New Years Eve/Leonard & Carols 50th Wedding Anniversary

Breakfast this morning was good as always.  Ham and cheese omelet, fried potatoes and toast. After sipping some coffee Marlon and I tried out the stream room.    Wow I loved it,  so relaxing.  
Went back to condo and decided to get ready for today's adventures. Sitting on the lanai drinking some coffee listening to the ocean and watching some beach walkers. Marlon snapped a few pics of me while we were out there.

We went back in sat down and ate our salad for lunch.  Gathered our  gifts for Leonard and Carol  and headed to car.    Decided to go to Fort Morgan. This place has really populated in 3 years.  Lots of land for sale and lots of new places along the coast.

Stopped out at the ferry landing and took some pics of a couple of ships and an oil rig. Se a telescope so I  looked e the It to get a good look at the ships out in the ocean.

Right after we left the ferry landing we stopped and took some pictures of what is left of the Fort Morgan fort.  Since 1834 Fort Morgan stood as the guardian of Mobile Bay.

We left and have  pulled off  again to travel down this gravel road.  Took a few pictures of the landscape scape and vegetation. 

One more stop before going into town, I want to get a picture of this huge tree covered with moss.  The size of it just amazes me.

  In town now and need eggs for morning.  When Marlon went in to get eggs I picked up anniversary card from dash. Right away I saw that the gift card was no longer there.  Panic attack oh NO frantic at this point.   The gift card was just purchased last night.  Marlon was  back now and I told him the card was missing.  He started the car and started driving. He decided to stop again and both of get out and search the car.  Which we did and came up with nothing. Heading back out to the condo to look, we searched the parking lot, contacted  management of  building to see if anyone had turned it in.  I knew that would be a miracle and just as I thought NO.  Called security next , again NO card has been turned in.  I called Mickey' s restaurant and told them what happened. No one was there that could say if they could give us another card.  I mean we do have the receipt with the card number on it.   If someone uses it they will know it's not there's.   Hopefully I get a good phone call and this works out.   Arrived at Leonard and Carols and gave them the wine in which I put in a gold wine box. Handed them the card and told them about losing the $50 gift card. Thurman and Karen were there when we arrived it was so nice to see them again.
On our way to Pensacola Florida restaurant named McGuire s Pub.

  The place was packed.   I got a drink while we waited for 1/2 hour to be seated.

It was served in a Mason jar and was called Irish Wake the liquid inside was GREEN. The drink consisted of fresh squeezed orange juice with 2 different kinds of rum. My good friend Carol helped me drink it. :-)

The restaurant's decor was an Irish theme.  The minute you walked in you can't help but notice the entire ceiling was covered with one million signed dollar bills.

We were promptly seated in 1/2 hour Carol was given  2 glasses of champagne to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary compliments of the restaurant.

 Dinner was served and it was so good.

 All of us took 1/2 our food home.   Feeling pretty full. On our back to Carols. Visited for a short time and then left to go back to condo.

 Fireworks were being shot off at midnight over the  ocean and we had a wonderful view.

 Happy New Years........friends.

Gulf Shores ~Time to get Active 3013

Todays breakfast which was excellent was soft eggs, fresh baked bread (toast), and ham. After breakfast I need to contact Security and remind them  I'm expecting a package delivered by FEDEX today around 4:30pm.  At first Security thought it was delivered yesterday but after checking it was not my package that got delivered.  I am so close to going over my time on data usage as my phone will not connect  to internet except for the 4G.  Can't wait for my new phone to arrive.  Dressed and ready to take a walk on the beach with hubby.  Marlon brought his bird book to see if we could identify any birds we spotted and his binoculars.  Not many people on the beach except for a fisherman and a couple of people walking along the waters edge. We spotted several birds while walking on the beach along with a key. Left the key on the beach looks like it  had been there a long time.

After our walk on the beach we decided we needed to sit in the hot tub.......wow the water was hot but felt oh so good.  It's time to get our bicycles ready to put on back of car and travel to a bike path.  Marlon got us all loaded up and away we went.  We are 12 miles out of town and the ocean is in front of me and behind me.......wow oh wow what a beautiful place to be.  Wishing it was warmer but its not bathing suit weather.  Walking the beach and enjoying the other amenities available here is great.

  Parked our car and are going to ride for maybe 5 miles. The bike path has lots of Oak trees that were all losing their leaves.  There were also lots of pine trees and trees with moss hanging from them.  The bike path was bumpy due to lots of tree roots popping up the trail.  We ended up riding 8 miles.  The ride was very enjoyable. 
Well we have worked up an appetite so the bikes our back on the car and now its time to go look for some ice cold IPA.  We did stop at several places but no IPA to be found.  We went back to Oyster  House and knew they had an IPA called Sweet Water :-)  Marlon decided we should have some fried oysters since we are at an oyster house.  I can't believe it but I liked them, we were cleaned our plates.

While we are in town we stopped in at at our favorite seafood market and got 1 lb. of med. size shrimp for dinner tonight.  Marlon's 60th birthday is tomorrow and he is going to rent clubs at Kieva Dunes and golf tomorrow. We stopped in the golf club and the golf club was amazing, with a great place to dine, eat, drink and shop. They rent Callaway Clubs which are fairly new according to the guy in the shop.  Happy Birthday hunny. The golf  club is part of the Plantation we are staying on.

Finally we are home and Marlon has started making us dinner and I love shrimp.  He brought several recipes so I do not know how he's going to cook it.  Dinner is served............yummo

Christmas Day @ The Grove in Gulf Shores 2013

Well its' finally Christmas morning and its 6:30am.  I hurried up and got dressed and took a thermos of coffee and my camera down to the ocean to watch the sun come up.  OMG its freezing outside, and the wind is blowing hard.  It's 33 degrees F but with the wind its 23 degrees F.  Boy I'm freezing, but I walked down the boardwalk to the beach and the sun has not come up yet.  I walked back up on the boardwalk and sat down.  I took a few pictures as I waited for the sun to peak out.  Well it's 6:45am and no sun yet.  I walk back up and stand in front of the cafe which blocked some of the wind.

 After I got the pictures of the sunrise, I hurried back to the room to get warm.  When I got back in my night clothes Marlon  made me a mimosa drink. The drink was delicious. Christmas breakfast is always special~ Ameretta French toast with Ameretto butter and syrup along with sage flavored sausage.  The breakfast was the best from all the rest...........DELICIOUS.  Wow the flavor was so good......everything was perfect.

After breakfast we took walk on the beach it has warmed up to 45 degrees F now which doesn't feel bad out. Marlon wrote in the sand that he loved me, this made my heart go pitter patter, I love that man of mine. We took a few pictures and then went back in to get ready to go to Thurman and Karen's for Christmas lunch.

 When we arrived there were several people there that we did not know but thats alright I love meeting new people.  The counters were lined with good things to eat including some great looking desserts. I was happy to see Leonard and Carol was there.  We greeted everyone and then I gave Carol the gifts I had brought her.  During the transition of giving her the gift it got dropped and the coffee cup got broke.   Everything else was ok.  I gave Karen her gift of crocheted slippers, and the guys I gave them candy.

 Prayer was said by Leonard then they told Marlon and I to go first in line.  Karen did a wonderful job on the preparation of the food, everything was delicious. Leonard did a great job on the chocolate triple layer cake and banana split pizza.

I requested everyone to please get together for a group shot.  Finally Chasity figured out how to do that with my new camera.  

After lunch Karen was showing us these shots she had bought in Florida.  She shared them with Carol and I.  We had 4 varieties to choose from, I chose and orange shot and Carol chose Sex on the Beach.  The shot glass was divided with the alcohol on one side and the mix on the other.  Carol was hilarious as she tried to drink her shot. Me on the other hand just threw my down my throat. LOL  The faces she made made everyone laugh. 

We sat around and chatted about various vacations everyone has been on and what plans we have for the rest of the time we are here.  Marlon's birthday is in a few days on the 27th and Leonard and Carol's 50th wedding anniversary is New Years Eve.  Good night everyone it's time for us to head back out to our condo.  It has been a fantastic day spent with good friends and great food.  Merry Christmas and Good Night

Christmas Eve in Gulf Shores Alabama 2013

Excited to see Carol and Leonard this afternoon for lunch, and a nice treat is Thurman and Karen will meet us also.  Woke up this morning and checked the temperature outside yikes its only 33 degrees  F.  

Marlon went out and walked the beach while I started crocheting a pair of slippers for Karen.

 Time to get ready and go find Mickey's Seafood Restaurant.  It was nice to see them when we pulled in.  Leonard and Thurman met us out front while the ladies were inside.  I gave them a big hug and Marlon and I went in and gave the ladies hugs too.  It's been 3 years since we have been back here in Gulf Shores.  Carol gave us a coupon to use buy one meal get one meal free.  Thanks Carol so thoughtful of you.

After some great food and conversation, Thurman asked me a very strange question.  Could I come and take a picture of a dead bird thats hanging from a tree.  I'm thinking a dead bird Yuck.........but I agreed to do this for him.  We got in our cars and we followed them to their house on the river.  The house is surrounded by beautiful flowering bushes.  Thurman said to follow him outback onto the deck he had built.  He pointed up in a tree and there was a huge pelican that had somehow flown into the tree and killed itself.  I started taking some pictures for him. When I was done we all stood around and chatted. Marlon and I went back out to the condo.

 Marlon and I watched the sun go down from the lania and drank some wine. It started to feel cold so we went back inside. By the time donner was ready we had already drank the bottle. :-)  Thank goodness we brought a few bottles with us.

After we watched the sun go down Marlon started making shrimp and grits for our Christmas Eve dinner.  We opened up a bottle of Elizabeth Spencer wine and had this with our dinner.  I finished up the slippers for Karen :-)  I also sent them the pictures of the dead bird to Karen and Thurman so they could see what exactly the bird looked like.

After eating we decided to go ahead and open our presents. It's time to go to bed because we are getting up early to watch the sun come up.

Travel to Gulf Shores Alabama 2013

On our way to Alabama we stopped for a snack and I came across these chips.  I have never ever seen this brand of chips before?

Marlon drove the entire way to Gulf Shores which for us was 13 hours.  Upon arrival to Foley, Alabama we knew we needed to shop before we went out to our condo.  First stop was Burris Farmers Market.  The place was full of fresh veggies, fruits and beautiful Christmas decorations.

Next we stopped at the grocery where we went 3 years ago and it was closed down due to renovations.  So back in the car to find another grocery, found one  called Winn Dixie.  We also stopped at our favorite fish shop for some fresh shrimp :-).  Hubby has promised me some shrimp and grits while we are here.

It's late and Marlon is done driving and doesn't want to cook when we get to the condo.  We have lots of things to unpack.  We looked for a good place to eat and found this place called Original Oyster House.  Wow for $8.99 I got all the shrimp and fish I could eat along with slaw and fries.....Can't beat that I'll take that and a ice cold beer in a frosted glass.

We are finally on our way out to Gulf Shores Plantation and Kieva Dunes Golf Club.  

Its dark out and I just want to get the car unpacked and shower and rest.  Talked with Carol and Leonard about having lunch tomorrow at Mickey's.   Karen and Thurman will meet us for lunch also.