It’s been several weeks since I last posted and much has happened during that time. I’ll try to summarize what we’ve been doing with photos
Our son Dan raised turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas – this was a 26 lb. turkey for Thanksgiving! And it was delicious!While the turkey was roasting, the girls made a piñata which they then hung from a tree by the driveway and whacked away at for several minutes before they could get it to break open.Some families watch football – ours watched Ellen.Of course it had to snow while we were in Indiana, just enough to satisfy my desire to see snow.We headed down Mobile Bay a couple of days after returning to the boat in early December. This is the lighthouse in the middle of the bay – not the usual setting for a lighthouse!The southern half of Mobile Bay had a lot of platforms in it. We’re not sure the purpose of them, oil, perhaps?This channel marker was the first green marker as we entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. We’re finally headed to Florida!We thought once we got off the rivers we wouldn’t see tows – wrong! We encountered tows all the way to Pensacola.Our first night at The Wharf Marina in Orange Beach AL had a beautiful sunset. And then it turned cold and rainy for several days. Temps didn’t get above 50 in the daytime and mid 30s at night – brrrr!Not the best photo, but it was too cold and windy to get on the other side of the bar (shaped like a ship). The Ferris wheel wasn’t running while we were there, but the lights on it at night reminded us of the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago. The marina is part of a large resort with lots of shops, restaurants, a cineplex, and an amphitheater.We rented a car while we were at The Wharf, so we made a trip to Lulu’s, a restaurant owned and run by Jimmy Buffett’s sister. Because of the time of year and the cold weather, there were less than half a dozen tables with customers. One afternoon we visited the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Seeing so many planes was overwhelming!This is an example of the plane George H. W. Bush flew as a Navy pilot.After reading this plaque in front of a model of the USS Ronald Reagan, I understood why it costs so much to build a mammoth ship.You know you’re not in the Midwest anymore when Walmart is selling crab and lobster traps.Our last night in Orange Beach we finally got a steamer pot -a great break from all the fried food we had been eating. There was so much seafood that we had enough shrimp left over for the next night’s dinner.Today we made it from Orange Beach AL to Sandestin’s Baytowne Marina in Miramar Beach FL. We’re finally in Florida! And there was a nice sunset – not a cloud in sight.
