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♥