A Hike, The Beach, And A Bar

6:18

6:51

7:03

It's a cloudy morning here at the beach, no sunrise to speak of, just lots of clouds, water and sand.  The breakfast room was packed with girls from the University Of California at Santa Barbara soccer team here for a tournament.  I am literally one of two people enjoying breakfast at the moment.  We may have to do some shopping today if it does not clear up. Forget what I just said.  The sun just burst through the clouds at 6:52, filling the Gulf with its reflection.  Maybe it will be another beach day. 

Trail

On The Boardwalk

Yesterday we decided that after our breakfast and writing the blog, we would drive 14 miles to the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.  It's a semi-tropical forest with over 350 species of birds identified over the years. Guess what?  We never saw a bird, keeping up with our hiking tradition of never seeing any birds when we walk the woods. We did however see a marvelous yellow butterfly, hopping from one red flower to another.    

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly On A Mandevilla Plant (Maybe) 

The walk was an easy mile loop, with a few boardwalks but mostly crushed stone.  We met two women on their second round of the walk but that was it. The forest was mainly oaks, pines, palmettos and magnolias.  It was a pleasant respite from the beach, a ride along the Gulf Shore peninsula, people mostly by high rises with a few cottages or houses still standing firm. 

Chilly But Refreshing

We were back at the hotel by 10:30, relaxed for a bit then went down to the beach for a couple of hours until 1:00 as the wind was picking up, making it unpleasant unless the wind was at our back.  I did go for a a swim, body surfed a few times but the waves were too small.  We then went up to our room and Evie made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, yum, reminding me of school lunches and we watched the depressing show on TV of Congress debating whether  Representative Gosar should be censured.  Listening to the Republicans defend him made me fear for democracy, as they used their time for grandstanding and a political show. We went down to the beach around 3:00 to be washed of their hypocrisy and think about the beauty of the Gulf waters and sky. The wind had not let up and even increased some so we were down for only an hour before going back to our room.  

We ended up watching the vote to censure Gosar, with a few brave Republicans supporting it.  And, of course, they will probably be censured by fellow Republicans. We then spent the next hour trying to decide where to go eat and almost missed the glorious sunset.  I was able to take a few photos from our balcony but should have been on the beach. 

4:50

We finally decided on The Big Fish, highly recommended, about two miles from us.  We got there just after 6:00 and to our dismay, the bar was filled. The waitress was nice enough to let us sit at a table in the bar and wait for a couple of seats to open.  And after maybe five or ten minutes, two seats opened up and we were at the bar.  It proved to be a propitious move as we then spent the next hour talking with two brothers, both about our age, who have had a home here at Orange Beach for 50 years, their parents having bought property in the 1950s for 2500 bucks. They both are proud graduates of Ole Miss and live in Mississippi, an easy two-hour drive to Orange Beach. 

Dinner With Dabney And Greg

They loved Evie, of course, and we enjoyed their southern charm, friendliness, and accent.  They had no idea as to where we were from but remembered a city called Rochester in New York. Their house started out as a cottage but after four different hurricanes and a house that was moved because it was going to be demolished, they now have a home with eight bedrooms and five bathrooms, right on the beach.  They are in the process of a 300,000 rebuild, a result of a storm last Spring.  Dabney recommended two restaurants in New Orleans and was vehement about going there.  They were both fun to talk with and thank goodness politics never entered into the conversation because I am sure we are both at the opposite ends of the political spectrum, sad but true.  When they left, we ended up talking with the bartender who told us his story, growing up in Birmingham, going to Auburn, living in Virginia but flying home every weekend.  Now he has a good job in Orange Beach and bartends just for the fun of it.  It was a great night and everybody overshadowed the food, crab cakes for me, grouper for Evie.

We left the restaurant at 8:15 and were home by 8:30 and watched TV or read until we got bored with both, turned off the light and hoped for a good night's sleep.

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