A Gorgeous Sunday Afternoon

WHEN? Mother's Day, May 9



If you don’t know where Big Daddy’s is located, Big Daddy’s website gives you directions from several places west of the restaurant, but on a beautiful weather day on a Sunday afternoon (or any day of the week), I would not hesitate to invite people from as far away as the panhandle of Florida to make a point to experience this at least once. You’ll probably be coming back once you see how relaxing and enjoyable it is. What I really recommend is that you call 251-990-8555 with any questions. Restaurants change their schedules when, for instance, no one turns out for breakfast.

We arrived at Big Daddy's as The Budz were setting up to play. Their first song was James Taylor's Fire and Rain. I told ‘em they couldn’t play too many JT songs.

The place was covered up with customers, but I did notice a few empty tables inside. We would have preferred outdoor seating in the shade – and discovered we weren't the only ones with that idea. We were prepared to enjoy the food, drink and live music, and felt lucky to find two stools together at the bar facing the Fish River, where we shared a Double Combo Basket catfish-shrimp basket with french fries, fried onions rings, hush puppies and coleslaw. Both of us had plenty to eat. Their portion sizes were so large that we even left a little. Miller High Life was our beer of choice at only $1.50. I noticed that Pabst Blue Ribbon was $1.50 also. It looked like the rest of the domestic beers were $2.50 and the imports were $3.00. They also served wine. I didn’t get the idea they served mixed drinks, but then those never interest me. Their soft drinks and such are $1.75 with free refills, and what will knock your socks off is the 50¢ coffee!

Attention: Carnival Cruising Buddies

Big Daddy's serves a dessert called Lava Cake. I think it's similar to the Chocolate Melting Cake we had on the Holiday and Fantasy.

The most boats I ever counted pulled up to the boat ramp at the back of the restaurant were 10, and that included a yellow kayak on the ramp itself.

Big Daddy’s also has live music on Saturday evenings. Don’t be totally disappointed like we were on our first try on a Monday. That’s the one day of the week when the restaurant is closed.

We weren’t through enjoying ourselves because we always like to stop by the Magnolia River Bar & Grill in Magnolia Springs on Sunday afternoons to hear Denny Grisham and Billy Pelletier do their unique version of karaoke. I call it KARAOKE PLUS. You’ll really have to see and hear it for yourselves.

The smiling ape on its ornamental Tiki Bar describes perfectly how I feel about this place. Remember Cheers on TV? Everybody (just about) knows your name at MRBG. Toby Keith's I Love This Bar also comes to mind.

Check out today's photos on flickr:
Mother’s Day of 2010

Weeks Bay Area River Cleanup

WHEN? Saturday · May 8

WHERE? Fairhope, Alabama · find us on the map

estuary: A semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries are often associated with high rates of biological productivity.

Because Wendell volunteers on Tuesday mornings at Weeks Bay Reserve, we decided to help with with the annual Weeks Bay Area River Cleanup, which involves cleaning up trash that may get into the rivers that feed into Weeks Bay.

While doing this and even afterwards we wondered if it is possible the exertion and endurance required to help in the cleanup may have approached being too strenuous for our "do-gooder" activities. A small group of people showed up for the cleanup at 8:00 A.M. at Weeks Bay Marina (old Lulu's location). Our assigned spots to pick up stinking trash were Manatee Point (east side of Fish River), Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog, and around and under the Roy Spivey Bridge near Kelsey's on Hwy. 98. The payoff was a free lunch at Weeks Bay Foundation on the north side of Hwy 98 just past the Fish River Bridge on the west side.

We already knew that the roads in this area have lots of trash on them, but we were certainly surprised with how much actual BIG junk winds up in these places. One group even had to call and say they didn't have enough room in their vehicle for all the trash they found such as tires — not just parts of tire treads.

Weeks Bay Area River Cleanup photos on Flickr

The plus side of this activity was that we now know where to get sacks to put such trash in and a place to bring them and even where to get the proper gloves to do this. God knows there's plenty of trash waiting to be picked up all over our area including County Road 9 and Highway 98. We can see some reasons for some of the trash along the highways and byways, but it is sad to realise that people who drive along them do mess with Alabama. Maybe this state needs lots of signs like Texas does. Just a thought.