territory, Walter took Mobile since, as he later joked, he liked to fish. The Mobile Coca-Cola Bottling Company became one of the most successful in the United States as time went on and Walter Bellingrath's business interests stretched to owning the National Mosaic Tile Company, serving on the board of the First National Bank, owning a warehousing company and he was an original founder of Waterman Steamship Company of Mobile. With this mans history I'm sure his home will be BEAUTIFUL. They had no children so I bet the house is full of beautiful things. The weather today is cool but a light jacket is all that is needed. Marlon and I are meeting Leonard and Carols house at The Grove around 1:30. I thought I would take some pictures to make a collage of 2 of my best friends for their 50th wedding anniversary.

My camera is so new to me and I pray they are happy with the pictures I took of them.

We are ready to head towards Mobile, AL to check out the Bellingraths Magic of Lights. Leonard is driving so we can sight see, thank you Leonard. Thank goodness Leonard was letting us sight see because I wanted to stop when we drove by the cotton fields. I was amazed as we drove back this lane with dirt that was so orange/red. I was afraid we were going to get stuck. He stopped the car and I got out to get some pictures. The dirt automatically collected on the bottom of my shoes. The dirt was wet & sandy texture. I saw the big huge bale of cotton along the cotton field. I had no idea they packed them this size. The cotton hull had sharp points on them. Now I see why they are picking cotton by machine. I can't imagine what your fingers would look like if you had to pick by hand as they did years ago. So glad I got an up close view of the cotton fields. Thanks for stopping. Leonard and Marlon got out of the car and picked some cotton. Its so fluffy and soft......

We are all hungry and Leonard stopped at this neat looking place called Felix's Fish Camp Restaurant. The decor in this place is amazing along with a great view.

We are all walking around this restaurant taking photos I absolutely love this place.

We started off ordering some baked oysters on the 1/2 shell. I am learning to like oysters but am starting off slowly. If I could only get past the looks of them, because the taste is ok.

We had a very nice waiter who helped us celebrate some very important dates, My hubbys birthday and Leonard and Carol's 50th Wedding Anniversary . They got key lime pie and Marlon got cheesecake. Both were excellent.

On our way now on our way to see Bellingrath's Magic of Lights. The pictures I'm about to post do NOT do this place justice.

Thanks to Leonard and Carol for taking us to see this beautiful sight. ♥

The Gulf Shores Roars...........2013

Woke up this morning & looked on my phone to see what the temp was outside. Not bad I'm thinking, its 52 degrees F. I walk out to the front room and look out the glass doors only to see RAIN.......Well my plans are changing. Think I'm going to be RELAXING for the day....Got a cup of coffee and sat down and thought hey I'm going to crochet me a hat for those days when Marlon is wanting to leave in a hurry. I did step out on the lania and take some pictures of the ocean. No matter if its raining and foggy , the sound of the ocean and the beautiful view is wonderful.

Watched some TV on the history channel with Marlon, but got bored with that. He's napping and I'm really bored.
I'm on my way out the door with my bag of crochet to check out the coffee house. Think I'll sit down there in front of the big windows. The view is fantastic of the ocean and beach. Shopped around and ordered me a iced latte, I was surprised they sold Starbucks (icing on the cake). I noticed they carried a few groceries too so I went over and checked out what they had. I noticed out of all items they could carry it was GRITS.......I love Grits but just didn't think it would be a staple. As I stood there looking at the grits I laughed to myself. Hey girl you are in the South so yeah that would be a staple.

Sitting in front of the big windows in the coffee house sipping on my latte and crocheting. I keep an eye out the window to watch the waves crash into the shoreline.

I saw some people going down the boardwalk towards the ocean. A lady has an umbrella and the wind is so strong her umbrella was wrapped around her like a cloth. All I can think is what kind of fun could they be having? Why would you want to go out in this weather and walk the beach?

Well I've finished the hat I was crocheting and am going back up to the condo......

I pass Marlon on the way who is on his way to workout. When he returns to condo Marlon had been cooking black eyed peas. He made some cornbread to go along them. I got out the Jezebel Sauce that Leonard made us for Christmas and added some to my peas...YUMMY so very, very good. Can someone tell me why they are called black eyed peas when they look and taste like beans?

we figured we might as well do laundry it's still raining outside.

As we gathered up the clothes and walked out the door we noticed our neighbors were going down to do the same thing. We looked at each other and laughed and got in the elevator together. We have met some nice people how wonderful. We waited to get laundry in because looks like alot of people had the same idea. We chatted with the nice people while we waited for a washer. Clothes are in and in time we are finished and headed back up to the condo along with our new friends.

As soon as we walked in Marlon told me to get ready and he would take me to Tangers Outlet Mall. I had been bugging him to take me to Wilson's Leather Shop.

Marlon helped me find the perfect leather jacket which I have wanted forever. This one is different than most its blue with fur collar. I am excited to get to wear it tomorrow during our outdoor adventures.

Came home and Marlon made us some fresh pasta with andouille sausage and vodka spaghetti sauce. It was absolutely delicious. I love to have dipping oil and bread with my spaghetti and a glass of wine. The evening is winding down. Gonna enjoy the rest of the evening relaxing and talking with the hubby.