Orange Beach, Part 2, Oct 16-18

 Saturday, Oct 16

Despite a forecast for early morning rain, I hoped to get my morning walk.  Just as my toes touched the sand, a few fat drops began to fall and the sky looked ominous.  I turned around and went back to the shelter at the pool.  It rained hard for a few minutes, but quickly passed and I sent out again.  The time stamp for sunrise showed only rain and overcast.  

Very few walkers or fishermen were out.  I was rewarded by seeing 3 willets and a snowy plover. The willets are common on the beach and often seen feeding with a flock of tiny sanderlings.  I’ve been surprised that I haven’t seen them every day.  The tiny plover is more uncommon on a crowded beach.  

Shy little Snowy Plover

I promised the kids pancakes for their last morning, with sausage of course. Cooking with gluten-free flour is different and always an experiment to get the texture right.  The pancakes were okay and the kids were happy.

After breakfast there was time for the pool while David packed the car.  A quick lunch of leftover pizza and they they were on their way by noon.

Bill and I spent the afternoon packing for our departure tomorrow.  The wind has been too strong today to enjoy the beach.

Last Sunset Walk:

Sunday, Oct 17

Good-bye Orange Beach.  We hope to see you next year.  We were loaded and out of the condo before 8:30.  We detoured to Joe Patti Seafood to stock up on shrimp - 12 lbs for me and 10 lbs for Kathy. 

Shrimp on ice will make the 2-day trip back home.

We detoured again, taking state route 31 from Flomaton to Evergreen to avoid a construction back-up on I-59.  It was an easy country drive on a good road.  The only travel problems we encountered was very rough patches of Alabama interstate.  We made it to Gadsden by 4:30 and had a restful evening after a tiring day of travel.

Monday, Oct 18

On the road again at 8:30 (9:30 EDT). At Chattanooga we detoured to Hwy 27 and enjoyed that drive - much better than fighting the trucks through Chattanooga and on up I-75.  We got home at 1:15 and soon had both the X-terra and boat unloaded.  Bill always likes to put the boat in the lake to run fresh water through the motor and to wash salt off the bottom and off the trailer.  We had a cool ride up the lake, seeing no significant fall color yet.

Back in home waters

I put 14 bags of shrimp, 3/4 lb each, in the freezer and reserved 1/2 lb to make shrimp and grits for our supper.