From Oooo to OUCH to Ahhh!

I intended this to be just

a blog about my vacation

to Gulf Shores, but

something happened today

that I wanted to share.

This first photo above is a plant

that my the choir from my

former church in Memphis

sent me when Daddy died.

I wanted those who cared to

view the blog to notice all

the blooms. (There's a fourth

one on the opposite side of the plant.)

Today I was hanging out with friends,

playing with the family chow.

(I had planned to go to the water

park in Dayton, but it stormed

most of the day in Ohio.)

As I was petting the chow,

she turned on me and bit

me on the chin.

Perhaps she forgot I was

a friend: she's 91 years old in

dog years!

The doctor said I need a stitch or two

in the gap on my lower right chin,

but because of the bacteria in an

animal's saliva, he thought it best

just to clean it and use butterfly

bandages to close the wound.

I'm also on antibiotics for five days.

(How am I going to camouflage

the grey in my whiskers if

I can't shave? ARGH!)

The photos above and below are

my nieces on the way to Gulf Shores,

Alabama, for our family vacation.

We left on Sunday, June 24th.

This is our condo, Island Shores.

We've stayed here four

or five times now.

Below is the master bedroom.

And this is the master bath...
Below is a shot looking from
the master bedroom toward
the living area and balcony
overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
(See my sweet Mama?)

This was my bedroom. It had
a lighthouse theme...

And my bath...

Underneath is a nice
shot of the living area.

And another of the living area
facing the kitchen...

The kitchen...


This is the cabana boy for the hotel
getting the umbrellas and chaise
chairs out for the day...


Wow! The sky was a baby blue.
At the horizon, the ocean was
navy, but the closer to shore
the waters rolled, the more
emerald green they became.
Near the white sand beach,
the water was transparent.

This is Sea 'n' Suds, a seafood restaurant
very near our hotel. Susan, Beth,
and I ate there our last night.

It's amazing what a long trip
and lots of swimming do for
insomnia. HA!


When we left our condo, this was
a view of the parking lot and
area across the street.


After a heavy supper at Sea 'n' Suds,
Beth and I decided to walk to the
former State Park Pier.
The umbrellas had been
collapsed for the night,
but the colors were still bright.



A sand sculpture on the beach...

Although this is not me,

it reminded me of one of

my favorite pastimes

at the beach...searching

for shells a little way into

the water.

Of course, with a net, I'm

sure this dude is trying to

catch some wildlife.

This is what's left of the
State Park Pier.
Hurricane Ivan destroyed
most of it in 2004.

Beth is a natural-born photographer!

Of course, she didn't have much

to work with...

The gentle surf...

Closer to the ruins...

This was the fishing supply

station for the pier.

To gain perspective,

notice the full-sized man

standing on the left

side of the photo.

I attempted to create the illusion

of a complete pier as I remembered

it on our first trip or two to Gulf Shores.

The hull of the fishing supply station...

Although it's sunset, I wanted

to show how white the sand was...

Even though Beth longed for a car

at this point, we trudged back

to the hotel to sleep our final

night in this city.

On the way out of town,

I had to stop in order to

pick up some last minute

gifts for my Memphis friends.

Through an error in communication,

we only stayed three nights at Gulf

Shores...although we thought we

had asked for four nights.

Rather than go home, we

decided to see Bellingrath Gardens

near Mobile. To get there--

rather than go all the way around

Mobile Bay and the city of

Mobile--we opted to take the

ferry from Fort Morgan

(which is the next city east of

Gulf Shores) to Dauphin Island
and then head north.

We picked a perfect day.

The temperature was 99 with

a heat index of 105. WHEW!

Below is a shot of about 1/4 of

the cars that boarded the ferry

with us...

After a popcicle,

MawMaw wipes the
strawberry juice from

Caryn's sticky face.

While the ferry was still out in

Mobile Bay (we had an hour

wait and a 45-minute ride),

I walked out to the docking

area and took these pelicans.

Beth on the shore of Mobile Bay...

Once we got on the ferry,

I took this shot of some

seagulls who hitched a ride.

In the distance is our destination,

Dauphin Island.

Behind us was Fort Morgan.

Ours is the blue car nearest the water.

A closeup of MawMaw and Caryn.

I think all of us but Beth were a

little green around the gills

after this bouncy ride.

A lone gull...

From one of the observation decks,

I took the other one and the

captain's booth.

The American and Alabama flags...

with Dauphin Island in the background...

Some people below were feeding

the seagulls. I thought this

was a phenomenal shot.

This is a shot of Fort Gaines on

Dauphin Island. Fort Gaines was

begun in 1821 and completed

by the Confederate States of

America in 1862.

I just took a chance that when

the camera finally snapped,

a gull would be in view.

What do you think?

After 45 minutes,

Dauphin Island!!!

We stopped at Bellingrath to see

the lovely gardens, but a storm

was looming. We were told that

there were no refunds so

we didn't tour the grounds.

I was disappointed, but

perhaps I'll get another

chance one day...

Our only complete family shot.

After it was made and I looked

at the photo later,

I realized we left room for

Daddy between Mama and me.

We stayed at the Marriott in Mobile,

but I forgot to take photos.

I'm already looking foward to next year!!!