Light Show @ Texas Church

WHEN? Tuesday · December 8

WHERE? White's Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas

WHAT? Holiday Light Show

My sister referred me to this show taking place through Christmas Eve. I have friends and relatives in Texas who may have the chance to see it in person because Southlake is a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth and considered part of the Metroplex. For us, it looked like something to share via "armchair travel" on this blog. Not only may you find the YouTube video a very entertaining experience, you may even want to look at information on the church's website about this event.
Celebrate the Light 3-D Christmas Spectacular

Final Coastal Choral Performance of 2011

WHEN? Sunday · December 4

WHERE? Spirit Center at Foley United Methodist Church

WHAT? Coastal Chorale Christmas concert

Reviews:

"Fabulous ... unbelievably good."
- maedeans

"In a class with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and The Ray Conniff Singers. They sing with a masterful blend of their voices."
- The Perpetual Vacationers

"Still wonderful entertainment - and still some funny stuff like "Chopsticks Theme and Variations" - like everything else, the price had to increase from $10 to $15"
- MDS

This afternoon's Christmas performance featured some familiar Christmas songs along with several others we had never heard, and all were beautifully done.

If you missed this last performance, never fear, they will perform again in February of 2012:
SNOWBIRD SERENADE

"The Music of the Night"

Thursday, February 23, 2012 - 7:30 pm
Friday, February 24, 2012 - 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 25, 2012 - 3:00 pm
Saturday, February 25, 2012 - 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 26, 2012 - 3:00 pm

(Serenade performances at First Baptist Church, Gulf Shores)

Their first number was an oldie from the 50's. Maybe this video will put you in the Christmas spirit. BTW, Santa Claus was there...

Fourth Annual Oyster Cookoff

WHEN? Saturday · November 5

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama

We attended last year's Oyster Cookoff at The Hangout ,but the milder temperatures this year made it more enjoyable.

We knew the "lay of the land" which was about the same as it was last year outside The Hangout in the Beer Garden with teams set up in booths cooking oysters to vie for honors with judges. When we arrived, we found some friends at about the same table in the garden. An event for entertaining all ages, it was a good chance to "people watch."

The three categories for the competition were: Oyster Rockefeller, Cajun Oysters, and Chief's Choice Raw. I had a couple of the first two categories but left before the final competition began. Recorded music was played until around 1:45 when The Rantmakers, a band from Nashville, Tennessee, began performing live on the stage. They were very good. I had hoped to show you a video of one of their songs, but I did not punch the right buttons on my camera. I did manage to get a photo of one of the band member's bare feet, which was sort of like Jimmy Buffett's concerts. I love anything that laidback and could not resist including such a photo.

Check out our photos on Flickr at:

Fourth Annual Oyster Cookoff at The Hangout

National Aviation Museum

WHEN? Wednesday · November 2

WHERE? Pensacola, Florida ·

WHY? Practice by Blue Angels

Ever since we've been living in Lower Alabama, we've been meaning to visit the Aviation Museum in Pensacola again. Today we combined that with also seeing the Blue Angels practice behind the museum.

We can now tell you that this was just as enjoyable as the air shows put on annually at the Pensacola Beach without all the traffic congestion. We will tell you that the air shows at the beach include other air planes as well as the Blue Angels. In that respect, they are special. We are considering going to an actual air show at the museum later this year to see how that is from the standpoint of the close visibility.

It is just about impossible to take photos of the Blue Angels because by the time one hears them they are already gone because of their speed. That is why we started taking videos instead. Even those are the typical amateur non-award-winning variety, but they do prove we were there :)


National Aviation Museum and Blue Angels Practice.

40th Annual Shrimp Festival

WHEN? Thursday - Sunday · October 13-16

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama · find us on the map

WHY? 40th Annual National Shrimp Festival

This blog post must begin with our disappointment in this year's festival. It has to do with economics. We are retired and on a fixed income. With the price of everything going up, we will probably not attend anymore Shrimp Festivals.

It sounds good that there is no admission to the event, but the best way to attend is to catch a shuttle, so we parked in Bruno's parking lot in Gulf Shores. Then, our first surprise came. The price was $2 a person; last year it was $1 a person.

We had specifically arrived near lunch time to seek out the same meal we had eaten last year. We did not really find it, but one booth had what they called a Paella Dinner for $15 (for one person). Last year a similar meal that was better than this one was $8. We shared the one meal while listening to J.B. Melody on the East Stage.

Anything we saw to possibly purchase had higher prices. One jewelry booth told me they were paying more for what they were selling. So that is what it is about -- inflationary prices across the board.

To see the few photos we took, visit 40th Shrimp Festival of 2009 on Flickr.

As we write this, three more days are left to attend this annual festival in Gulf Shores.

On the Road to Texas and Back

We've been back from Texas for four days, but it's been a little more difficult to recover because we set off foggers right before we left to rid the place of pests. Even though it was an excellent time to do this, making sure things are safe to use -- like washing all the dishes, in addition to washing a week's worth of laundry has kept us from telling you about our fun-packed trip.

Rather than a blog post that really covers it, we're resorting to showing you photos we took, like we did on our trip away from Alabama last spring. You can see them on Flickr at:

On the Road - Sept. 21, 2011
On the Road ~ Sept. 22, 2011

On the Road ~ Sept. 24, 2011

On the Road ~ Sept. 26, 2011
On the Road ~ Sept. 27, 2011

You may have noticed there are no pictures for Sept. 25th. We are saving perhaps the best for last. That afternoon we went to see a live musical at Theatre Arlington entitled "FOREVER PLAID." The four men performing had done this musical many years ago and said they wanted to do it again before they were in wheel chairs. What a treat it was. This YouTube video gives you a good example of what variety this show contained, but you would have had to be in the audience to have the full benefit.

Weather Report on TS Lee

WHEN? Monday · September 5

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama · find us on the map

WHY? Winds and rain from Tropical Storm Lee

Tropical Storm Lee has definitely made itself know in the panhandle area and beyond with strong winds and lots of rain. We mainly checked out this on the line at Alabama and Florida.

Yes, we're fully aware we are idiot storm chasers, and we're old enough to know better.

Our sense of adventure and goofiness have shown their face before. We thought we could get some videos and photos to show what TS Lee caused, so we kept driving eastward on the beach road, even when there were times when it was partially covered with sand. We went beyond Gulf State Park and stopped to go out on a boardwalk we had gone to the end of during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Were we surprised to find it was not something we could do when we came to a wall of sand.

If you have never been out on the beach when winds are this high, let us tell you it hurts everywhere your skin is exposed. We were very thankful we both had on eye glasses to protect our eyes. The sand made it's way into our pockets and just about everywhere else. Maybe it was worth it to catch the photos and videos we took on Labor Day of 2011.

The show was actually viewable from the road because the waves were so high.

I have already looked at the videos we took, and I'm not sure they show what we saw.

We actually went inside of the Flora-Bama, and they have made lots of progress in their building since we were there last. The upper level is set up so people there can look down on the stage from three sides, where it used to be a very short balcony on the south side.

It would only be a guess if I tried to tell you about the erosion caused by this storm. Buildings probably made it okay, but I was feeling sorry for anyone who reserved a condo or beach house for the Labor Day Weekend. Their vacation was pretty much shot.

See our photos on flickr:
Wind and Waves from Tropical Storm Lee.

We took several videos to try to let you know what the experience of the winds and rains were like as Tropical Storm Lee came through Lower Alabama.



This video probably best shows particularly how big the waves were:

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We spent the rest of our Labor Day at Magnolia River Bar & Grill in Magnolia Springs, Alabama, inside out of the rain and wind and enjoying good friends, music and spirits.

rain, Rain, RAIN!

This not a normal or usual blog post for THE PERPETUAL VACATIONERS, but it's just noteworthy enough that we are making an exception. It has rained several times today already, which is not normally newsworthy for Lower Alabama, but this summer has been an exception.

Most days recently, either one or both of us were doing some watering detail of grass, shrubs, or flowers. Even after today's rain, if we don't receive anymore for several days, that will not be necessary more than likely.

It looks like weather forecasts are for more because of a tropical depression.

A video was recorded today just so we can look at it if we wonder what it's like for it to rain.


♫ ♪ The sound of rain is music to our ears!♫ ♪

Gulf State Park Pier

Did you know the Gulf State Park Pier is the longest pier in the Gulf of Mexico? We didn't until we visited it today.

Not only do we know more about the pier than we did before we visited, but there were several surprises.
• the pier has a nice, large parking lot
• no charge is required for visiting the entrance-first platform of the pier
• many varieties of salt water fish may be caught from the pier
• many people were using the beach area by the pier
• emerald green water was on display at this location on Saturday

Once we paid our $2 each to sightsee on the remainder of the pier, that was very interesting and educational itself. Those that were fishing had paid $8 a person, plus they also had to have Salt Water Fishing Licenses, which are sold at the first platform area.

I was pleased to see there was a small shaded area on the pier where one could fish.

Perhaps you will want to visit the pier also after viewing our photos and videos:
Gulf State Park Pier

Mississippi Gulf Coast

On a very brief trip over to parts of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we wanted to share some of our experiences and photos from mostly the return trip to Alabama today.

We took care of some business in Waveland, Mississippi. Actually, I’d say the first part of the visit was more like a mission trip that was accomplished because it was not impossible. Then the last part was visiting with old-time friends.

On Monday, we took Interstate 10 into Gulfport to shop at Best Buy. As we speeded up to enter the interstate, I notice a stone sign about the Katrina High Water Mark. I did not get a photo and did not find one by searching the internet, but I do believe this article on July 22, 2011, is about the sign: Bay wants to ‘camouflage’ storm markers

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We chose to come back a little longer route by heading south to get on Highway 90 and then drive along the world’s longest man-made beach. That’s the trivia WDS seemed to know, and I’m taking his word for it.

Parts of the drive home were a little depressing because there were still signs of damage from where Hurricane Katrina destroyed areas which were empty of residences and businesses. However, much had been built back. Also the weather was great as compared with the very hard rains we drove in coming over.

We divided the photos into two parts. The first album is:
Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The two last photos were taken in Mobile, Alabama, where we stopped for a late lunch.

Gulf Islands National Seashore encompasses territory in both Florida and Mississippi, and is therefore separated into two districts. The Mississippi District includes Davis Bayou, and may be reached in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which we traveled through today on the way back to Alabama.

We enjoyed visiting their Visitors Center and boardwalks and seemed to have the place to ourselves except for one small skink we encountered on the boardwalk just behind the Visitors Center. Our photos from the visit may be seen at:
Davis Bayou ~ Gulf Islands National Seashore.

We have no photos to show we drove through a nice old fashioned downtown in Ocean Springs that we hope to return to and just walk around there. Somewhere in the same area is the Walter Anderson Museum of Art we hope to visit on another trip.

Kitty's Kafe

WHEN? Friday · July 1

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama

We have been hearing good reports on Kitty's Kafe ever since it opened. It takes a little searching it out because it is not right on one of the main drags. Keep your eyes peeled for the Pelican Place shopping center located at 3800 Gulf Shores Parkway (Alabama 59) where it intersects with Cotton Creek Drive (County Road 4) . The restaurant is located in Suite 100 south of Target. Their phone number is 251-948-5233.

Perhaps word came to us because two of our friends work there as cooks. We still haven't met the owner, Kitty, but that's okay. This is a place we'll return to fairly often because the food is moderately priced and good, and the service is fast and efficient. Today was our second time to dine here at lunch.

I love murals, so I snapped the two in the dining room. I understand from reading some reviews of the place that they have them in the restrooms as well. WDS took the photo of the specials menu.

You might want to click on Kitty's Kafe on Facebook for more information.

We are not really food critics or reviewers as such, but we both know what we like. This place definitely gets the thumbs up.

7th Annual Balloon Festival

WHERE? Foley, Alabama · find us on the map

As I discovered from talking with my Flickr friend, Brody, not all hot air balloon festivals are equal or the same. We waited quite a long time today before any balloons showed up. If you had seen the dark storm clouds in the sky, you would not have wondered why. For awhile, we thought they would not show up at all. And, when they did, the sun still was not getting though on a regular basis, so not many photos of them were worth keeping.

See our photos on flickr:

Balloon Festival 2011

To see some really professional photos taken on various days of the festival, see Brody J's photos on flickr:

Foley Balloon Fest 2011

The website for the festival is very informative, and we encourage you to visit it not only for information about this year's festival but also some facts about upcoming balloon festivals.

Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival

2nd Annual Bald Eagle Bash

WHEN? Saturday · June 4, 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

The Weeks Bay Foundation hosted the Bald Eagle Bash again this year, and the party was held at the waterfront Tonsmeire Weeks Bay Resource Center (old Lulu’s location) at the Fish River Bridge on U.S. Highway 98 in Fairhope.

The unique taste of Alabama Wild Shrimp was prepared by these great restaurants under the resource center’s building:
Beckwith Camp and Conference Center
Big Daddy's Grill
Bimini Bob's
Blue Marlin Restaurant
Bluegill Restaurant
Fly Creek Café
Islamorada Fish Company
Jesse's Restaurant
Les Roux
LuLu's at Homeport Marina
Tamara's Downtown
The Tin Top Restaurant and Oyster Bar
Wintzell's Oyster House

Over 900 people attend this party with great food, great music by Locust Fork Band, and, best of all, a great cause for preservation of "one of the most beautiful and diverse environments on planet earth ... in Baldwin County" (Phil Norris in THE PELICAN POST, Spring 2011).

Title sponsors for this year's event were BBVA Compass and the Coastal Land Trust. Other sponsors are shown on a sign among the photos from the event, which may be viewed on Weeks Bay Foundation's Facebook.

Been on the Road

... and in the air at times.

Have you missed us?

Hope not.

It's been so much trouble to fool with the photos, we're just going to show them to you and let that do it because we really don't feel like doing a blog post. Seems like maybe it's too much trouble to go into detail.

Does that make sense? Well, it does to us right now because we have things to do and places to go in Lower Alabama.

Here's the photos from a week of travel in Mississippi, Tennessee, and the upper part of Alabama.

Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday

Restaurant with lots of good atmosphere

WHEN? Thursday · May 12

WHERE? Daphne Alabama

We cannot imagine we'll ever run out of different restaurants in our area to experience. This one hadn't even been recommended to us, but we could not resist the atmosphere of being located on Mobile Bay in Daphne. When we do eat out, lunch is just about always the meal we choose. The restaurant has a Bahamas theme, and I really don't know if they ever have some music to go with the theme, but that was all the atmosphere lacked on our first visit. If some Calypso music had been in the background, we'd have felt like we were on a cruise because the weather was perfect to be out on the "deck".

We expect to return with friends to try other items on their menu. We noticed that certain side dishes seem to be standard, which is probably the reason their service is fast. The handcut Potato Fries and Island Slaw get good marks from us.

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The photo at the top is actually from a cruise we took in 2008 with some of our new Lower Alabama friends.

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We have a few photos we took on two different visits while dining here, which you may view at:

• Bob Baumhower's Compleat Angler Seafood Grill & Bar

Auntie Bo's Family Restaurant

WHEN? Saturday · April 30 ·

WHERE? Foley Alabama

One of the perks of being THE PERPETUAL VACATIONERS is learning about restaurants we haven't tried. This morning we visited Auntie Bo's for breakfast. Although we're usually not buffet fans, the specials we saw on the boards sounded appetizing and were reasonably priced. Getting our money's worth is perhaps the biggest advantage to visiting this restaurant. I would emphasize the FAMILY part of their description because it is definitely difficult to take out a whole family for a meal and everyone be reasonably satisfied. Most people like fried chicken, and it's offered every day. Our neighbor said the prime rib special is done right.

If I lived closer to this restaurant, it would probably tempt me every day because of the vegetables and salad bar. Our server mentioned that they do have a menu besides the terrific breakfast special that is especially cooked for each customer – and once we learned what it included, we didn't even look at the menu.

So now you have had our review, such as it is, since we're not really critics. We typically don't have trouble liking food wherever we dine. If we really can't recommend a restaurant, we just don't mention it much at all on our blog.

While there we took some photos, which may be seen on Flickr at:

• Auntie Bo's Family Restaurant

Porch Swing in Tupelo

WHEN? Wednesday · April 20 ·

WHERE? Tupelo, Mississippi

We're both Elvis fans. I'm a fan of Elton John as well, but did not know about this song by Elton until I saw this:

Elton John · Porch Swing in Tupelo

Video Description on YouTube:
An emotional tribute to Elvis Presley and his beautiful birthplace in the South. This tribute focuses on that part of the young man, who turned out to be king, that will always belong to the timeless peace and eternal wonder of places like Tupelo, Mississippi, U.S. and on the contrast between the life Elvis had, when he grew up, and the life he lived, when he died. Once again a proof of what fame can do to people - but we would never have been without his wonderful music, talent and charm!

Back in May of 2010, we made our pilgrimage to the area where Elvis was born and lived. We took in Graceland in Memphis and stopped by Tupelo on a peaceful Sunday morning. While there we took some photos, which may be seen on Flickr at:

• Tupelo, MS ~ Birthplace of Elvis
• Elvis and Graceland

For some reason, it seems we've been blogging about fountains lately, so now we include our video of the Fountain of Life in Tupelo at Elvis' birthplace.

If the video above doesn't work, try this Flicker link:
Elvis Birthplace Fountain of Life

The Dubai Fountain

WHEN? Anytime via armchair travel

WHERE? Dubai, United Arab Emirates



My thanks go to Tom for sending this link to me because I'm sure not ever going to see it in person. For more information on this amazing fountain, look at what Wikepedia has to say.

The Dubai Fountain

YouTube has many videos of this fountain. You might want to watch this one also.
Dubai fountain (UAE) - "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston

Blue Angels at Devils Tower Revisited

Recently we have been reminded a couple of times about the Blue Angels visiting Devils Tower while we were there in 2007 as volunteers.

While we dined on the prime rib at American Legion Post 44 in Gulf Shores, Alabama last night, we noticed the above photo on the wall near our table.

Here's someone else's video taken of this awesome event.

Our previous blog posts about this amazing flight demonstration squadron may be read at:

• Angels above
• Pensacola Air Show
• Second Visit To Pensacola Air Show

59th Annual Arts & Crafts Festival

WHEN? Sunday · March 20

WHERE? Fairhope, Alabama · find us on the map

We missed this event our first year here in 2008, but have attended each year since. It offers over 200 exhibitors from across the nation. Live entertainment is included, along with many booths offering food and refreshment. All of this takes place on the streets of beautiful downtown Fairhope.

Official Artwork by Karen Faire

Admission is free to the festival, and the only expense for us was a dollar each way from the Bruno's parking lot on BRATS (Baldwin County Area Transportation System), plus our food and drink at the festival itself. A person could spend lots of $$$ on many interesting and unusual items and some great art, but we curbed our appetite for spending.

We discovered the back entrance to The Pub when we followed our noses where barbequed pork and chicken were being cooked outside the place. We had the pork, baked beans and potato salad for $8 a plate and a very welcomed seat at their outdoor patio bar – about $25 total, tip and all.

We chose Saturday again to attend this year, so as I'm posting this, things are underway for its third and final day. We encourage anyone reading this today to get on out and take in what is offered in downtown Fairhope.

We left the festival in a mood to continue enjoying ourselves and stopped at Magnolia River Bar and Grill in Magnolia Springs before we returning home. That night was a much talked about special full moon, so our photos for the day ended on that note.

Here's the assortment of photos we have to share with you from yesterday.

Couldn't resist adding this video to the post after it was already up. I do hope this festival always has the wonderful weather they enjoyed in 2011.

59th Annual Fairhope Arts & Crafts Festival - Awards

Pub Crawling on St. Patrick's Day

WHEN? Thursday· March 17

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama · find us on the map

We got in on our first pub crawl ever thanks to some friends who requested transportation to Papa Rocco's in Gulf Shores where the Gulf Shores Pub Crawl began. The pubs included were Mudbugs, Gulf Shores Steamer, Desoto’s, The Hangout, Pink Pony, Gulf Island Grille, Ribs ‘N Reds and Mikee’s. We must confess that we did not make the last three pubs. Instead, we began our walk back to Papa Rocco's, where our car was parked. At that point, our friends' ride home had arrived and we were pooped. We stopped along the way at The Shrimp Basket for sitting down and resting as much as for the Shrimp Po-Boys.

We had been told that Denny and Billy were playing at the Elberta VFW, so we felt rested enough to take in another St. Patrick's celebration there, where not only was there holiday entertainment with songs like My Wild Irish Rose and Danny Boy, they were also serving a plate of traditional corned beef and cabbage for a mere three bucks. We could not partake because of our Shrimp Basket lunch less than a hour before, but those who did proclaimed it was delicious.

To fill in on the pubs we missed in Gulf Shores, we stopped at Kelsey's in Foley and Magnolia River Bar and Grill in Magnolia Springs before returning home happily exhausted. It was a beautiful day for the all-day celebrations.

Three years ago, the Orange Beach Pub Crawl was begun at The Wharf, and includes Rafters, Shucker’s, Rum Runners, Guy Harvey, the Cigar Bar and Live Bait. A really young, ambitious partier might be able to make both, since theirs doesn't start until noon. The fact is, their times do overlap because the Gulf Shores Pub Crawl doesn't return to Papa Rocco's until early afternoon.

See more of our photos on Flickr
St. Patrick's Day 2011

Mississippi's Appalachian Mountains

WHERE? Webster County, Mississippi – near Eupora

Thanks to Terry Harpole in Maben, Mississippi, I'm able to share a brief trip with you. I love the video and audio sketches Walt Grayson of WLBT provides to people in his TV show Look Around Mississippi.

Two minutes well spent:

Old Cove with Walt Grayson
courtesy of Jackson's WLBT-TV

Mardi Gras Celebrations

WHEN? During Mardi Gras

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama · find us on the map

We took in two Mardi Gras celebrations as Mardi Gras was rapidly coming to a close: A party at Magnolia River Bar & Grill in Magnolia Springs, and the Gulf Shores Mardi Gras Parade on Fat Tuesday, March 8. After the parade, we stopped by MRBG and found two of the people who had walked in the Gulf Shores parade and took a few photos there.

Photos may be viewed in two sets on Flickr at:

• Mardi Gras Party @ MRBG
• Fat Tuesday 2011

David's Catfish House

WHEN? Wednesday · January 26

WHERE? David's Catfish House · Spanish Fort, Alabama

It took us awhile to discover a place to eat fried catfish in our new home. For awhile, there was a take-out place in Foley we patronized when we needed a fried catfish fix, but the BP oil spill very likely put an end to that like it affected other Coastal Alabama businesses. At any rate, it closed. David's Catfish House in Spanish Fort is now the closest place for good fried catfish. Milton, Florida, has a location we may look up one of these days.

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From the website:

Back in 1983 David and Sadie Ross started serving food from their now famous menu. Nearly a quarter century later, the catfish and cheese grits have been flying out of the kitchen. In fact, the dish has been named one of the 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die by the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel for two consecutive years.

Not bad for a mom and pop start-up that began in Waynesboro, Mississippi.

Three years after opening and seeing a market in dire need of great food, David and Sadie moved their restaurant to Monroeville, Alabama, where its headquartered today.

If you're hungry for some real, down-home cooking, bring your appetite to any of our six David's Catfish Houses locations.

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If fried catfish is not what you're looking for, take a look at David's Catfish House Menu(pdf). The menu at Spanish Fort seemed to offer other items when we looked at it, but we knew what we came for.

Note: If you are expecting to have an alcoholic beverage with your meal, it does not look like that is available.

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When we lived in Jackson, Mississippi, we got our fix at Cock of the Walk, on a fairly regular basis. Their menu is very limited, but they had what we wanted along with the nice atmosphere of being on the water. We enjoyed dining there at least once since we've been in Alabama. Actually it may have been shortly before we settled in Alabama. Possibly the last time we were there was on December 10, 2007, during the Christmas Season. The photos from that visit may be seen in a Flickr slideshow at:

Cock of the Walk on the Ross Barnett Reservoir