Battisto Family Trip to Dauphin Island. June 6th thru June 14th 2015
Friday – June 5th
A “normal” day at work with the exception that there are many things to do as well as finalize preparations for the guys (our 3 service techs, Tom, Andrew & Raul) to take over for the time we are all away. We were busy and everyone was excited to begin this sequence of events. Wish us all lots of luck…
We went directly from work to Aunty Beth’s for “fish night” and met Debbie & Brian (Beth’s next door neighbors) along with Ben & Tina for a nice evening. I wanted to make it an early night but we didn’t finish at Beth’s until after 9 PM so it was a late night finishing packing combined with trying to figure out how to print out Beth’s Boarding Pass. Finally got to bed just before midnight with a wake up call for 3:45 AM. A short night… Good Night!
Saturday – June 6th
Up at 3:45 AM (without the alarm for some reason) to the usual coffee, finish packing panic mode and hit the shower fifteen minutes before Royce was scheduled to arrive to pick us up for the trip to the airport. Royce was on time as usual although groggy so he stopped on the way for a coffee. We hit the road and took 35W South because of all of the construction on our “normal” route(s). Made it to the airport in plenty of time to get thru TSA “BS” and hit the gate 10 minutes before boarding time. Perfect timing. Slower actually because the girls got “Pre-Check” status but I was subjected to the “normal” longer lines. Oh well… The flight was uneventful and smooth in the beginning but the turbulence built as we neared Atlanta. Landed early so we sat on the plane for a few minutes until a gate opened up for us. Headed for the luggage and Dollar Car Rental for our vehicle for the week.
At Dollar, we checked in and got the paperwork then headed to the lot to get the car. The gal at the booth in the lot pointed behind her and said “they are back there, go select one.” So… we headed back and looked in the row she pointed to and found two Dodge SUVs that I wasn’t interested in so we kept looking and found some Chevy Traverses in the full size row and decided to take one of them and see what happened… Nothing happened. The gal at the exit scanned our paperwork and opened the gate. We have a brand new Traverse equipped very close to my Acadia with all of the 2015 features like over the line warnings and side vehicle warnings along with full XM Radio and Navigation.
The trip to Atlanta was relatively smooth with a few highlights. The first stop was a at my favorite place when in the south, Waffle House. Had a great breakfast! They screwed up and brought my waffle and two eggs but included some other sides also (toast and grits…) I sampled the grits but the waffle and two eggs were plenty especially with the 5 hour drive ahead of me… Off we went with only two slow-downs, one for construction over a bridge and the other for an accident where it looked like a truck driver hauling a load of brand new cars must have fallen asleep and run off the road. It was quite a sight to see some of the cars hanging off of the truck while others were strewn around the truck. I’m thinking the insurance company is going to have a field day with this one. It didn’t look like the driver was badly injured but I’ll bet you he was fully awake after that…
The next stop was in Mobile, AL for supplies. We stopped at Target only to find that they didn’t have groceries so we headed for Publix and then stopped for gas for the last leg of the trip. Gas is slightly cheaper here in AL but it was more expensive in GA for some reason…
We finally arrived on Dauphin Island driving over the causeway and headed for the office to figure out where the house was located. After checking in we headed for the “Beach House” and met the rest of the group who had won the race and were already unpacked and out in the water. The Beach House is huge and sits right on the water with the stilts actually in the water at high tide. The water is warm and calm with just a little surf causing a beautiful sound. It’s great for sleeping.
We all (10 of us) headed for Islanders for dinner and had a fine meal and celebrated our first day together as a family. Once finished we headed back for after dinner drinks. I took a swim and found that we need “water shoes” because of what they call “Hurricane Debris” in the water. And yes, there is debris. The water was wonderfully warm and calm. I headed back to the deck and finished solving all of the world’s problems before heading for bed and a good night’s sleep.
Sunday – June 7th (Erica’s Birthday)
Up late (apparently) as most of the adults were already up and about so it was the kids and I still sleeping in. I headed for the kitchen for a few cups of coffee and opened up my Surface to run Payroll (yes, work doesn’t stop…) and catch up on this log. As I did I watched lots of people going by making their plans for the day including swimming to ordering dinner. It was fun to watch and listen to all of them as their plans came together. Some went to the water. Some went to Skinners (a restaurant) to order dinner to be picked up later. I caught up on this log a bit then headed outdoors with my current reading material ( a Clancy series) to catch some rays and relax. The group went to the water so I took some videos.pictures and headed down to the water also. We played water football for awhile then headed up as some of us (not me) went in to town to order dinner while others (the grandkids) headed to the bird sanctuary on the island to see the wildlife. I went back to my favorite chair on the deck and kept reading as I’m trying to finish this series before I head home next week. I’ve been reading this series for so long I’m ready to move on…
Both groups came back and made lunch which I missed but after breakfast and no “real” activity, I wasn’t in need of nourishment. Basically the afternoon was filled with reading and napping and little else. The weather was wonderful. Sunny, a little breezy and very warm so I planted myself in the shade on the deck and just enjoyed the afternoon. About 4:30 PM some went to pick up dinner and by then I was ready. The shrimp and crayfish boil was absolutely wonderful. Spicy but not too much and the side dishes were a great combination. We all really enjoyed learning how to “suck the heads” of the crayfish and peel and eat the tails. All in all a wonderful dinner. After dinner most of the group went out on the deck to enjoy the evening and sunset while Andrew, Isaac and I got ourselves into a game of “3-person chess. A completely different take on the game. We took two hours to complete and really talked thru the last half of the game as it’s so complicated that we all needed to discuss the best way to “off” the other including protecting an opponent to prolong the game so you could win. As it turns out, the first to capture the king wins which means the third party has a vested interest in NOT letting an opponent win. Very challenging and a lot of fun… I got lucky and with help from my friends made the last few moves correctly to kept Andrew from winning A beginners luck night for me. Watch out tomorrow.
As we were finishing our chess game we were instructed to sing Happy Birthday to Erica (still 29) and then went out to see the sunset and watch the stars come out. After dark we all went to the water to chase crabs and sing Happy Birthday once again but much louder as we were outdoors and the neighbors don’t seem to mind. In fact, one of the neighbors dropped by last night to invite us over to their party including a live band … Fun for all. The girls caught a small crab and took pictures with their phones. As I sit here in the dining room finishing this up the rest of the group is on the deck and one of Gina’s favorite Country groups (Zack Brown Band) are playing her favorite songs. I’m in a good spot as it’s loud enough to hear but not too loud as I suspect if I was outdoors which is where I’m headed in a couple of minutes. A great first full day on Dauphin Island. Good Night…
Monday – June 8th
Good morning… I woke up to light coming thru the windows so I headed to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee then out to the deck to enjoy the sunrise and catch up on my reading. After a couple of cups of coffee and a few chapters Mary came out to say good morning. Turns out the dishwasher didn’t do it’s duty last night so Beth and Mary are washing dishes and making the second pot of coffee to get the day started. I’m trying to hook up to ESSCO’s VPN but, like last night, no luck so far. May be the DSL line… I’ll keep trying as we need to order some things to be delivered here while we’re still here. Well, I gave up. No VPN for some reason so I had to place my order the “old fashioned way,” online… Got it done after a great breakfast cooked up by Wayne and Gina (not necessarily in that order although I wasn’t there so, great work both of you).
After breakfast the whole crew except for me took off running errands while I volunteered for kitchen cleanup. I finished just in time for Bennett & Wayne to return with a new board for Bennett to hit the surf with. I sat down and placed the order for the Beach House then caught up with my log. While placing the order the boys (Andrew & Isaac) returned with “supplies.” The weather turned cloudy and windy and it started raining but lasted about 5 minutes and the sun was back out although the surf is higher than it was this morning. Well time to get back to my book, the one I’m finishing this trip… OK, I finished the book… finally… 4512 pages, WOW!
And as I was reading on the deck this afternoon all kinds of things happened around me. Two helicopters flew by, we made sandwiches for lunch, the kids found a BIG fish head along the shoreline (we think it was a grouper or what was left of it…), Wayne had ear problems and Beth had to have surgery on her foot so Dr. Erica came to the rescue, many went in the water for more fun and some water football, and the twins sat with their feet in the water and read. All in all a nice quiet afternoon where all had a chance to do what they wanted. My eyes are complaining because of overuse but I’ll make it. I have a glass of wine and just lit the grill for the fish (grouper, go figure…). Dinner is next…
It was a great dinner as all enjoyed the Cajun grilled fish with zucchini & quinoa. There was ice cream somewhere but I missed it… I was looking over my videos and pictures so far this week. It was a late dinner so many headed for the rack as I finished the video review and started this evening log catch up. All in all, a great day! Good Night…
Tuesday – June 9th
Up just after 6 AM and making coffee when Gina walked out. Surprise… So we had our first cup together and caught up on mostly work related issues. Go figure. Then Erica walked out next but didn’t stay long. Long enough to say good morning and give me a kiss on the cheek. I started my email for the day and Gina started grating cheese for breakfast so here I am at my log again. The sky is cloudy but it’s warm, in the 70s. It sounds like we’ve got a system moving in near us so rain may be likely the next couple of days. I doubt that will slow us down as we’ve got plans to go exploring today no matter what the weather brings. I’m headed for my second cup. Will get back to this after breakfast…
After a lot of coffee and a great shrimp and grits breakfast by Erica and Gina we are watching the lightning and rain move thru as we clean up from the late breakfast and prepare to depart for the Aquarium and other parts unknown. A good day for it as the beach is out of the question with lower temps and lightning. Headed out soon so be back later…
Just got back from the Estuarium and settling in for the afternoon. We enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about Mobile Bay and the Delta. Very interesting. Also found that the Mobile area is one of the wettest in the country rivaling the Seattle for being the wettest area in the country which is ironic because it’s raining cats and dogs and as we walked from the car to the Estuarium the lightning show was spectacular. We’re looking for a good place to have dinner and munching on snacks to hold us over… Just between our late brunch and early dinner. Haven’t made a decision yet but getting close… Well, change of plans. We decided to go get pork ribs, marinate and grill. Yummy. And yes it was. Erica and Gina worked on the ribs, salad and potatoes then threw the ribs on the grill around 7:30 PM so we didn’t actually eat until close to 9 PM. Well worth the wait though as everything was wonderful.
We headed out to the deck for some music and after dinner drinks. Most of us hit the hay around 1 AM. Mary was a little early. She had some intestinal issues so she left the party only to be dismayed by the loud (but good) music on the deck. It was a beautiful night, perfectly clear and warm so we didn’t want to leave it. The stars were brilliant and plentiful. It was a great evening… Good Night!
Wednesday – June 10th
Up around 6:45 AM to the sounds of people in the kitchen/dining area. I was lounging in the bedroom but with others up I decided to see what was up. Turns out Wayne and Gina made a trip to the bakery so I made some coffee and we all dug in. What a feast! Best bakery I’ve had in a long time. Now I know why I don’t do bakeries anymore. Bad for me… Oh well, I’m on vacation they all tell me… As some of the others arrived we kept the coffee coming and watched as others (mainly the adults) shuffle thru. No kids yet. When the kids did arrive I was reading on the deck. Gina and Isaac decided to head for the rental office to pick up the package we ordered from ESSCO. A Hoover, some inlet valves and a filter for the nasty Bissell they had here when we arrived. Gina unpacked to Hoover and I gave it a spin around to see how it did. I filled up the dirt cup in about 5 minutes of use. Lot’s of sand and hair not to mention other “nasties”… The crappy Bissell they had wasn’t doing a thing. Wayne and Gina cleaned it out and I replaced the filter in it from today’s shipment so it ought to at least be functional by the time we leave…By the way, the Hoover Lynx is NOT as good as the Cirrus Broom would have been but adequate, barely…
Most of the others are out on the deck or in the water and we were just told we missed a pod of Dolphins swimming by so I’m changing and headed for the water. Later…
Well, we headed for the water and swam for awhile and as we did the rest of the crew joined us off and on. A little water football and lots of floating and swimming. The pod(s) of dolphins came back by nice and close on their way back so we all got a chance to see them relatively close up. The sun is hot today and the humidity is up, a great day for outdoor activities. The girls stayed on the beach reading and relaxing while I went up for a shower and for once in a long time, some sunscreen. My feet tops are beet red… The rest of me is coming along just fine, thank you…
The group decided to go get dinner (fish and crab cakes) for tonight so Mary figured it would be a good time to explore this little island we’re on. So we changed and headed out to the fish market (reminds me a little of Coastal) for Flounder and Crab Cake makings (homemade to be enjoyed later). After the fish market stop we headed east along the main street to see what the rest of the island looked like. We’d been on the west side and knew what’s located here but nothing about the other (east) side. As Mary drove along I took some pictures and just wondered how so many houses on stilts could withstand Mother Nature… It’s amazing how much construction is still in progress on this island. Too bad kind of, the houses are getting thick on the east side and some of them look like double-wides next some beautiful older homes with character. Oh well, such is life no matter where you go… We got to the end and turned around to head back with a stop at the “famed” Dauphin Island Pier. OK, I’ll be honest, I had no clue of this pier but it was there and we paid $5 to park near it… We walked to the pier and along it to the beach area for another walk to the water. It’s a fairly long walk and in the heat and humidity we all (Mary, Beth and myself) worked up a good sweat. My question couldn’t be answered so I’ll have to research it some time. Why is there a pier in the middle of a sand bar not anywhere near the water? It seems to me I’ll have to discuss this with Karl one of these days as his Global Warming theory includes RISING water, not receding water and clearly this is what has taken place here. Mary and Beth’s take from the little reading they did on the subject had to do with sand moving naturally from east to west but that doesn’t answer where the water went. I could see sand moving along the shoreline eastward but this pier long with the hotel USED TO BE along the water and now there is only sand for thousands of feet making the hotel and pier useless if you want to go swimming…
I’ll have to figure this out…
We headed back to change and cool off on the deck. It’s beautiful as the sun gets ready to set in the west. The surf is crashing in and I’ve got Chicago’s 40th Anniversary Album running on my Jambox. A great combination especially when Elyssa just brought out our appetizers (the crab cakes I alluded to earlier). Homemade Crab Cakes. Nothing like it! THEY’RE GREAT! Thanks Erica and Gina… Time to get ready for dinner. I’m helping with the grilling and probably some of the cleanup. The girls seem to like Wayne helping in the kitchen but I’m relegated to grilling and cleanup although the cleanup has been shared well with many of us including the grandkids. They are doing a great job helping out. All in all a great week so far…
The twins and I are on the deck enjoying the late afternoon warm breeze as the sun sets while the kids are playing on their electronics. The Chicago album I had playing finished so I need to find another album to play until dinner. I’ll be back after dinner…
Dinner was great as usual. The Flounder was grilled to perfection and everyone dug in. Dinners have been later than I’m used to but it doesn’t seem to bother me. We eat two big meals a day, a late breakfast and a late dinner with some drinks and snacking in the middle and that seems to be fine for most. The kids are usually looking for something else in between but that’s normal, right?
We stayed up late playing family games and cards and listening to music, just relaxing. The waves from the surf are captivating and the stars are bright and plentiful. I was the last one up this evening so I turned off the lights and locked up for the night. Another great day! Good Night…
Thursday, June 11th
Up a little later than usual I was met by Gina as she was preparing for breakfast in the kitchen. I started the coffee as usual and had a nice conversation with Gina as we played around in the kitchen. The rest of the crew trickled in and began earnest efforts at their biscuits and gravy. Wayne, Erica and Gina are a team. They move around each other well and work together great. And the results are worth it. Breakfast was wonderful! After a little cleanup we all headed for the deck or the beach for some sun and surf. The day was hot and muggy in the late morning so I stayed in the shade on the deck and read. I’m catching up on my reading. I finally finished Clancy series (4512 pages) and began the Reacher series. I’d already read Child’s first “Jack Reacher” book before so I got thru number 2 and am halfway thru number 3 as I write this. They are a good read. Just enough action to keep my interest. And the bad guys are really BAD…Kinda like Bond, Jones and Bauer. The kind of action and adventure that I enjoy reading about…
The group decided to head for an early dinner (actually I think it was a late lunch) at Pirates Paradise, a “sixties” looking place that served up great seafood, burgers and beer along with a few twists. Most of us stayed on the seafood theme (huge shrimp plates, crab Poboys, and other seafood with the usual sides while I had a great burger, Onion Rings and a couple of beers. A great trip back in time. And the price wasn’t bad considering the quantity of fresh seafood we consumed…
We headed back to the beach house while others stopped at the local grocery to re-stock. I continued my reading until the party started on the deck. Music and cold drinks were in fashion this evening while the kids raided the kitchen once again. The party went into the night but I called it fairly early and jumped in bed with my reader for a time till my eyelids got too heavy. Good Night!
Friday – June 12th (Happy Birthday Ben)
Up early again to the sound of the waves crashing in to the shore. It is another beautiful day on the island and as I walked out from the bedroom Wayne motioned me toward the window to see our favorite Heron standing on the deck big as life. Yesterday he stood on the railing and watched us for a while before heading next door. Today he was walking around the deck. Wayne had been taking his picture thru the windows and even opened the door to sneak a shot. That didn’t seem to bother our guest so I fired up the video on my phone and went to work. I walked out on the deck and started shooting. Mr. Heron didn’t seem to mind as long as I approached slowly, talking in a soothing light voice and didn’t get too close. About four feet was his trigger. At four feet he was definitely cautious but didn’t leave. So I ran in and cut a piece of bread to see if that’s what he was there for. I figured the previous guests or even the owners may have befriended Mr. Heron with food. I brought the bread out and put the chunk on a chair. He acted surprised, backed off an inch and his head came closer to the bread to inspect it. It wasn’t what he was looking for as he just stared back at me as if to say, hey dummy, that’s not what I want… I was told by my Facebook friends (later) that maybe a fish or two would have done the trick. I didn’t have any fish in my current inventory so I’ll have to chalk that up to a learning experience for future encounters with Mr. Heron. As Aunty Beth would say… “anyways”… we watched Mr. Huron for a while longer and tested his tolerance for how close we could get. I moved a little too close taking the video and Wayne was right behind with his camera (a new Sony) so Mr. Heron got real tall then jumped up on the railing. He stayed there for a time as we continued our vigil.Mr. Heron finally took off after a full half hour on the deck. He flew to the next house to the east and landed on the railing there looking for something better at the neighbors but no one showed up so he meandered off at some point.
We walked back in from the deck to see others rising slowly. Gina was in the kitchen making french bread with bacon and sausage for the group.We enjoyed another great breakfast and headed for the deck after the cleanup process (in which someone forgot to start the dishwasher hence my comments further on toward dinner…). Apparently we were in a hurry as the deck and water were calling. The sun was hot and the water was choppy so the girls went down to the water while I stayed on the deck soaking up the sun. The kids headed for the public beach for the day and Erica and Gina headed back to Skinners to order up another fabulous meal of crawfish, shrimp and they added 3 pounds of crab to the menu. Mary, Beth and I took a walk through the bird sanctuary which is more of a wildlife habitat. Apparently there was at least one alligator near the water but we didn’t see it. Plus a plethora of other birds, turtles, snakes and all kinds of other wildlife including a red-headed woodpecker as well as an Osprey tending to “her?” nest as we exited near the beach.
When they got back from Skinner’s we all headed to the beach to bob in the surf. The waves were high enough to keep us busy. The surf was strong enough to feel like it was pulling you out at times so floating and swimming back to the swim area was a constant challenge. A fun afternoon. I went up for a shower while the girls stayed on the beach. I went for a cool one and brought my reader back on the deck. Read for a while and watched the world go by.
The boys returned and hit the water again while the girls watched from the beach. Wayne and I were on the deck watching from “on high” as the afternoon heat broke and a nice breeze developed. I refreshed my cold one (chardonnay spritzer) and read with Mary next to me, she playing games on her nook and I two-thirds through my third Reacher novel. continued…
Once the group began assembling for dinner we solved the world’s problems while setting the table (with the dirty dishes from the morning breakfast rinse, not wash. Beth noticed syrup on one of the dishes that wasn’t rinsed as well as most of the others… We all lived thru it so, no harm, no foul. Right?) and getting the current seafood feast ready to devour. All had plenty, some after the shrimp, some after the crawfish but the crab won the popularity contest. It was most sought after as there was leftovers of most everything else while the crab disappeared…
Cleaning up this time included running the dishwasher… We set up the table for card games and proceeded to play a couple of rounds of cribbage where Erica won the first match and I avenged her on the second so we need to play a tiebreaker at some point. Then the play turned to “500” with Gina and I vs. Wayne and Erica. The play started with a couple of “practice rounds” and then got intense as we concentrated on beating up on our opponents. Gina and I proved the superior team as we took two from the opponents and left them arguing over “strategery.” A fun evening that ended with all of us drifting to bed, I tip-toeing around a sleeping Mary and trying (unsuccessfully) to hit the rack without waking her up. Turns out she was awake because we “apparently” were pretty loud while debating the strategery of the game… Go figure. Good Night!
Saturday – June 13th (Headed for home day)
Got up at 6 AM sharp and headed for the coffee pot. It’s windy and sunny and the surf is roaring in. The girls report that part of the driveway slab broke off in the surf last night although I didn’t hear anything but the surf coming up on shore below me. The water is high enough to be hitting the bank below the house so the sound is quite loud and there is a slight vibration on the house as the surf hits the wood stilts, then the beachhead and then recedes. As I was writing this log I could feel the house shake a bit as I sat at the dining room table and enjoyed the morning sun and my second cup of coffee.
Gina got up next and started on breakfast, a “garbage omelet” which she found out she didn’t have enough eggs for as the “baker” in the group used them on brownies and cupcakes…. So I it the road to find a dozen eggs. First, I couldn’t see thru the windshield. The salt from the ocean spray had coated the car completely so driving to the grocery store was a blur and it wasn’t me. Next, I couldn’t get out. I mean the gate in front of the exit was closed and it wouldn’t open as I approached it. It was either locked down over night or not opening (properly) automatically as I expected so I was stuck… until someone (a local apparently) who knew the system suggested to me he’d open the entrance so I could escape thru the entrance. I understood but expected him to come thru first so I could escape before the gate went down but, noooo, he waited for me… I figured that out before the gate closed so I swung around to the entrance and drove thru, waved a big thank you to the local waiting patiently for me as he was hoping I’d get thru before that gate, remember that gate? came down on me and headed west…
The grocery store wasn’t open yet so I hit the local gas station on the way back and while I was at it, threw a couple of gallons in the car for the trip back to Atlanta. By the way, they are very smart here. They reversed the gas choices making the expensive gas on the left and the cheaper gas on the right, the opposite I’m used to so what did I do? I choose the one I always do, the one on the left which happened to be the $2.99 per gallon gas instead of the $2.69 per gallon gas on the right… Oh well… Very sneaky… I fixed them though, I only put in 5 gallons ($15.00) in the Chevy so I wouldn’t feel completely like I was taken advantage of and I used up all of their windshield washer and the ONLY squeegee available even though there was about 12 gas pumps at this station. Apparently they don’t clean windshields in this part of the world… continued…
There were exactly one dozen “large” eggs in their cooler so I completed my chores and headed back to the beach house. The gate worked properly this time…
Back at the ranch I handed over the goodies and watched Gina do her magic before heading in to the bedroom to start packing. I was supposed to catch up on this log among other chores but the side trip took more time than I planned. Most were up and running around by now so I packed a bit then headed back out to the common area to see what was happening. The flurry of activity was impressive. The boys were taking things down to the truck and Wayne was packing the truck. Teamwork was wonderful to watch. I walked back up the stairs to the kitchen and heard the breakfast bell rung so I watched that activity for a short time but decided I’d better get my share before it disappeared. Fun to watch. Ten people can go thru a lot of breakfast… fast! And there was a LOT of breakfast! Besides the garbage omelet Gina prepared, there was a LOT of leftovers to choose from. I ate too much! That’s all I’ll say here. This week I ate too much! Yummy!
We finished breakfast and started the final cleaning/packing process. Packing, cleaning, organizing and just plain inspection were common by a number of “supervisors.” Mary and I had the vacuums (she had that old POS Bissell and I had the little Hoover), she hit the carpeted areas and I hit the bare floor areas. Isaac had replaced another central vac cover in the hall so I cleaned that area along with whatever I could see in the bare floor areas. The place was shaping up just fine as the rest of the group brought all of their belongings as well as any leftovers down to the sweating and overworked packer, Wayne, at his “pickumup” truck (beautiful Ford, I’m jealous…).
Beth, Mary and I had very little to pack in my new Chevy so we threw the few suitcases and backpacks into the Traverse. I did the remote start thing and got the A/C fired up while we said our goodbyes. I have to admit, it was tough. We’d had a great week and if I could have swung it, I would have opted for another… and another… but I digress… We said our goodbyes and well wishing for a safe return and jumped in the salty rental car and headed north…
The trip to Atlanta was long, warm, frustrating and a culmination of what I will chalk up to as one of my top five vacations I’ve ever had! Hands down. Being with family, my only regret is we couldn’t swing having Jamie and Brian’s family with us this time. We will NOT make that mistake again! We ran into construction and had to crawl through two wrecks to get back to Atlanta by 5 PM EDT.
We made good time until we hit a crash slow down just south of Montgomery, AL which had traffic backed up so we bailed at the nearest Rest Area for a pit stop and to let the traffic clear a bit. We headed back out and slogged through slow traffic for a mile or so then got out of the crash area and got back up to speed. We made it thru Montgomery and took the I-85 turnoff and headed for Atlanta. Smooth sailing most of the way until we were about thirty miles out at which time we were warned about a traffic jam ahead caused by construction but the navigation in the car didn’t offer alternatives till it was too late. We ended up in bumper-to-bumper traffic for about a half hour as we squished four lanes into two over a bridge they were resurfacing. Once past it the navigation seemed to think there was another problem ahead so this time we followed the detour suggested by the damn thing and found ourselves at an intersection off the freeway with the damn computer telling us we were stupid and to turn around. Well, I chalk it up to the blind leading the blind and of course we took it’s suggestion at the completely wrong time not that it gave us alternatives on the first go-around. But I digress…
We finally hit the city limits and followed the now “straightened away” navigation ‘puter to our hotel. It got us there just fine. All bitching aside, the new navigation system in the 2015 GM models is world’s away better than my poor old first gen navigation system. Even with updates it isn’t anywhere near what my phone offers on Google Maps… Oh well, I’m not buying a new car just to get the new nav system just yet…
When we finally hit Atlanta we headed for our hotel, checked in, freshened up and headed to the bar for a martini while we made dinner plans. The gentleman at the checkin desk suggested three restaurants and we compared notes over martinis and a buffalo flatbread appetizer. The girls were real sports making the trip without anything other than a “potty” break as we approached Montgomery, AL while they cleared a wreck north of us. We checked in to the hotel and found it really busy. I guess it was Saturday and people party on Saturday at hotels or something. We threw our luggage in the room and headed down for refreshments. I left first so the girls could “freshen up” and settle in. I met a very nice bartender that knew what I needed which is what I normally have on a Friday, a martini. I texted Kenny and told him we’d arrived in Atlanta too late to get together so we’d have to try next time. The girls followed shortly after in their dinner dresses so we added their martinis to the fun and ordered an appetizer to stave off being too hungry at dinner as we skipped lunch and were ready to eat. We discussed where we were headed for dinner, the week in review and the road trip to Atlanta among other things and decided to head for dinner.We made some decisions and finished our martinis and headed back to the room to change. Headed back down to the car and made our way to Malone’s Steak & Seafood Grill, one of the restaurants recommended. I was supposed to take the back roads after my two martinis but forgot to tell the “Googles” so I ended up on I-85 for a couple of miles. All went well. We arrived at Malone’s and sat down to a great meal (steak, potatoes and Cabernet) along with the friendly banter with the waitress, wine server and the manager. The place isn’t a white linen place, more of a family restaurant, but the food is good and the service was great! We finished and headed back and this time I took the back way… right thru the Atlanta International Airport… Go figure.
Dinner was different than I expected but good after all. The restaurant was rated fairly good but when we arrived it was more of a family place. Nothing wrong with that but it was different than I’d pictured from looking at the ratings as well as the menu. We all had steaks and shared a bottle of wine then headed back so we could get some rest. I left the girls in the room and headed back down to the bar for an after-dinner drink and to catch up on emails, texts and this log.
We finally made it back, parked the car what feels like three blocks away in their “private” parking lot and headed back to the room. I left the girls to their own devices while I went down to the bar in the lobby for an after dinner drink and to catch up on this log. How am I doing so far? I’m going to read a while now, finish my glass of wine and head for the hills. I wanted a rusty nail but my drinking buddy didn’t make this trip so… Good Night…I watched the world go by from my corner table and enjoyed the scenery as well as the antics of people in various states of inebriation. There was a Masonic Lodge party going on upstairs so I watched a bunch of members roaming around in full costume looking like a costume ball or Halloween party. There were Kings and Queens and Princes as well as many other costumed people, all having a great time. I finished this log as far as I was able and headed back up for the night. Good Night…
Sunday – June 14th
We woke up around 7 AM and got ready for breakfast and the trip home. After my shower we headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. The girls had Eggs Benedict and I had a fruit/granola parfait, just enough to hold me over. We’d eaten way too well during our stay for me to want to keep up the feasting or they wouldn’t let me on the plane… There was a mom with her son at a table across from us. The kid kept looking over at us so the girls and I had fun with him. He was looking and smiling, even laughing at times. Mom seemed a bit serious as she shuffled around a bit and then left. Not sure if we had anything to do with it but she seemed stressed. Probably just traveling alone with a child. That can do it…
We finished and headed back up to the room to finish packing. We read for a while then decided to head for the airport so we could sit and read there. We checked out a bit early and headed for a gas station to fill up the rental so we could drop it off and begin our return trip.
After going through the normal routine TSA “BS” of which there was one nice twist (we all got the “Pre-Check” Status this time so the line was a little shorter at TSA) we headed to the gate area and decided to go up to the Gordon-Biersch restaurant to sit and wait for boarding time, a couple of hours away. We sat down and were greeted by a nice young girl who said we could order but she couldn’t bring our beers until 12:30 PM as it was Sunday and you can’t drink before 12:30 PM. Hummm, I wonder who decided on the 12:30 PM time? And I thought Georgia wasn’t a nanny state like Minnesota… Oh well. I guess the nanny state is alive and well all over this great nation… Well it turns out that it was actually 12:29 PM before I was done asking about the “blue” law so she went trippingly on her way to retrieve our beers… We sat and sipped while reading wondering if we should order an appetizer. The girls had had a big breakfast so they weren’t ready yet but I was so I waited for a few minutes and when the server came by to check on us I ordered the Hummus Appetizer. It looked good and as it turns out all of us enjoyed it. In fact, we ordered extra pita bread so we could finish the goodies.
Time got away from us so we paid the bill and headed toward the gate. The girls needed to make a pit stop so I went on ahead only to find they were calling all rows so I jumped into line thinking they would be right behind me and join me in line… Nope, they were no where to be found as I approached the ticket taker so I texted them and told them I’d meet them on the plane. I wanted to try to hold some bin space on top for their carry-ons and it was a completely full flight. Turns out they go the text and where relatively close behind after all so it all worked out. They found spaces in the bins and we settled in to the crappy seats in “steerage” for the return flight. I tried to read to pass the time. The flight was short and uneventful. We landed and headed for the baggage claim area and out to Royce’s taxi service for the ride home. Royce was kind enough to get us to and from the airport to save time, effort and money and I appreciate the time and effort he took out of his day to do that for us. Royce dropped us off then headed to Aunty Beth’s place to drop her off on his way home. Royce, we owe you…
That’s it for this trip. Bottom line, a very nice trip. One we will definitely consider again for no other reason than to see how things will be changed on the next visit. Beach erosion and the condition of our beach house will be of interest… Until next time…
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