Good Food and New Friends

                

This morning Gerri & I decided to drive to the Country Store at Callaway Gardens for lunch. They make a mean Brunswick Stew with cornbread and biscuits with homemade Muscadine Preserves. We were able to sit in the area overlooking the nature of Callaway.

            

            

At a distance, we could see where they were getting things set up for the 27^th running of The Steeplechase.

           

As we left the Country Store, we walked across the street to the overlook area and enjoyed spending a few moments viewing the sites there.

           

Right across from the Country Store is the entrance to FDR State Park. While you are making that drive in the park, The Pine Mountain Hiking Trail crosses this road in several locations.

          

         

         

         

It is a very popular trail and Gerri & I have hiked several portions of it. Being that it is the fall season and the trees are beautiful, we wanted to drive through parts of the state park to meet Susan and Sam who are presently hosting at FDR campground. They contacted us when they arrived at FDR and we have wanted to meet them since. We have been reading each other’s blog for some time now and were anxious to meet them. We recognized each other right away and after the “formal introductions”, we sat out and visited for about 2 hours as if we had been friends for a long time. We had wanted to meet them for several weeks and glad were able to make that connection. They volunteer a good bit at state parks and do a great job for them. You can read about them on their blog Beach Bummz. We really enjoyed meeting Sam & Susan and had so much fun just sitting out in the campground enjoying the fellowship and the beauty of the day. When it was time for us to head home, we decided to get together later this month and visit some more over a meal…sounds like a lot of fun!

We took some pictures of the trees in the campground and wanted to share them with you.

              

              

             

            

           

It was a refreshing drive and visit with Susan and Sam. Life is good and God is great!

Fun Food and Fellowship

                     

Friday Gerri and I got an early start by going to the pier in Fairhope on a bright and sunny day.  Not only is there a pier, but also a little park and beautiful roses. 

         

         

        

We walked around the park and then onto the pier, it was so relaxing and peaceful.

While we were there, we met a really nice older man, Mr. Simms.  He came up to us and started sharing information about Fairhope as well as himself.  He is a retired pilot and his wife has Alzheimer’s disease.  He enjoys his daily trip to the pier and visiting with people while there.  To him it is his way of sharing with folks as well as a time for himself.  Before he left, he took a picture of Gerri & me and we told him our next time down, we would look for him on the pier.

             

           

When we left the pier, we spent some time in town going through many of the very unique shops in Fairhope.  It really is a very unique town and we really enjoy our times there.

      

We called and talked with Darrell and Judy and decided to meet at Big Daddy’s Grill for lunch and fellowship.  So a little after 11:30, we got together and had a great meal and even greater conversation and fellowship time. 

              

Isn’t it really neat that you can be apart for about 2 years, yet when you get together again, you just pick up where you left off like you had just seen each other the day before.  Darrell and Judy had to go to Pensacola to pick up his glasses and Gerri & I wanted to go to the beach at Gulf Shores.  So we went our separate ways and had a very relaxing and peaceful time at the beach.

     

    

Later in the day we got back together with Darrell and Judy at the pier to take some pics of the sunset over the bay.  Unfortunately it was cloudy and very windy and the waves choppy. 

     

Since there was no sunset to be had, we decided to go to Ruby Tuesdays for a dessert and coffee.  After about an hour and half of visiting over our dessert, we did our hugs and “see you down the road “, we headed back to the hotel.

             

It was a great day and we had a grand time.  Life is good and God is great!

Change of Scenery

 

Time for a getaway!!   Mike and I decided that we needed a change of scenery so we decided to head south.  After all that’s the direction most folks are taking about now.

Some of you might remember that Mike and I spent the winter of 2010 at Rainbow Plantation.  This is the Escapees park located in Summerdale, Alabama.  We loved our time spent at this awesome park and met some of the most wonderful people!!  We haven’t been back to this area since that winter so we decided now was a good time.  So Thursday morning we set our sights for Fairhope, Alabama.  Fairhope is located just a few miles west of Summerdale.  We love Fairhope!!  It is such a quaint town and has a really interesting history.  Check out our blog entry January 11, 2010 for some of the facts about this unique place. 

                 

                 

                 

                 

                 

                 

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay at Rainbow this time since we don’t have a rig yet, so we found a rather nice motel in Fairhope….Key West Inn. 

We also haven’t seen Darrell and Judy Patterson since we left Rainbow Plantation and really wanted to see them before they left to do their Amazon gig.   So as soon as we got settled we drove over to Rainbow where Darrell and Judy have a lot in the ERPU section.  Darrell and Judy prepared a wonderful meal of hamburgers, salad and deviled eggs followed by a yummy raspberry squares dessert.  We enjoyed talking and catching up on what we’ve all been up to since our last visit.  Good food, great conversation and lots of laughs!!

We made plans to get together again on Friday for some more good eating and lively conversation.  Mike and I also plan to revisit some of our favorite places while we are in this area. 

Colors of Fall

It was such an incredibly beautiful day, so Gerri & I went for a drive and a walk to enjoy the crispness in the air as well as the array of the colors in the trees.  Instead of having a wordy blog today, I would just like to share some of the pics of what we saw.

          

         

         

        

        

        

          

          

We hope everyone had and has a great weekend and enjoy the beauty God has given us as He paints His creation in beautiful colors.

Remembrance

 

A year ago today our RV and blogging world lost two very special friends; Bruce & Margie, in a senseless accident.

                     

Many of you got to meet them and many of us were looking forward to meeting them.  We very much miss you!  Margie was so good about making comments on blogs and so interested in the events that we each encountered.  It still seems incomprehensible that they are gone, but we have definitely not forgotten them.

To their family, our thoughts are with you and may you have peace knowing their love.

Fall is in the Air

                 

                 

There is no doubt that fall is my all time favorite season of the year.  It is the time when you have enjoyed all the sunshine, warm temps and humid weather you can possibly stand.  Just when you think you can’t stand another day….low and behold you feel the tinge of cool crispness in the air.

            

In the south you feel it first with the lack of high humidity!  You can actually “see” the crispness in the air.  No more hazy lazy days of summer.  Suddenly the sky is a clear blue and you begin to see signs of fall.

           

          

         

There are colors that we naturally associate with fall.  The oranges, yellows, browns, greens come to mind first.  What does nature say to us?  Well that is what Gerri and I set out to explore….camera in hand of course!!   This is what we saw!!

         

         

         

         

         

         

“Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” George Eliot