Journey to Orange Beach - Oct 25-26

Wednesday, Oct 25

 Our annual fall journey to Orange Beach, Alabama (LA- Lower Alabama) began at 9 am on Oct 26 as we pulled out of the driveway. A trip of a thousand miles requires lots or pre-planning and we were ready.  This year we did not take the boat and will focus on the beach and surf-fishing.  That works much better for David's young family.  Our first stop is always Bojangles in Loudon for breakfast biscuits.  

It took us slightly more than 2 hours to reach the Alabama Welcome Center for a break.  Another 2 hours landed us in Pelham, south of Birmingham for lunch at Applebees.  After lunch we drove for just over an hour to the Bass Pro Shop at Prattville, near Montgomery, to get a fishing license.  I decided not to get one this year.  After another hour and a half we reached our final destination for the day, the Sleep Inn at Evergreen, our usual stop-over. After a little rest we went to the Piggly Wiggly next door for a micro-wavable supper.

Thursday, Oct 26

No need to rush this morning except that the breakfast service ended at 9 am.  It was a typical motel breakfast, but got us on our way.  We had less than 2 hours of driving to get to Joe Patti Seafood in Pensacola. We drove through the old city, a beautiful historic district, with wide boulevards reminiscent of Savannah or New Orleans. Pensacola was first settled by the Spanish in 1559, but abandoned 6 years later after a hurricane.  It was not re-established until 1698.  It is called "The City of Five Flags" because it has been under the domain of Spain, France, Great Britian, USA and Confederate States of American.

Joe Patti Seafood on Main St is the go-to market for seafood of all kinds.  I bought shrimp and flounder enough for several days, as well as shrimp and mullet for bait. Going to Joe Patti's is always an experience!

By now we were ready to eat so we continued to Perdido Key for lunch at Fisherman's Corner, under the bridge.  The Gumbo Salad looked irresistible and it was!  Fried Oysters, Shrimp and Crawfish on a bed of lettuce with a selection of sauces- cocktail sauce, remoulade sauce and plantation sauce (thousand island).  We saved the lettuce for supper.  We had time for grocery shopping before going on to Orange Beach

We checked in to Phoenix East 2, 2041 at 3:30 and had just enough time to get everything unloaded and put away.  I had just settled on the deck for a pre-chaos glass of wine when they rolled in!

They made it just before sunset, in time for a little beach fun.

I planned pizza for the kids and made Shrimp Alfredo for our dinner.  It is one of Trisha's favorites and easy to to with Bertolli Alfredo Sauce.  The shrimp was 2 pounds of Royal Reds, peeled & deveined to make it easy.  Left-over lettuce was the base of our salad and fresh french bread from Patti's topped off the meal.