Trip to Alabama--Part 2--Section C

When I found out I was going to Alabama, one of my very first thoughts (besides palm trees) was fishing. I absolutely love to fish, so you can imagine how excited I was knowing I was going to be next to water with all different kinds of fish. Fish that I've never even seen before. I was so anxious.

So, to start out day 2...we went fishing!!

At first we fished off of the pier in Fairhope. (About a mile away from my Aunt's house.) The weather was not really the greatest. It was super windy, and sort of later in the morning, so the fish weren't biting.

Determined to show me an *Alabama* fish, we picked up and went to another spot. We were on a mission!

At the second spot (a few docks down), the luck wasn't any better. We did however see a friendly little man on a motorized wheelchair cart. He'd come and talked to us while we were at the first spot, and then he'd made his way down to spot number 2 in the meantime. So, we got out and asked if the fishing was any better at this spot, and found out that it wasn't. He did tell us a pretty cool story though. He said that on this dock, there is usually a Pellican. One that was hurt when hurricane Katrina came through. He said that lots of the locals know about him. They've named him Henry, and they bring him food because he's not able to fly very well anymore.

At the time he was telling us, it was just a story. I'd tried to picture what Henry looked like, but I really wanted to see him!

Lucky for us, a few minutes later...in flew Henry!!

He stayed for a little bit, let me grab some pictures of him, and then was on his merry little way.

As were we.

We got in the car, and tried one last place. "Fish River" at Weeks Bay. I mean if there were fish anywhere..it would have to be fish river, right?!

*Right!!!* It was at this place that AK pulled this beauty out of the water!!! They weren't super excited about it because it's "just a flounder" but I couldn't really contain my excitement...I mean, this "flounder" is totally the fish on Finding Nemo with 2 eyes on one side and *none* on the other side (See exhibit B). It's completely flat, and if I wasn't obsessed with Finding Nemo, I could honestly say that I've never seen anything like it in my life!! It was awesome!

They said it was pretty rare to catch a flounder out of this river because they generally sit at the bottom and you have to use a jig to tap them on the side because it's not like the swim through the water, and can actually see the food. It was sort of a hit and miss type thing. It was fate. I had to see an Alabama fish!! Plus, if you look at exhibit a, you'll see that apparently this little guy was starving. He tried to put his teeny tiny mouth on a not so teeny tiny piece of shrimp. Way to take it like a champ Mr. Flounder. It was worth the sight of you.

After fishing, the plan was to go back home and shower/get ready for the day. That soon changed when I realized we were only about 30-45 minutes away from Gulf Shores. (The beach town that we'd stopped at on the first day) I begged and begged to just keep on heading that way, and make our way back to Gulf Shores to see the beach just one more time. (Just kidding...I didn't really have to beg. AK was pretty much like hey..this is your time, we'll do whatever you want. It was so great. Thank you AK :))

Soooo...back at Lulu's we were. For some crazy reason...I put my butt in the butt bucket. For picture purposes I guess. I did put a fresh layer of sand in there though, before my bum came anywhere near the bucket!

Lulu's has the most amazing, neverending sandpit behind the restaurant. I so love this place!!

I played with the sand as long as I possibly could. It was so fun to just relax, and play in the sand. No worries. No stress. ...Well...it was kinda stressfull when my sand castle collapsed. Turns out you have to mix a little bit of water with the sand in order to build. So technical.

We took a few pictures on some ginormous chairs.

Played a little ring game.

Played in the sand a little more...

And then we left. We were all starving, so we went down the road (still in Gulf Shores) to get some grub at a place called *The Hangout*

And oh man!! I thought I loved Lulu's!!!!
The Hangout was just as wonderful!! Instead of a neverending sand pit, they had a *beach* behind their restaurant.

Actually...the beach was more to the side of the restaurant. So, as we were eating, we were watching the parasailers. It was crazy windy that day, and this one dude was catching some mad air!!

After we ate, we of course couldnt leave until we went to the beach. I wanted to bring some sand and seashells home.

So, we seashell hunted. Which for me only lasted about 2 minutes. I was so distracted by drawing in the sand...

And feeling the sand between my toes (my favorite!!!)

And learning about how the oil spill is still in full effect...and actually seeing that on the shells...

And taking pictures...

And chasing waves. (Yes, the water was freezing. No, I didn't care.)

I couldn't get enough of the whole feet in the sand/water thing. And I sooo miss that.

It's unfortunate that it was so cold and windy. I could have stayed at the beach allll day!!

I was happy to see that rollerblading on the beach is prohibited, though. I was super worried about someone trying to perfect that sport. Thanks beach rules. You probably save lots of lives.

At first I started with just my feet in the water. Then I wanted to walk in a little more, so I rolled up my pant legs. Then AK wanted to take my picture...I turned around (back against the waves) and a huge wave washed up against me. The result was an "Oh, well...already wet...might as well keep playing" attitude, and some very wet pants, necessary of changing.

The hangout had the raddest decorations! They had a wall full of old school lunch boxes, and this wall with pez dispensers!!! So great!

Then it was time to beat the storm, and head home. Thank *you* Gulf Shores. You were beautifully wonderful!!

To end the perfect second day of my vacation, we got ready (finally around 8ish), and went to a local bar to play some poker. I do have to say that Alabama "poker" is like nothing I've ever played before...but it was fun, and friendly (for the most part. ;))

We couldn't call it a night without pictures (basically a photoshoot) by the famous fairhope clock, so that's what we did.

It was another very, very busy, packed tight day but every single bit of it was worth it!! It was packed full of good times, and great memories!!

Tomorrow we'd wake up bright and early, and head to "Nawlins".

Trip to Alamaba..Part 2--Secion A.

Okay, so first things first...I totally lied.

I thought I'd be able to put my *vacation* portion of this trip into one post, and I was completely wrong.

New plan of action: I'll be posing day 1, day 2, and then day three (New Orleans)!

So, to pick up where we left off...It's Tuesday morning. My Aunt has just picked me up from a 14 hour flight. I've had *roughly* an hour of sleep. Basically I've been up since 7AM Monday morning. I'm extremely tired, but so excited at the same time. It's a weird feeling.

I landed in Pensacola, Florida which is an hour outside of where my Aunt used to live. We took the long way home so I could check stuff out! During which I contemplated taking a couple of hours to catch up on some beauty sleep (turns out after you fly for 14 hours, you need a little bit of that). It was a raging battle in my head, I was exhausted, but as soon as I reminded myself where I was, and how little time I had, there was no way I could lay down and take a nap!

Our first stop was at a place called "Flora-Bama". It's smack dab on the border of Florida and Alabama.

We bought some scratch lottery tickets, and won a dollar. Bought another one, won another dollar. Bought another one, won another dollar. Rinse and repeat about 6 times, seriously. Then finally, on our last one..we won 10 dollars! Sweet, got our 10 back, and bailed.

*Bailed* to inside of the bar.

It was on our first stop that I saw one of the coolest things on this trip. It's a freakin' Lobster getter, claw machine!!! You know the claw machines where you spend 15 dollars trying to win a 35 cent stuffed animal? Yeah..it was one of those, except for your prize was a lobster. A lobster!! Seriously?! Hello, how awesome is that?! It's really a shame that (it wasn't the season/right day/perfect time) all of the lobsters were sleeping in the corner, and I wasn't able to catch one!

The picture below is in the parking lot of Flora-Bama. You can see the Welcome to Alabama sign, and in the picture to the left, you can sort of see our rental van.

Oh, and in case you don't happen to notice...you can see the *beautiful* bright blue skies. Man, it's so hard for me to look at these pictures. I thought I'd get a vacation fix and be good for awhile, but no. It was more like a vacation tease, and I'm ready to go back..right now. Please.

The inside of Flora-Bama sort of reminded me of Coyote Ugly in Vegas, and the only reason I say that is because of the bras hanging from the ceiling! It looks like there have been some hoppin times in this place. I can't wait to go back and see what it's like on a weekend in the summertime!!

Prepare yourself for my beach ramble..

Lately, everything I hear about the beach is mostly talk. Meaning, it's been a really, really long time since I've actually been to the beach to experience it myself. So, naturally, I thought it was *so* overrated.

People would say they could spend hours on the beach, I think..."ugh..doing what? Boring."

Then they'd say they'd go to the beach any day of the week, and that they missed the beach. I mostly just let it go in one ear and out the other. No big deal, it's just water, and some sand.

And then...we walked out the back doors of Flora-Bama, and there she was.

Lookin' all sexy and stuff. The water was so beautiful, and the white sand was soooo soft. I instantly took my shoes off, and ran to the water.

I know you're thinking "It's the middle of winter, she's crazy!"

You are right. But I didn't care. I. absolutely. loved. the. beach. And yes, I could have stayed there for a lifetime and never got sick of it.

The water was freezing, but I still stood in it until my Aunt was halfway up to the car. (the skies are so deceiving!! It was cold the whole time I was there!--of course they were having a cold front. The one time I vacation there!)

I was blown away by the sand. It was so, so, so soft, and beautiful!! In fact, I brought some home...and out of all of my luggage, it was the sand that I was constantly protecting!

I love the beach. I miss the beach. I want to go back to the beach. It's so not overrated, it's basically the greatest thing, ever.

The drive through Gulf Shores, Alabama was so pretty!! I *never ever ever ever* pictured Alabama to look the way that it did. It's more like Florida, really. I pictured it to look sort of HIC-y. I pictured people missing their front left tooth, and saying thing like "Welcome to Aleh-*beyam* ah" while they were chewing on a piece of cornstalk.

Apparently I was slightly wrong.

If you're like me, you're facsinated by the landscape.

If you're like me, you've never seen houses on stilts before.

If you're like me, you're pretty sheltered, and you thought the white stuff in the picture above was snow.

Apparently it's white sand. But it looks *just* like snow! Crazy!

If you can look at these pictures, and not want to go on a vacation, there might be something wrong.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile..you know that I love (have an obsession) with palm trees. To me, they scream vacation. I don't live in an area where I see them on a daily basis, so when I do get to see them, I like to take excessive photos. They are so pretty!!

This next picture is my absolute favorite!!! How dreamy and catalog like does this place look?!?!

It's called LuLu's. This is where we ate on our way to the house on the first day. I loved every second of this place. It was absolutely adorable, plus the beach sand had somehow made its way to this place. More on that later. I totally played in the sand.

We got some grub at Lulu's, played in the sand, ate the most magificent Key Lime Pie I ever have and will eat, choked down the hottest pepperoncini's We ever have and will ever eat, and then it was on to Fairhope!

Fairhope is a small town in "low-uh" Alabama. It reminds me of Oakley mixed with Sugarhouse. Two small towns that I've lived in. It's really pretty, and *full* of trees. It's green all over, and there's water within a mile almost everywhere. The people there are super friendly, and it's true...in the South, everyone calls everyone "Sugar, Honey, Babe, Dear" They also say ya'll like no one's business. Even the man at the fast food restaurant said "Is there anything else I can get for ya'll?" I got a kick out of it, every time!

My Aunt took me to the Fairhope Pier before going and seeing where she lived, and I decided that I really, really, really wanted to go back there and take pictures of the sunset on the water.

I also decided that since we were so close to the water, I wanted to fish that night. I was soooo anxious to fish in Alabama. I wanted to catch a fish that I'd never seen before, and I also wanted to catch a monster. Not asking for much. More on fishing later, though.

The sunset did not disappoint! I wish I would have showered a little quicker, though!! We should have been there about 5 minutes sooner, but we caught the end of it. It was perfect.

Next (yes, this is still my first night) we went to a local bar, and I had a couple glasses of wine. We hung out with some friends, and met with some of the family. I had to catch one more picture of the sunset as we were walking up to the bar (which just happened to be walking distance from the water) because I couldn't get over it. I couldn't believe I was in such a beautiful place, and I was so excited to explore the next day!!

Before calling it a night (which if you look in the picture below, you will see that I lasted until a little after 9PM) we went to a Sports Bar a few minutes away from my Aunt's house, and ate *All you can eat crab for 19.99.*

Let me say that one more time...

*All. You. Can. Eat. Crab.*

Let me show you a picture..

Okay, that still doesn't do it justice, but I feel a little better. I cannot even put into words how yummy the crab was. I can tell you that the rest of the trip (and even once I got back into SLC) I was hinting at doing the "crab deal" for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Because, I could definitely do that.

We got home and hung out with the fam (Sandra, Marge, Carol, and Randy) for a little bit, which by the way I loved, Marge's house was so homey, and Carol/Randy live accross the street so they were there most of the time. It was so nice to relax and visit them in their hometown. It was great to hear stories, and then meet the people in those stories. We talked about old times, and plans for tomorrow!

Then, it was finally time for bed. At that point, it wasn't a matter of *wanting* to go to bed. It was a matter of not being able to stand up anymore--eyes shutting by themselves--turning down fishing--*needing* to go to bed.

Tomorrow we had a big day planned!!

Trip to Alabama--Getting there!

Let me preface this by saying *Please note: It has been at least 7 years since I've left the Utah/Idaho area. You will notice signs of a severe rookie during this post. You will also notice that I took a lot of pictures. Please refer back to the first sentence in this note.*

Now, let's begin!!

Due to the fact that life likes to throw completely random/difficult curveballs at you all of the time, my Aunt decided to pick up everything in Alabama, and move 30 hours NW. Finally back home!! She flew out there to pack things up, and prepare for the 30 hour drive back. No one wants to/can drive 30 hours by themselves, so that's where I come into play on this "vacation".

Deciding which flight to take was an easy call for me. I could leave Monday December 16th at 8 PM, or I could leave Tuesday morning at 5AM. Easy peasy. I'd take a night flight over a morning flight *anytime!!*

The only issue with this night flight, is that it was a red-eye flight. Meaning that I left at 8PM, and would arrive to my destination at 10:15AM...the next day.

Yeah, I still chose the 14 hour flight.

Whatever. So, I'm not a fan of mornings, and would rather take a 14 hour flight as opposed to taking a 6 hour flight. No biggie.

I knew it would be an adventure, and I was so excited!! Excited mixed with a little bit of stress. It was just a couple of weeks before Christmas, and I needed to shop/wrap still. I worked Monday all day, meaning I had to have my bags (for a week) packed and ready to go on Sunday night. I was out of town with work the week prior, so that left me the weekend to make sure I had everything ready to go! Also, apparently there is a 50 lb bag limit for your luggage, so I was just a little stressed over that as well. PS--It's a good thing Auntie Tammy had the wonderful idea of weighing yourself, and then standing on the scale with the bag. Genius. I would have never thought about doing that!!

Every time I'd talk with the family about the trip/flight, they'd give me advice.

"Make sure you take your stuff with you everywhere you go!!! Even if it's to use the restroom!"

"Find your gate before you explore the airport. DO NOT miss your flight!!!"

"If you get lost, follow the crowd, you will be fine."

And my favorite--from my Grandpa--"Jess, make sure you have quarters. Do you need some quarters? You don't want to go without!" --which reminds me, I forgot to tell my Grandpa that they take debit cards on the plane!! My quarters are no good there ..Technology, crazy..

Turns out, navigating the airports was pretty fun and not hard at all. The fact that I had 3.5 hours per layover really helped the situation, too.

I did get a kick out of my first adventure at the SLC airport though. This time "the crowd" was going in the opposite direction. I totally felt like a rebel.

So..I had it all planned out. I took (too many) some pictures of this guy because I was really worried about having to take my shoes off in security. I was not a fan of being barefoot on a floor that lots of other bare feet were on. Ew.

I had to do it anyway, but I saw this man after and thought I should totally use him as my inspiration, and not freak out about taking my shoes off for a few seconds. I mean, he was rockin no shoes throughout the airport!

Fast forward almost a month later and I'm watching a show with Travis when all of a sudden **I see this man!!! On TV!!! He is famous!!!** Trav said he hasn't worn shoes in over 10 years, and that's his way of life! Crazy. Anyways, he has his own show on TV. It's called Dual Survivor. I guess it makes sense now. During the time I was having a personal photoshoot with him, without his permission...Some lady went ballistic when she saw him saying "Oh my God!! I love your show, can I shake your hand?!"

I guess you could say in a way I met someone famous, and out of all of the states I went to...it was in my home state!! Awesome!

I had *plenty* of (worried family members) time to kill at the SLC airport before my flight left, so I decided to grab some grub in case they didn't offer anything on the plane.

I enjoyed a delicious BK salad!

And then it was time to board the plane!! Remember, it's been a really long time!! I'm sure everyone else could tell, too. I sort of wanted to be one of those people who just sat there on the plane with their head back, resting their eyes, waiting for the flight to be over. Or like the ones who peacefully read with their personal reading light assisting them.

Instead I was the one on the edge of her seat, freaking out a little because she couldn't wait for take-off. I was the one who took a million pictures out the window...even though every single picture looked the same as we were still on the ground. I was the one who took pictures of the mini pretzels because I thought they were the cutest things in the world. I was the rookie..but I loved it!

Oh, and the best part? I sat next to one of those people who were like "Ugh..just another flight. No biggie. I'll just sit here and read." She was cranky, and sort of annoying. Also, this flight was only around 45 minutes long, so the plane was very small (unlike my neighbor lady). It was sort of awkward, but we made due. Didn't say one word to each other. I was also going to note that we didn't even look at each other, but the glare she gave me when the kind lady said "Phones will need to be put away in 5 minutes or so" counted as a look, I suppose.

I worked on Monday, so I started my 14 hour flight out in my work clothes. Ha..bad idea. Well, not horrible bad I guess. I looked good for the first little while (40 minutes), but definitely changed at my first layover in Denver.

My under the plane bag had rollers on the bottom of it, and I thought I was so cool. Next time though, I'll definitely be cooler if my carry on bags (aka--the bags I'm dealing with for 14 hours) have rollers. I can't even explain how much of a pain in the ass it was to cart those things around everywhere!! They were so heavy!!

(You'll see a random picture of a Vegas gate. I seriously considered a quick trip during my layover. That would have been delightful!)

The first layover was around 3 hours and 40 minutes. It was after hours so everything in the Denver airport was closed!!

The airport was crazy huge though, so at first I walked around and took some pictures.

Then I realized that I was *carting* a ton and decided that it was time to get serious and 1--change, 2--sit down!!

I finally found a map, and secretly wished that I'd need to take the train in order to get to my gate.

--My wish came true!!

So, I boarded the train. The train of humiliation is basically what it ended up being.

Because of that fact that I was 1--exhausted 2--excited to take a picture on the train 3--a rookie, I sat on the bench at the veeeerrryyyy back of the train.

..and took a picture. I thought the tracks looked cool.

So, I took a few more pictures.

And then I realized I could see my reflection and thought to myself "Self, it'd be super awesome if you could catch a picture of the tracks *and* your reflection. Oh, and it'd be cool if you were like smiling or something in the picture."

So, I took my advice and took (way too many to admit) a few pictures.

It was pretty hard to capture a good reflection.

And then it dawned on me. Just because I was at the back of the train, didn't mean that I was back there by myself. In fact, what it meant was that everyone on the train was staring at the girl who sits by the window of the train and takes pictures of herself the entire time.

I know this is true because when I turned around....yeah....you can probably guess what happened.

It was sort of awkward. I simply smiled, and tucked my phone into my coat pocket. Then I was on my way!

Once I finally found my gate, I had about 2 hours to kill. At this point it wasn't super late, and it was my first layover so I was kind of excited. I found an outlet, and got all comfy. There was a couple about my age who sat pretty close, so we were able to keep each other company for the biggest part of the layover. It actually flew by!

Another lady was sort of escorted to the gate by one of the security guards. She was in a wheel chair so he helped her with her luggage and all of that. It was really nice. I talked to her for awhile too. She was a sweetheart.

About 30 minutes before boarding, someone came around and told us that the gate was switched, and we had to move everything to the new gate. I instantly wondered what the lady was going to do. The man took the wheel chair when he left.

I noticed her grabbing her cane, so I went over and told her I'd grab her bags for her and take them over.

I hadn't even planned on mentioning her, but I noticed that when I took the pictures of the second plane I was in (soooo much nicer and roomier), she was in the pictures!!

If you look closely, she's the lady in the red vest type thingy, with a white shirt under it.

She was such a sweetheart! :)

By the time we boarded the plane taking us to Charlotte, I was tired. It was around 4 in the morning and I hadn't slept yet. This was going to be the longest flight, so I'd planned on sleeping for a couple of hours.

There were three seats accross on this plane, which was so fantastic!! I was at the very back of the plane, and for the first 5 minutes or so of boarding, *no one* sat down next to me. I was so hoping that I'd have all three seats to myself so I could really get some sleep. Plus my first experience with a neighbor wasn't the greatest.

And then the very last person got on the plane, and his seat was the aisle seat of the three. We had an open seat in between us, so that ended up working out really well. He was about my age, too. A lot better neighbor...in fact, I didn't sleep at all on that flight. He ordered some pringles, and I ordered some lightly salted almonds, and we talked the entire time. He was from Colorado, and taught guitar. He was facinated about Utah, and the different laws and such. It was good times, but we were both sooo tired. It's just really hard to actually get some sleep on a plane.

I got to Charlotte around 5am. That was nice because the stores were actually open. It didn't do me any good, because all I really wanted to do was sleep..but I did walk around a little. I loved the Charlotte airport. It was really cute.

I got in line at a breakfast place and got a little something to eat. Everyone in front of me ordered "grits" so I figured I'd do the same. Bad call. They are not so neat.

The coolest part about the Charlotte airport was the rocking chairs!! They had a huuuuggge row of white rocking chairs. Next to each one was an outlet. It was the perfect setup!

I sat down on one after I ate, and wanted to take out my laptop and kill some time but the fact that I'd have to take it out, plug it in, and put it away in a short time mixed with the fact that I hadn't slept yet, and was exhausted killed any motivation, so I just sat in the rocking chair...rocking. I stayed there for about 30 minutes. At one point I took out my phone and wrote a few notes down. Sort of like a mini blog I guess...

"Pensacola is the next and final stop!! I have three hours to kill at the Charlotte airport but that's okay. It's adorable and I found some rocking chairs!! The best part? They don't cost 7 dollars! Everything costs 7 dollars, I swear! Other than that, North Carolina is freezing!! They said it was 11 degrees today, and for some reason they don't believe in heaters in this airport. The people are different here. It's hard to explain. It's so much more diverse. I love it! It's cool to hear the different languages and see the different styles. Man, some people think things look good. I wonder if they look in the mirror before they leave.

PS..note to self: Next time you fly for 14 hours, please bring a pillow, an apple, and a toothbrush. Also, invest in a rollie bag. Even long rides on the escalators start to hurt."

Then I tried to sleep. It was so cold though, and *so* not comfortable. Also, I was really worried about my bags being by themselves while I slept, and that if I fell too asleep, that I wouldn't hear them announcing my plane boarding, so after maybe a 15 or 20 minute power nap, I got up and took pictures of the sunset...which was sort of cool because at the same time, a plane was landing so I watched that as well.

Another short plane ride (which I was actually able to sleep for a good 30 minutes on) I was no longer the picture taking rookie. I was definitely the Ugh..another flight type.

Except for when we got into Florida! I was wide awake, and excited!! I was finally there!

Next, I'd grab my luggage from the bag claim, and go meet AK outside! It was time to bust out a vacation in only 3 days!! (...and off of an hour of sleep)