Gulf State Park, Alabama

Feb 16-17-18

We are in Alabama, or Florabama, since we are so close to Florida.  We got pretty lucky we got to stay at a state park because it was beautiful.  We woke up in the morning to go see people practice with an instrument called the dulcimer for a concert.  They were really cool instruments.  They were like violins with long bodies, but you hold it on your lap, as if it’s a keyboard.  We also went to the nature center and found out about the wildlife in the area.  I got to hold a snake, opossum, turtle, and pet an owl. I liked that place.  The guy there just kept bringing things out.  One thing branched out from another.  My brother related the opossum’s tail to the snake.  The opossum had very sharp claws, so it was a good thing I had a sweat shirt!  His tail was pretty strong and it was already slithering up my shirt.  I hope it didn’t slide down my pants squeeze anything fragile.  We’ve been told there were great biking trails and decided we should go on a bike ride.  It wasn’t mountain biking, but it was a paved through the woods.  It was a very nice ride, and on the way back, we got to ride by the beach.  The road was busy, but my Mom wanted to cross the road to get to the beach.  It had really nice shells too. When we got into the park again, we saw a dead armadillo.  It was pretty sad, and I even wanted to see one.  The day was gone before I knew it, and I only wish I could’ve seen more.

~Jack

It was pretty much a fluke that we ended up at this beautiful Gulf State Park. We did not have much internet access at Dauphin Island and had to figure out our destination on the fly!  This state park was completely destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 9/2004 and had been rebuilt with almost 500 RV sites.  There is a backcountry trail system that goes for miles through the wilderness part of the park.  We are sitting waterfront on a lake and the Gulf is just beyond that, a short bicycle ride away. Lots of white stuff here...just sand instead of snow.  The beaches are gorgeous!

View from our site

In the park's events calendar, I noticed that there was a Dulcimer demonstration this morning.  Now, I was just introduced to a dulcimer the other day and now again.  Scott made us a great breakfast and the kids and I headed over to listen to the group practice for a concert.  They were really nice and showed us how it worked.  I am really intrigued.

After that, we went into the Nature Center.  I thought is was just a small "natural history" type of place.  We were pleasantly surprised to see and pet a live Eastern Screech Owl, hold an opossum, watch the box turtles roam the place and hold an albino snake.  The guy that was working there was so full of great information and we spent well over an hour with him.  All the animals, whether stuffed or alive are from the property here.  The kids were asking really intelligent questions and could answer more things than me!

Archimedes lost his eye in an accident with a car.

We spent the rest of the day biking the trails and we stopped at the beach for a walk in the sand, look for seashells and feel the warm gulf water. It was a nice 73 degrees...perfect because lately it has been at least 10-20 degrees to cold!

We just pulled into Pensacola to replace our RV water tank...glad we have the warranty so it's all covered.  They needed us here early, so we are plugged in on their property and they can start first thing in the morning.  Hopefully it won't take more than 1 day, the tank is already here.

The pictures from back at home make me feel really sorry for you all.  The snow has been relentless! If it is any consolation, we have not had the nicest weather either. :)

~Linda

Dauphin Island, Alabama

February 16, 2014

Dauphin Island is a 14 mile-long barrier island situated off the Alabama Gulf Coast. 

Dauphin Island thrives upon its’ emphasis on low-key, family oriented vacations. Forget road congestion, water parks and outlet malls – the island doesn’t even have need for a traffic light. Instead, envision bike paths, walking trails, miles of white sandy beaches and simplicity centered upon outdoor recreation and the environment. Dauphin Island is a true hidden gem of Alabama’s Gulf Coast

Dauphin Island has been named one of the top four locations in North America for viewing spring bird migrations. The campground we stayed at had access to the the Bird Sanctuary which consisted of 137 acres of maritime forest, marshes, and dunes, including a lake, a swamp, and a beach.  The three mile trail system within the Sanctuary has been designated as a National Recreational Trail. 

The Sanctuary is of vital importance because it is the largest segment of protected forest on the Island and the first landfall for neo-tropical migrant birds after their long flight across the Gulf from Central and South America each spring. Here these birds, often exhausted and weakened from severe weather during the long flight, find their first food and shelter. Of the 445 species officially documented in Alabama presently, 420 (95%) have been observed on the island. It is also their final stop before their return flight each fall. The Bird Sanctuary has allowed Dauphin Island to be recognized by the National Audubon Society as being “Globally Important” for bird migrations.

Fort Gaines
The well-preserved ramparts of Fort Gaines have guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay for more than 150 years. Now a historic site, the Fort stands at the eastern tip of Dauphin Island where it commands panoramic views of the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The Fort was recently designated as one of the Eleven Most Endangered Historic Sites in America due to on-going shoreline erosion.  The entrance was literally right out the door of our campsite.  We biked over there and then biked a couple of miles up the road to go get some BBQ for lunch.  

Fort Gaines is one of the key sites in the famous Battle of Mobile Bay where Admiral Farragut shouted his now-famous order, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” The fort has original cannons, a blacksmith shop, kitchens, a bakery and lots of tunnels.  The blacksmith did some demonstrations for us and Tyler said he could have sat and watched him all day!  He was a nice young man, very well spoken, intelligent and he really just had a nice way about him. 

February 14th was the full Snow moon! No snow here, but these full moons are my favorite day of the month.  Normally, the moonrises at just the same time as the sun sets.  The light from the sun reflects off of the moon to give it the nice color.  

Moon rise 5:40pm Feb 14

Moon rise 6:10 pm Feb 14

Sunset 5:40pm Feb 14th 

Jack and I were back at it again and caught the moon setting at about 6:40 am on Feb 15th and the sunrise below at about the same time.  Jack and I doing mine and Kelly's signature sunrise shot!

We met a nice couple from Illinois camping next to us and when we arrived back from our day out biking and exploring, I had heard Steve playing a string instrument on his lap. I found out it was a dulcimer (The Appalachian dulcimer (or mountain dulcimer) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings) so I hung out and chatted with them and listened to his music while Scott made some more cinnamon swirl bread.  Maybe I will take up a small instrument in my old age like a ukulele or a mandolin...

And here is a final photo of us on the island.

We have arrived in Florabama...slowly making our way home.  Although, by the looks of things, we could't come home even if we wanted too!

~Linda

Happy Valentine's Day

February 14, 2014

Today, we are on an island, and we’re staying here for a few days.  We went down to the beach, and it looked like some kind of building was there because it had a bunch of wood sticking out of the sand and some cement bricks too.  Then we started heading back, because we were going on a bike ride.  As we were heading back, my Dad was looking for some mushrooms.  He didn’t find much though.  I got on my new sneakers because my old ones were all soggy, wet, and never dried out.  We biked over to Pelican Point and there were a lot of pelicans!  My Mom said the moon was going to rise, and the sun was going to set here, and she needed a different camera.  We headed back and my Mom went back, this time with a coat.  Valentines was the day after, so I started righting the valentines.  Conveniently, I had rocks with hearts on them that I found on a different beach.  The next day, we all gave each other cards that we made.  My Mom gave me a panda card.  I gave my parents some and even my brother.  My Dad posted something on my Mom’s wall on Facebook.  I was really hoping it wouldn’t get emotional, but it sort of did.  I just looked away and played my video games.

~Jack

Jack was first up this morning to pass out his hand made Valentines. One for me,

For Scott

And this one for Tyler, titled the 3 Reasons why I like you.

I was able to make these and have them printed at the 1 hour photo :)

Tyler couldn't even finish reading his aloud, he was a bit emotional :)

I got a love letter on Facebook from Scott for the whole world to see, so I will post it here again so I have as part of our blog.

Linda, 

For over 13 years my love for you has grown as well as my friendship. I remember the day when you walked down that isle and I cried so uncontrollably as my love for you filled my heart and looking at how beautiful you were. I thought I was the luckiest man alive. Now 13 years later, I love you more and you are more beautiful than ever. I watch you with our two beautiful boys and realize not only are you still my perfect bride, but the perfect most loving, wonderful mother of our children.

When we started on this journey across this country, many people couldn't image spending 24/7 with their kids and their spouse. I had no doubt about our decision because our family was made from pure love. With this love we can endure anything and everything.

Happy Valentines Day to my true love and best friend,

Scott

Scott and I were reminiscing about Valentine's Day 10 yrs ago.  He bought me a minivan and I was expecting Tyler!  Shortly thereafter, I said lets go on a road trip! We met my sister and her family in Florida and brought the dog.  I remember saying NEVER AGAIN! More because the dog panted in our faces the entire way, but, it was just a long ride.  Look at us now! haha

Enjoying this little island we are on. More on that in another post.

Happy Valentine's Day!

XXOO

~Linda

Gulfport, MS

Feb 11-13

So Jack collaborated with me on this one...he would not let me edit it down either...just a warning...

Saying goodbye to New Orleans and hello to Gulfport, MS.  

click here to Watch Jack spell Mississippi with one i

When we arrived at Gulfhaven RV Resort, it was a good time to get some serious homework done.  I thought it would be fun to have a spelling test! The kids, not so much!  I think Scott should stick with the schooling and I will stick to the journaling and field trips. The kids watched a movie on evolution and we had some really intelligent conversation afterwards.  They are learning so much on the road and mostly from Scott.  We are fortunate that we have had this time together.  His main theme is always “question everything” and don’t just believe everything you read and what other people tell you.

For dinner we ate pasta with really spicy sausage that only my Dad could eat without scratching his tongue, licking the bread, and chugging down the water. The pasta and the bread were good though, really good, because the bread was homemade! 

Today we just hung out, I did my schoolwork and my Dad added a new thing to it.  He said I should watch a video from a site daily.  It’s called tromsite.com.  I watched one about science, and I liked it because it talked about what science really is.  At the end, it took speeches about science and made a song.  We also saw one called The Evolution of Everything.   

Tonight we are going to watch a movie. It’s about modern day pirates, called Captain Phillips. It was based on a true story. It said it was an action movie. They got that right! Tom Hanks was in it as Captain Phillips and he’s always in good movies. Somali pirates took over his ship and threatened to kill the crew because they wanted money.  I think they should’ve said please. Tom Hanks, (Captain Phillips), convinced them to leave with $30,000 dollars in cash. They left, but they took Captain Phillips hostage on a small rescue boat! They treated him pretty bad. I think they should’ve at least offered him water! It’s common decency! Eventually, the Navy SEALS saved him. 

~Jack

JACK: I got into bed after the movie was over, but it had some effect on us. My mom was feeling like she was on a lifeboat. I was feeling queasy with all this sea stuff and the bad weather was starting to arrive here. It turned out, something was inside of me that my body wanted to get out. It was coming out one way or another, whether I liked it, or not!  It was either the hard way, or… well, it was going to be gross either way. I got up, told my mom I was nauseous, and plopped onto the toilet seat. I fought against it, trying to get it out my bottom instead of my mouth. It was just a never-ending nightmare. Finally, I won the battle! I got it all out, fortunately, in the toilet. Then… the weather started getting rough, the tiny RV was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless family, the RV would be lost. When the storm ended, we finally got some good night’s sleep.  (I think someone has been watching a lot of Gilligan’s Island on this trip!) 

we are the blue dot, left of center

Well, the RV did not get tossed, but we pulled in our slide out so the awning wouldn’t get damaged. It was thundering, lightening and pouring pretty good but the wind was pretty calm.  I think the wind is the scariest in an RV.  Here is a screenshot of the weather at the time! They were right on as they usually are in the exact moment that the weather is occurring!  It didn’t take too long to pass and the Tooth Fairy finally made an appearance after 4 lost teeth on this trip.  Last night was the first time anyone put a tooth under their pillow so they both got their payday!
    

We had a down day in the RV, kind of like a down day at home.  I worked on a Google Tour which you can find here click here and you will be redirected to Google Maps that maps our entire trip to date.

Scott made more bread...so good.  He made a honey wheat loaf too! He's spoiling us now.

~Linda & Jack