STORMY WEATHER

Hiking In The Rain

6:34

Our Hike

It's 7:15 and I have been up for an hour, watching the heavy winds and waves fill the windows of the Hampton Inn's breakfast room. It's really nasty out at the moment and I didn't even try to walk outside and get a morning photo. I am hopeful that the rain will let up some like yesterday morning so we can get in another hike or at least get outside for a bit. 

Pine Beach Trail

Pines

In The Rain

Yesterday turned out to be a really good day despite the weather. I was up early as always, had my coffee, and scoured the NYTimes and Washington Post for something other than bad news with no luck. We did not really get moving until around 10:00, preferring to relax in our room, finish the blog, and get showers. We decided to go for a hike in the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refugee, about 15 miles away. It consists of approximately 7000 acres of coastal land, ranging from beach dunes to pine-oak woodlands. 

Live Oak At Bon Secout Parking Area

Same Tree

Deer Moss, Both Fungus And Algae

When we visited Orange Beach in the fall of 2021, we also hiked the park. This time, we hiked the Pine Beach Trail to Gator Lake and back, just over an hour, in light drizzle much of the way. It was an interesting and informative walk as every 20 or 30 yards a sign was posted explaining the trees/grasses/plants on the side of our path. Three kinds of pines predominated, Slash, Loblolly, and Sand, and an occasional spectacular live oak and lots of saw palmetto.  

Lookout

Gator Lake

Oaks

We stopped at the Gator Lake Lookout and then walked back to our car. Fortunately, this was a different path from the one we hiked back in 2021. On our way back, we stopped at Ron Jon surf shop and Evie bought a cool backpack and I got an obnoxious aloha shirt. We then ate at Doc's Seafood, home of 'the best-fried shrimp in the entire civilized world.' Well, it was good enough for Evie to exclaim, "Wow, this shrimp po-boy is really good."

So Ugly I Had To Buy It

We didn't get back until 1:30 and because of the weather, we spent the rest of the afternoon in our hotel room, wishing we could walk the beach. I tried around 4:00 but quickly returned because of the wind and rain. So we napped, watched TV, and read, the same things we would have done had we been home. We were excited about going out to dinner to the Big Fish, a restaurant we loved two years ago, and wondered if it was still good. Then, we had great fun at the bar, talking with two brothers from Alabama but graduates of Old Miss.  

1:53 PM

Dusk

So by 6:00, we were showered and gussied up and on our way to the Big Fish, about ten minutes away. It was raining of course as I dropped Evie off and looked for a parking spot. When I walked in, Evie had maneuvered a couple of patrons so we had two seats at the bar. What a girl. Once we were seated, Austin, the bartender asked us if we had been there before because he remembered us, a good start to a fun evening. 

New Friends From Rochester, NY

While Evie talked with a couple from Rochester, NY, who spend six months a year on Orange Beach, I talked with two guys my age, one from St Louis, the other a local. Evie became great friends and they recommended a music event we shouldn't miss on Wednesday afternoon at Flora-Bama's Music Festival. They were fun. We had a hard time deciding on dinner but ended up taking Austin's advice and had three different sushi rolls he recommended for our dinner along with a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. 

Fun Servers

We ended up talking with a couple of servers and playing trivia on the TV screen. One was from Moldova, west of Ukraine and it used to be part of the Soviet Union. He was an interesting guy as well.  We were home by 8:30, tired from our day, watched some TV, and read but went to bed early by 9:30.