(Destination Anywhere – The Commitments)

Off to Daphne.

https://www.buc-ees.com/index.php

On our way we stopped at BUC-EE’S to get some breakfast.

Poor choice.

Buc-ee’s is a chain of convenience stores located in the Central, North, South, and Southeast regions of Texas and Robertsdale, Alabama.

I wish I’d known this before we stopped.

I don’t know what I was expecting but this wasn’t it. It’s almost like a super general store. It has a bit of everything. And a lot of food but no where to sit and eat it.

But it has the biggest and best restrooms I’ve seen down here. Enormous!

A few photos.

What a row of drinks!

A few food choices.

And more food choices.

The only place I’ve ever seen wages posted inside and outside the store.

And the most gas pumps I’ve ever seen.

Needless to say we didn’t buy breakfast here.

We continued our travels to Daphne.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne,_Alabama

Daphne is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay.

Daphne, dating to 1763 (when it was commonly known as “TheVillage”), retains a small-town feel. Spanish moss-draped oaks shade quiet streets. In the town’s center, homes of yesteryear have been converted into distinctive cafès and boutiques.

This community became a resort destination for Mobile and New Orleans residents prior to the Civil War. Wealthy families flocked to the area’s elegant hotels, one of which currently houses BaysideAcademy prep school. In the early 1900s, Italian families settled here and brought their tradition of great food and wine.

We stopped in to East Shore Café in Old Towne Daphne for breakfast.

It’s a small, family run spot with very friendly staff and ok food. Except for their homemade chocolate chip, coconut, and macadamia nut cookies which they presented to us as a first timers gift. Super yummy.

Our next stop was Gator Alley Boardwalk.

“Alligator Alley” is the name of a boardwalk built by the town of Daphne specifically to allow visitors to view Daphne’s scaly wild critters in their natural habitat. The gators are most active in Spring and Fall.

We walked along the boardwalk and met a women who said she saw two floating down the water.

We saw the two alligators.

If you are on the boardwalk they’re harder to see and it’s difficult to take pictures through the chain link fence. But we noticed across from us was the parking lot for the Hampton Inn and it was open to the water. So over we trekked. Perfect.

We had great views of an alligator that kept swimming back and forth in front of us. Yippee. Mission accomplished.

We took our time watching him, her 🤷‍♀️ I don’t know which. It was so enjoyable.

Off we went back home.

Seeing the alligators made our day. 😁

Nite y’all 😴

(2-4-6-8 Motorway – Tom Robinson Band)

Very early morning start.

Can’t believe there was no one out there.

Just us, the sea, the sand, and the sun on our beach this morning.

Beautiful view from our beach.

Now let’s hit the road.

We’re heading north to Daphne and Gator Alley this morning.

http://www.daphneal.com/

Talk later y’all 🙂

(New Age – The Velvet Underground)

Our last Wednesday.

Today started with us heading out earlier to the gym than usual. We wanted to do some of our regular workout before we went something different.

Our gym also includes use of fitness studios at The Cultural Centre. So we finished our first workout and then headed there.

This format was new to me.

Fitness On Demand

https://www.fitnessondemand247.com/

The Fitness On Demand™ platform delivers consistent, high quality fitness media and programming through a variety of channels, creating the ideal virtual fitness experience for any environment.

Outside one of their fitness rooms is this self-service digital kiosk where you can instantly choose a workout.

I’m only showing you one screen. There are many other choices. You can choose easy, standard, advanced, etc. There are formats such as yoga, core strengthening, spinning, dance, and more. Once you make your choice you head into the fitness room where your program will begin in a few seconds.

In the fitness room you see this screen on the wall. Sorry for the poor photo. I didn’t do a good job of this one.

There’s a huge screen on the wall and it displays your workout. They supposedly have the sound synced to a speaker but it wasn’t working so we had very soft sound.

We chose to do two programs.

Stretch Warmup

And then

Core Strengthening

They were great workouts and fun to do. It’s a great concept but it’s hit and miss whether the room will be vacant in order for you to do the programs. Guess that’s something they need to figure out. We were lucky. There was a class in there when we arrived but they were almost done so we just did a short workout in the other rooms before getting the virtual room.

It’s always fun to try something new.

We then drove to Foley where Richard went shopping at Academy Sports + Outdoors and I went to Marshalls. He was happy to find a spool and line for his fishing rod or something like that. I know nothing about fishing gear. In addition we both bought a few things at Marshalls.

Off to Starbucks and then back home to spend the rest of the afternoon reading on the deck. Only 20c but felt much warmer than that.

Another lovely day.

Nite y’all 😴

(Afternoon Delight – Starland Vocal Band)

I was off to the gym this morning while Richard went for a walk on the Gator Lake Trail. He saw lots of birds but sadly no alligators. We plan to go to Gator Alley in Daphne later in the week so hopefully we’ll see gators then. 🤞🏼

Having accumulated lots of US coin we went to Publix and cashed it in. There was $22. Not bad. We really didn’t want to carry all that coin back home but we did save enough for tolls on the way back.

Then off to Starbucks where Richard had his Dark Roast with a shot of espresso but I only had water. They were out of coconut milk and almond milk. Imagine. Out of both. Unbelievable. Hugely disappointed. 😞

But what an afternoon. Not exceptionally hot temperature, only 18c, but on the deck it felt much hotter. Napped on the lounger and then sat and read. I’m getting very lazy. Oh well. That will soon be coming to an end.

My Afternoon Delight

View from standing on the deck.

View from my deck chair.

After such a lazy afternoon sunning on the deck what could be better than a beach walk. It turned out to be a little chillier than I expected as some clouds rolled in but I’m certainly not complaining.

To top off the day Richard made chicken curry for supper. Simply delightful.

Nite y’all 😴

(Mac ‘n Cheese – G. W. O. V.)

Up today and off to the gym and spent an extra long time there today. I did my 60 min. treadmill, then an hour Yoga class, and finished with strength training. The reason for this was because Richard had his last Alabama hair cut today. I just stayed at the gym ’till he was done. As I said yesterday, we’re on the count down of lasts.

What a fantastic afternoon. It was 23c so I soaked up all the rays that I could. Loved it.

Southern Recipe #12

Southern Macaroni and Cheese with Blackened Chicken

Yes, this is my last southern recipe for this year. 😢

And my oh my it was delicious. 😋 It was so cheesy and so creamy. And who doesn’t love blackened chicken. This will definitely be a recipe that gets made again.

I’m not sure if the spice is sold at home so I’m taking some of the Old Bay blackened seasoning home with me.

What a marvellous day.

Nite y’all 😴

(The Final Countdown – Europe)

We are on the final countdown.

It’s amazing how when we began our trip three months seemed a long time. Now I can’t believe we’re down to one week and counting the last time we’ll be doing things.

Like today.

It was our last breakfast at Sunliner Diner.

http://www.sunlinerdiner.com/

Ever since we first ate there we wanted to sit in “the car”. Today was the day.

Then after breakfast we went for our last walk at Gulf State Park.

https://www.alapark.com/gulf-state-park

It’s such a lovely walk. But, alas, we didn’t see any alligators 🐊.

What a beautiful day it was. 🥰

When we got back home we were able to sit on the deck reading and gazing at the water all afternoon. Heaven.

I hope you all had an amazing day too.

Nite y’all 😴

(Big Cheese – Nirvana)

Back to our regular routine: the gym, the grocery store, and then Starbucks. In the afternoon we sat reading on the deck and soaking in the rays of the blazing sun. Although it was only 20c it was HOT. Love it. Trying to enjoy as much sun as I can before we leave.

Southern Recipe #11

Southern Cheesey Bacon Corn Dip

This Corn Dip was warm, creamy, cheesy, and rich. It’s a combination of salty, sweet, and spicy flavours. I served it with gluten free crackers for me and Triscuit crackers for Richard but it would work really well with tortilla chips as a tasty appetizer.We both loved it and agreed we’d make it again.

Later we went for a walk along The Wharf.

https://alwharf.com/

We did lots of browsing in the shops and Richard was the buyer today. He bought some really nice chino shorts.

It was a lovely evening for the walk and an ice cream. Richard didn’t have one so I had two different scoops, one for me and one for him. 😉 Toasted coconut and creamy chocolate cashew. Yum Yum. 😋

Back to the gym tomorrow 🧘‍♀️💪

Nite y’all 😴

(This is the Day – The The)

We finally got to visit Dauphin Island. A bright sunny day was perfect for a little trip.

If you remember five days ago I posted that we tried to go to Dauphin Island but the ferry wasn’t running. Now we got to see it.

Dauphin Island is a town in Alabama, on the Gulf Coast island of the same name. It’s known for stretches of white sand, like Public Beach. At the entrance to Mobile Bay, 19th-century Fort Gaines features original cannons and a blacksmith shop. Migrating birds can be seen in the forest, dunes and swamp of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary. The Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s Estuarium offers aquariums and a living marsh boardwalk.

http://townofdauphinisland.org/

https://dauphinisland.org/

The well-preserved ramparts of Fort Gaines have guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay for more than 150 years. Now a historic site, the Fort stands at the eastern tip of Dauphin Island where it commands panoramic views of the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The Fort was recently designated as one of the Eleven Most Endangered Historic Sites in America due to on-going shoreline erosion.

Fort Gaines is one of the key sites in the famous Battle of Mobile Bay where Admiral Farragut shouted his now-famous order, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” The fort has original cannons, a blacksmith shop, kitchens, a museum, gift shop, and tunnels.

We didn’t spend a great deal of time here. We saw a lot of beach homes so it’s similar to where we are in Gulf Shores in that people rent these places out to Snowbirds and family for their vacations.

Dauphin Island was on Richard’s list of places he wanted to visit while wintering here so I’m glad we got to see it before leaving.

I had to share one last picture from this trip. To my PEI friends and family, look at the Dauphin Island Ferry ticket booth. A bit smaller than the PEI ferry terminals, eh.

An added bonus today was we got back in time to enjoy sitting on the deck in the warm sun. ☀️ Love it ❤️

Nite y’all 😴

(Cocoa and Beignets – Mr. Blue Sky)

We decided to get up very early and head right down to Cafe Du Monde.

The original Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand was established in 1862 in the New Orleans French Market. The Cafe is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, serving coffee and beignets. Beignets were brought to Louisiana by the Acadians. These were fried fritters, sometimes filled with fruit. Today, the beignet is a square piece of dough, fried and covered with powdered sugar.

You can see they have a limited menu. Everyone goes there for the beignets.

Why we decided to go there so early in the morning was because yesterday we saw how long the waiting lines are during the day.

Having no desire to waste time waiting in a line we thought early morning would be the best bet. We were right. Hardly anyone there.

So here’s our breakfast.

Before

Richard: coffee and beignets

Me: hot cocoa (they don’t serve tea) and beignets

After

They were certainly different. I was expecting a much softer texture but they are quite firm and chewy. As you can see we each ate all three of our beignets but there’s such a lot of powdered sugar that we left most of it on our plates. It was an absolute necessity to try them.

We saw so many things during our short stay. Here are a few more photos.

Horse and Carriage Tours

Joan of Arc

France erected the statue in 1972 as a gift to New Orleans, whose namesake, Orléans, was one of the towns Joan of Arc (1412-1431) defended from the English during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).

Streetcars

Streetcars here have been an integral part of the city’s public transportation network since the first half of the 19th century. The longest of New Orleans’ streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue Line is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world

Old Man River

An 18-foot monumental stylized stone human figure made of 17 tons of Carrara marble, resides beside the Mississippi River in the French Quarter. Executed in 1991, the statue speaks to the river’s power and majesty in its rounded, circular body forms, which convey a harmony of the work to its location. The river is connected through the openings of the legs and arms to the land.

It’s description reads:

A Man with a Past

Arms reach empty handed,

God to a city in Love

with Water

Robert Schoen

Artist 1991

Jackson Square

Known as one of New Orleans’ most recognizable landmarks, Jackson Square is a National Historic Landmark nestled in the center of the French Quarter. The 2.5-acre space welcomes over 2 million visitors and locals each year and hosts a number of city events and celebrations, weddings and photography sessions. Jackson Square has even served as a backdrop in a number of popular feature films and television shows. The landmark earns its name for the bronze statue of Andrew Jackson located in the center of the square.

Jackson Square is also the location of an open-air artist colony, where artists display their work on the outside of the iron fence. Visitors even have the opportunity to see the artists at work and perhaps have their portrait drawn by one of the many talents utilizing Jackson Square as their studio.

This was taken around 7:00 a.m.

We spent most of our time in the French Quarter. Perhaps other time we’ll get to all the other things.

We saw this on our early morning walk. I guess they have to clean the streets each morning due to the nighttime revelries.

Sadly, like in a lot of cities, there were many homeless people sleeping and begging on the streets. During our Hop On tour we even saw tents erected below underpasses with people’s belongings scattered around the tents. It was upsetting to see.

I’d say this was my favourite moment.

We accomplished a great deal in our short trip but there’s so much more that we missed. That’s for another time.

Nite y’all 😴

(Decatur Street Boogie – Piano Red)

The one thing that was on my bucket list for this trip was New Orleans. I’m so pleased we got to go there.

One important part of planning a trip is your accommodations. I’d been looking online at various places for weeks and had some wonderful suggestions from friends. I finally decided to book a smaller historic hotel that was within walking distance of places I wanted to see and was also a reasonable price.

I chose French Market Inn on Decatur Street. With my CAA discount we got a Petite Room for $89.95 a night, of course plus tax and plus valet parking, but all in all a great deal. The room was certainly big enough for us.

The Inn was once a private home. It was constructed sometime in the 1800’s for a royal couple, the Baron and Baroness Pontalba. The inn features a courtyard with lush foliage and tables with umbrellas for enjoying the New Orleans atmosphere. I read that there have been reports that it’s haunted. Oooooooo.

https://www.frenchmarketinn.com/

The French Market Inn is on the banks of the Mississippi River in the center of the French Quarter of New Orleans. It’s on Decatur St. and is within six blocks of renowned New Orleans attractions like Jackson Square, the French Market, Aquarium of the Americas, Bourbon Street, Harrah’s New Orleans Casino, and Cafe Du Monde.

It’s a quaint place. Staff was very friendly and the service was quick. We arrived around 10:30 am. This was later than we expected to arrive. Thanks to GPS. I don’t know if it was our error inputting the info or if it just took us a longer way but, thank goodness, part way there we thought we were going a strange way and were able to get ourselves rerouted. We arrived much earlier than check-in time (4:00pm) but they checked us in, stored our bags, and valet parked our car. Sweet. We’d been on the road since 5:00 so we wanted breakfast. The desk clerk told us of a place right around the corner so off we went.

We had a full breakfast for $8.95 so no complaints there. It was tasty and filled us. The place was a bit run down but seemed to be a spot for locals so that’s always a good sign.

When my best friend Lynn and I went to New York we bought a Hop On Hop Off pass. It was fantastic. We first took the whole route to learn about the city and then used it to go to various places during our week there. Richard and I just got a one day pass in New Orleans. Did we need it? Probably not but we used it to do the complete tour loop. It was interesting. Our guide told us a lot about the city and as she was right in front of us I could see in her face the love she has for her city.

We then decided to explore on our own. We took a wonderful walk along the waterfront and then off to Starbucks and a bathroom. Lol. Couldn’t pass up taking this photo on the escalator. We went back to the waterfront where I spotted a choir performing. They were from Cheltamham High School in Philadelphia and were touring here. In total there were 94 students comprising an orchestra, a band, and a choir.

This is their choir and band. I didn’t get a picture of the orchestra.

I had to take this photo of the choir as they were performing Bring Me Little Water Silvy by Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly) which my Elm Street Girls Choir had done my last year of teaching. It brought back lovely memories. They also sang What a Wonderful World which my choir had also performed.

During our waterfront walk we saw the paddle wheeler Natchez leaving on a tour cruise.

I took a few pictures and it was funny when I was looking quickly through my photos of them. It seemed like the boat was moving just like one of those little books we used to make as kids.

Off to walk around the French Quarter.

The French Quarter is the city’s historic heart, famous for its vibrant nightlife and colorful buildings with cast-iron balconies. Crowd-pleasing Bourbon Street features jazz clubs, Cajun eateries and bars. Quieter streets lead to the French Market, with gourmet food and local crafts, and to Jackson Square where street performers entertain in front of soaring St. Louis Cathedral.

We walked around for a while hearing music in lots of places, a lot were pop or rock cover bands. Then we stopped at the Musical Legends Park.

Here are some of the statues displayed there.

Sitting, drinking our beer and margarita, and enjoying some jazz. Heaven.

Off walking again and arrived at Jackson Square. Saw some tarot card readers, a magician, henna tattooists, an escape artist, and a violinist.

I was disappointed in the violinist. Initially it seemed that he was very good until I noticed him stop playing his instrument but the music magically continued. Oh technology.

We continued walking and touring until we realized we were tired and started looking for a dinner spot with some live jazz. We eventually found one almost next to our hotel.

Here’s our meal plus I think I drank at least four glasses of water. The meal was really good. I had Caesar salad and Richard had macaroni and cheese and Brie with apple chutney. I couldn’t pass up a slice of delicious flourless chocolate cake.

Then we called it a night. TIRED. Have to be ready for tomorrow.

Nite y’all 😴