For spring break this year we headed down to the gulf Shores area of Alabama. We stayed in a condo in the town of Orange Beach. It is located between Pensacola FL and Mobile AL. Mariah couldn't join us this year as her spring break did not line up with Hailey's and Kara's. Kara's friend Alissa and Hailey's friend Mikhaela came along, so there were 6 of us going down in t he van. It is about a 1350 mile trip, and we split it up over 2 day The first day we drove down to Hayti, Missouri. We stopped in St. Louis at the Gateway Arch to give ourselves a break and see some this monument to westward expansion. Underneath the arch is a museum with information about the westward expansion with various models of the carts, carriages and equipment that the settlers used.
We drove to Memphis and made a stop at Elvis Presley's home, Graceland. We did not take the tour due to time constraints, but enjoyed going through the gift store and also seeing all the fans who were lining up for the tour. The parking lot and gift store are across the street from the mansion, so people line up to hop on a bus which takes them to the mansion. At the parking lot area, there are 2 of Elvis' jet planes (behind a fence so you can't see all of them without going on the tour). From Memphis, we made out way to Orange Beach.
We arrived at Orange Beach about sunset on Saturday evening, and it was a beautiful evening, with clear skies and sliver moon setting over the pond and lowlands behind the condo. Hurricane Ivan went through the area in 2006 and topped off many of the trees in the swamp. It would have been interesting to see the area before it was damaged so severely by the hurricane.
Sunday we relaxed at the beach, which was located just across the street from the condo. It was about a 5 minute walk from our front door to the beach. The beach sand is very white and powdery. It squeaks as you walk on it due to the fact the shape is somewhat round and it is silica based. the squeaking varies due to humidity and temperature. One of the things I noticed and liked about the area was that there were no tents or stages set up on the beach area, just a lot of people and wide open sands. Sunday evening the kids went to see the movie Hunger Games, which at opened on Friday at the Wharf theater. The Wharf is part shopping center, part resort and amusement park. Hailey had wanted to go the movie at midnight on Friday, but we were leaving on Friday morning.
On Monday, we had a nature and animal day. We went to Alligator Alley in the morning, which is an alligator farm about 30 minutes north of Orange Beach. The first things we saw when we pulled into the place were some Longhorn cattle. They were on the other side of pasture and quite far away, but you could still see how wide their horns were. Inside the farm, they had many 1 and 2 year old gators in various pools on the site. The large gators were roaming freely in a large pond and swamp area. They put on a show and feed gators 3 times a day. Although the gators are wild, they have figured out where their meals come from and start to work their way to feeding area as soon as people start to fill in the stands. Also, the people feeding the gators pound on the cooler full of meat, which acts like a dinner bell to them. I still would not like to be down that close to a full size gator, though. All the kids got to hold a 3' baby gator(with its mouth taped shut) and get their pictures taken.
We then went to the fishing pier and beach at Gulf Shore State Park for the afternoon. The fishing pier is 1/4 mile long out into the gulf. At the end of the pier, they have dumped 5 piles of debris that become reefs for the fish. The fishing must be pretty good as the end of the pier was filled with fishermen and their large wagons filled with multiple rods, tackle boxes, nets and bait. We saw a few fish being cleaned at the cleaning stations about halfway down the pier.
Our last stop for the day was a dolphin cruise looking for dolphins swimming through the bay. About 45 minutes into the cruise, we headed over to a shrimp boat working in the bay. There were many seagulls following the boat, along with another dolphin cruise boat. As we got closer, we started to see a bunch of dolphins continually surfacing and diving. It looked like there was about a half dozen dolphins in the group. Besides the dolphins, we also saw some loons and pelicans following the boat and enjoying the shrimp
Tuesday, we got up early and headed over to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. The Blue Angels are based here and practice most weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The public is allowed to watch the practice, which is a full 45 minute show with everything except the narration. For me, it was the best event of the vacation. It is just amazing as to how tight and clean the formations are. Out on the tarmac were many old obsolete Navy aircraft and and old Blue Angels C-130 transport and one of their old jets. Also on the base is a museum of naval aviation, filled with planes, helicopters, blimps and even a space capsule.
Inside the museum were multiple shells of planes that we were allowed to climb into and see how we would fit (some of us fit better than others). But it was fun to be able to have our pictures taken inside the cockpits of these incredible machines. I highly recommend this museum for anyone who has any interest in flying if you are ever in the Pensacola area.
After the museum, we headed out to Pensacola Beach for the afternoon. This is another beautiful beach area. We just stopped at the first beach area, but could have gone another 10 miles in either direction and seen nothing but sand and water.
After traveling a lot on Monday and Tuesday, we took it easy Wednesday and just hung out on the beach and at the condo for most of the day. We went for an early dinner at Lulu's, which is a fun restaurant (owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister) on the inter-coastal waterway in Gulf Shores. We then stopped at the souvenir stores (there were about 6 withing a block or 2 of each other. After dinner we went mini golfing and Mikhaela and Hailey went go card driving.
Thursday we chilled at the beach, played in the large waves that were coming in that day and enjoyed some of the sand sculptures that people had made. In the evening, we went to dinner at Tacky Jacks, a bay side restaurant. At both Tacky Jacks and Lulu's we got lucky and got tables at the perimeter, overlooking the water. Thursday evening we started to pack up as were were heading back on Friday morning.
On Friday morning we got going about 9:00AM for our trip back to the Twin Cities. We took a little different route back home, taking us to Nashville, Louisville and Indianapolis. We got delayed on the south side of Birmingham due to a manhunt and capturing of a local fugitive, which had closed the southbound side of I-65 and slowed down the northbound lanes. After about an hour of delay, we got past the scene, although we didn't see anything. Then on the north side of Birmingham, we hit a lot of rain and slow traffic due to at least 3 accidents. We figure over the 100 miles north of Birmingham, we lost another hour of time.
We got to Nashville about 7:30 PM and we stopped to see the Grand Ole Opry. There was performance going on, so we weren't able to go in, but still took some pictures. By this point in the trip, the girls had figured out that when we saw something interesting, they would gather together for a group photo. Across the street from the Grand Ole Opry is a shopping center. It was packed on a Friday evening, and interesting enough it closed at 9:00, which seemed early since it was still so crowded. We grabbed a bite at about 8:30, and it seemed like more people were filling the mall than leaving the mall at closing time.
We headed north and figured we would grab a hotel along the way. Surprisingly, every hotel we stopped at was full and booked. The area north of Nashville and into Kentucky is a popular vacation spot as there are many attractions and historical spots (such as civil ware battle grounds and Fort Knox), and since it was spring break it was very busy. We did find a hotel in Elizabethtown and hunkered down for the night about 11:30, making for a long day.
Saturday we got up and made a couple of stops in Louisville, KY at Churchill Downs and the Louisville Slugger Museum. Our first attempt to get to Churchill Downs was interrupted due to a large Papa Johns run going on around Louisville campus. Since we couldn't across one of the streets, we then drove downtown past the minor league baseball stadium and stopped to take some photos at the home of the Louisville Slugger. Out front is a 120' tall baseball bat. Inside is a working manufacturing facility, which churns out bats for both pros and amateurs. This time we headed back to Churchill Downs from a different direction and found our way. We just saw the exterior of Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby) and took a few photos out front in front of the Barbaro statue.
We left Louisville and headed to Indianapolis. We drove under the stands and into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Inside the speedway is a museum and 4 holes of a golf course inside the oval. Bus tours can take you around the track.
We decided we had made enough stops along the way (although I think it is the journey and not the destination that can be the best part) and continued on to Minneapolis. One more traffic delay due to a double rollover accident north of Rockford, IL slowed us down again, but we finally got home about 9:30. Overall we traveled about 3,000 miles without any major problems or calamities. A fun trip with the kids and their friends.
Ray went to Baltimore and had the opportunity to go to the Oriole's Wednesday night baseball game at Camden Yards. the park is located near downtown and has a neighborhood feel. This is the 20th season that the Orioles have been at Camden Yards, although it doesn't seem that long. Camden Yards was one of the first modern parks to be built more like the old style parks.
On the way to the park, he stopped at the grave site of Edgar Allan Poe. He is buried right in the middle of town in a small graveyard next to a church. There are about a dozen grave sites at the church.
Ray had looked on line for tickets and got very lucky finding a single ticket in the 12th row behind home plate (for about half price of face value) and jumped on it. There were quite a few scouts and baseball people sitting down in this area with their briefcases and charts. The guy in front of him was keeping track of the umpires and how well they kept the game moving between innings and how they reacted in different situations.
On Thursday after his meetings, Ray went to the inner Harbor area and walked around. There are multiple piers that have a lot of restaurants and shops. On one of the piers was a squat light house called 7 foot knoll lighthouse that had been moved about 15 miles from its original location.
In the harbor were various ships that were open for tours, including the coast guard cutter Taney that was at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attacks in 1941. This was last ship from the Pearl Harbor attack to be retired from active service. There was also a submarine and a mobile lighthouse.
On the south side of the harbor was Federal Hill, which is a popular park that is an rising above the harbor. The view back to the city is fantastic. Beside the park are a lot of art studios. All along the harbor are many museums, so there were a lot of school buses and kids touring the area.
Even though Ray didn't have a lot of time, he was able to see a lot and enjoyed Baltimore. There is so much history in the area and famous people who are from there (such as Babe Ruth, Francis Scott Key and Betsy Ross), that it would be easy to fill a few days exploring.
