2006 -Winter Travel AFV

1 January 2006 - New Years Day

New Years Day, we just hung around the condo and I tried to upload pictures of various trips. I had leftover pizza for brunch.

Bob in the living room

Bob got the exercise bands out of the car and I did a few exercises. Bob cooked hotdogs for dinner.

2 January 2006

Again it is foggy. I walked across to the beach I took the film camera rather than the digital.

Our condo from across the street

Construction site next door

Damaged building

Buildings on the beach

There were lots of large rusted iron pipes and some pipes with bulges that were black lying parallel to the shore but up on the beach.

Pipes on the beach

Looking down the beach

Tire tracks in the sand

Surf on the beach

I stuck my feet in the surf - pretty cold. I got my feet sandy.

Footprints in the sand

I also went back to the pool and tried that, but it was also too cold. There were bikes back there and a picnic area with bbqs.

Bikes by the pool

Pagoda and BBQs at the pool

I figured that was my exercise for the day.

I had the leftover pizza for lunch and finished it up.. In the evening, we went to see if we could find a couple of recommended restaurants (The Spot which was a beach restaurant which I think was washed away by the hurricanes at least I couldn't find it where it was described as being, although maybe it just closed and was under another name) and the Original Oyster Bar (which was closed), so we went back to a place we had seen along the shore-front - Bahama Bob's Cafe - for dinner

Bahama Bob's sign

This was mostly a hamburger/seafood/cafe/beach bar type of place with a limited menu. Their slogan is The "Lower the Latitude - Better the Attitude"

Sign outside Bahama Bob's Beachside Cafe

The sign outside advertised Seafood (grilled - fried - steamed), Po Boys, Hamburgers, Chicken, Steaks, Salads, Oysters, Cold Drinks, Frozen Drinks and T-shirts. They have daily lunch specials, early-bird specials and multi-TV sports coverage. One website says they have the Best Cheeseburger and also recommends the Grouper Pecan- a local favorite and adds that they are tied for the Best Margarita.

Inside Bahama Bob's

Prices were $5 - $15. I had

Coconut fried shrimp and fries

which came with a salad (either tossed or cole slaw, and I picked tossed) and fries

Salad

Bob had

Bimini Style Steamed Shrimp appetizer ($8.99)

The salads were premade in the fridge and the dressing was almost solid blue cheese - could not possibly have been poured. The bill was $26.10 before tip.

Bob walking back to the car

Phoenix Hotel next to Bahama Bob's

Skyline

January 3, 2006

Today we toured Mobile.

I visited the Mobile area in 1959 with my parents when Bob was going through Flight training in Pensacola. It was a rainy day and I didn't take many photos.

Park in Mobile 1959

Squirrel

But we did stop to take a photo of

Crossing the River Styx

On our snowbird travels, we've driven through Mobile a couple of times when we were going from visiting our daughter in Miami to visiting our daughter in Texas.

We only actually stopped and toured Mobile this year. We drove over on the Alabama scenic trail through Fairhope.

Going through Fairhope

Fairhope

U.S.S. Alabama on the way to Mobile

Approaching the tunnel

One of Mobiles many one way streets

We had lunch at Wendy's, It was OK, but I wasn't too impressed with it.

Inside of Wendy's

Bob likes the milkshakes at Wendy's. They call them Frosty's there.

Frosty

So that is what he usually gets. And he also usually gets a hamburger and fries. I like cheese with my hamburger, so I get a cheeseburger or a bacon cheeseburger

Cheeseburger and Fries

I also like the chili on a salad, and the baked potatoes. I had a soft serve sundae for dessert.

Ice cream dessert

Toilet in Wendy's ladies room

Historic Trail pointing to the U.S.S. Alabama in the harbor

Street in Mobile

Downtown map

The Welcome Center was in Fort Conde - and it was free, so that was where we went next.

Welcome Center and Historic Museum gate

Gate from the inside

Cobblestones

Courtyard

Fort Conde has an interesting museum about the history of the fort and the area.

Photo collage in the visitor's center

Sign about the wharf that extended from the fort into the river

Building inside the fort

Fort Condé was built by the French.

model of the fort at one time

Originally Fort Condé and its surrounding features covered about 11 acres of land. It was built of local brick, stone, earthen dirt walls, and cedar wood. Twenty black slaves and five white workmen did initial work on the fort. From 1723 to 1763 Fort Conde defended the eastern most part of their Louisiana colony. It was named in honor of Louis IV's brother.

Historic Fort explanation

From 1763 to 1780, the English occupied Mobile and renamed the fort Charlotte for King George III's wife. Did you know that George Washington asked the Spanish governor of New Orleans to attack the British garrison at Fort Charlotte? He wanted to have Mobile and Pensacola on his side in the Revolutionary War.

Diorama of the Spanish occupation of the fort

There are explanations of the Spanish siege of Fort Charlotte.

Siege of Fort Charlotte sign

From 1780 to 1813, Spain ruled Mobile and the fort was renamed Fort Carlota. In 1813, Mobile was occupied by United States troops and the fort again named Fort Charlotte. In 1820, Congress authorized the sale and removal of the fort and by late 1823, most above ground traces of Mobile’s fort were gone.

Cannon on the fort wall

You May Fire When Ready Gridley

The current fort isn't the original of course. It is a reconstruction at 4/5ths scale of about 1/3rd of the original 1720s French fort. It was opened on July 4, 1976 as part of Mobile’s United States bicentennial celebration. If the full sized fort was present today, it would take up large sections of downtown Mobile.

Map of original fort and explanation

Original fort outline superimposed on the current city of Mobile

Being as Mobile is on the Gulf Coast, even in the winter you can find flowers blooming.

Roses blooming against a sheltered fort wall

The fort museum contains historic artifacts of Native Americans and Europeans and dioramas

Fort model

and maps which illustrate the history of the fort. Offshoot exhibit rooms called Lifeways that give visitors a taste of what Colonial life was like. There are pictures of the officer's quarters and the armory as well as a diorama of the occupation by the Spanish

Enlisted quarters

Officer's quarters dining

Gunner's room

Rifles in the Armory

Armory Infantry stores

The Stockade

Tools

Guns

Cypress well digging device

They placed this heavy cypress ring into the sand and then put heavy sandstone blocks on the top of it. Then they could dig out the middle without the sand seeping back into the hole.

Wall and fence

Entrance gates from on the wall inside

From the fort there are views of the traffic in the river

Ship from the fort ramparts

CSX railroad tracks from the fort

(and the road traffic coming out of the tunnel right next to the fort.

Looking down on the tunnel from the fort

Bus leaving the green umbrella bus stop from fort

Bob didn't want to go, but I decided to ride the little electric bus around downtown Mobile anyway. They call this a trolley service (although it has no rails) It is available Monday through Friday from 7am - 6pm and Saturday from 9am - 5pm. There are 22 stops, including businesses,

Law offices

Government Plaza,

Mobile Government Plaza

Mobile Government Plaza

the courthouse, city hall,

Southern Market - City Hall

restaurants,

Detail of building at Dauphin and Royal - Cafe Royal

bars, shopping, parks, hotels

Historic Holiday Inn

and the fort.

Corner tower from the outside

The stops are marked by Green Umbrellas.

Green umbrella at the bus stop

At that time, it was FREE

Picture of the bus/trolly

Mobile has eight historic districts

Memorial sculpture to Jean Baptiste LeMoyne Sieur de Bienville (he founded the first capitol of French Louisiana on the Mobile River)

Church Street | Lower Dauphin (LODA) | Oakleigh Garden District | Old Dauphin Way | Leinkauf |Ashland Place | MidTown

Since Mobile was bounced back and forth between the Spanish and the French, Mobile has the same kind of wrought iron lacework as you see in New Orleans.

wrought iron balcony

There is a driving tour map.

Historic area map

2 South Water Street Daniels, Elgin & Co. Building, circa 1860. The front of the Elgin Building is one-of-a-kind in Mobile. It is a cast iron facade ordered from the catalogue of the Badger Iron Works Co. in New York and installed on a brick building.

Elgin Building detail

The facade is based on the waterfront palazzos of 15th and 16th century Venice. The facade was designed by T. H. Giles.

4 South Claiborne Street Cathedral Of The Immaculate Conception, 1834-49, 1890, 1895
The Cathedral serves as the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile. Dating from 1703, this congregation is the oldest in the Central Gulf Coast region. Designed by Claude Beroujan, the Cathedral is sited on the Colonial burial grounds. Although the cornerstone was laid in 1834, financial problems delayed the start of construction until 1842. The dedication was held on December 5, 1850.

Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

Various members of the Hutchisson family of architects also worked on the building: cornice and roof (1849); portico (1872-1890); and towers (1890-1895). The Cathedral features German art glass windows by Adolph Meier, a bronze canopy over the altar, and 14 hand-carved stations of the cross. A number of bishops who have served Mobile rest in the crypt under the floor toward the front of the church. The surrounding cast iron fence from Wood and Miltenberger of New Orleans dates from 1860

Build in stone, the Spira & Pincus Building has rusticated sills, lintels and pilasters on the second and third floors.

Pincus Building

The facade also contains a heavily bracketed overhanging cornice and Neoclassical capitals.

In the1820s Mobile was becoming a developing seaport, and the only Methodist mission here was a thriving “hive” of activity. Hence the nickname “Bee Hive”

Methodist Church sign

Construction of the church at Government and Broad was begun in 1906 and completed in 1917, featuring not one but two stained-glass domes, plus the largest (and still beautifully functional) two-manual pipe organ. The priceless domes and sanctuary windows were created by the foremost medieval translucent art-glass architect, Harry Goodhue, of Boston. The façade of the building itself contains an elaborate panoply of Baroque styled early Christian symbols.

Facade of Government Street Methodist Church

In addition to the trolley-bus tour, we drove around and I took more photos

Historic Buildings

Historic Buildings

Mobile's Modern building

We kept ending up at the

Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention center

which is not only big but very modern iconic architecture.

Pedestrian walkway to Convention Center

So I have several photos of it from different angles.The center was originally built in 1978 but was expanded in 1994 - it now has 317,000 square feet of space in two exhibit halls (total 100,000 square feet), sixteen meeting rooms, and two ballrooms (total 15,500 square feet). There is also 45,000 of outdoor spaces with views of both Downtown Mobile and the Mobile River

Convention Center

Then we drove out via Historic Blakely Park in a town called Spanish Fort.

Historic Blakely Park

Blakeley State Park is a park located on the site of the former town of Blakeley in Baldwin County, Alabama on the Tensaw River delta.

Entering the park

Pagoda in the State Park

Blakely Cemetery

The park encompasses an area once occupied by settlers. Later, Confederate soldiers were garrisoned here and fought in the last major battle of the U.S. Civil War against superior Union forces. The park is part of the Civil War Discovery Trail due to it being the site of the Battle of Fort Blakeley,

Battle of Blakely

with surrender just hours after Grant had defeated Lee at Appomattox on the morning of April 9, 1865. Some remnants of battlefield operations remain including the Confederate breastworks that cross the park.

Breastworks trail sign

Breastworks

Unpaved road in Spanish Fort

Then we drove back to Gulf Shores.

We had dinner at Original Oyster House: Since 1983 which was now open.

Oyster Bar

Maybe it was closed before because it was Monday, or maybe it was because it was New Years. Apparently there is also a branch in Mobile on Battleship Parkway which was opened two years after the original Original in 1985. They have Early Bird specials, and are smoke free. They also have a large Oyster shopping area.

Oyster shopping

The Original Oyster actually bought the Bayou Village Shopping Center (where the original Original is) in 1995.

Bayou Village

Restaurant entrance

Their website says: "Nestled along the shore of the beautiful Gulf Shores bayou, Bayou Village is a quaint specialty shopping center with great stores including Birkenstock Shoes and Patagonia Sportswear."

Although the sun sets very early in January, we were able to watch the last little bit of the sunset

Sunset

from our table. I had

Shrimp au Gratin with hush puppy and toast $13.99

Bob had a salad bar and gumbo

Bob's gumbo (with salad bar) $8.50

The bill before tip was $23.69

I took 277 pictures, and Bob took about 6.

4 January 2006

Today we went back to Pensacola. I wanted Bob to see CSY Joshua - a Bottom Liner that was at the Pensacola Shipyard.

CSY Joshua

We finally found it and it was astonishing- almost completely different from others I've seen.

CSY Joshua

This was a boat that was set up to fish under sail, and instead of a big comfy cabin, the main part of the boat was originally taken up with a refrigerated holding tank for the fish. I took 84 pictures of it and Bob took 12. After we gave back the keys, we went to find someplace to eat, and ended up at Atlas Oyster, an expensive yuppie kind of place on the water.

Atlas Oyster and Fish House facade

(The Fish House and Atlas Oyster are owned by the same people and have virtually identical menus.)

Corner of Atlas Oyster

Eating outside at Atlas Oyster

They had sushi - not exactly down home cooking. They served things in big square plates. Bob had

Gumbo - Cup $4.00

And I think I had two sides and dessert.

Asparagus- each side was $3.25

This might be corn fritters (a side)

Hawkshaw Bread Pudding $4.50

Then we drove around historic Pensacola while I took pictures.

Masonic Temple

Escambia County Courthouse

Interesting building

State wide Street Paving

There is a Historic Walking Trail in Pensacola too which starts at

• 1 T.T. Wentworth Museum

T.T. Wentworth Museum

This is the "flagship museum" which is housed in the three-story Mediterranean Revival architecture of the former Pensacola City Hall and was built in 1907.

• 2 Pensacola Children's Museum

Children's Museum

• 3 Museum of Commerce - a brick turn of the century warehouse.

Museum of Commerce

Museum of Commerce

Inside is a reconstructed 1890 streetscape

• 4 Museum of Industry

Museum of Industry

• 5 Old Christ Church - completed in 1832, this is one of the oldest surviving church buildings in Florida.

Old Christ Church

Old Christ Church

It sits on Seville Square around which is Historic Pensacola Village.

Seville Square

• 6 Tivoli High House - reconstructed for the bicentennial in 1976,

Tivoli High House

the 1805 Tivoli House was a boarding and gaming house and a tavern

• 7 Lavalle House - the oldest standing example of French Creole colonial architecture in Pensacola,

LaValle House

the Lavalle house was built during Florida's second Spanish period.

• 8 Lear/Rocheblave House - built c 1889 with spacious rooms and jigsaw porches, this is a two story Folk Victorian home.

Lear/Rocheblave House

It was built for the Lears but they never lived there. It was owned for many years by Captain Benito Rocheblave.

• 9 Dorr House - built by Clara Barkley Dorr in 1871,

Dorr House

this is an example of Greek Revival that faces Seville Square

• 10 Manuel Barrios Cottage - the Pyramidal roof Gulf Coast cottage built around 1888 was once a common sight in Pensacola.

Manuel Barrios Cottage

The small houses had only two rooms which were often rented separately

• 11 Julee Cottage - Built around 1805, the cottage was named for one of the earliest owners, Julee Panton, a free woman of color.

The back of Julee Cottage

The cottage is an early example of platform frame construction reminiscent of the Creole cottages of the New Orleans French Quarter

Plaza Ferdinand VII

Quayside Art Gallery

Cute cottage next to the Commerce Museum

Historic marker for the original site of the First Baptist Church

House with a banner for the Florida Public Archeology Network

The Rex Theater

I also took photos of things and buildings that I thought were interesting.

A big fiberglass roller skate

The Mustang Man

Then we went aboard the base

NAS airplane

so I could take a picture of the Water Battery from the road

Water battery at Fort Barrancas

and drove home.

Driving back to Gulf Shores

We drove out Gulf Shores Parkway in search of something that had lights to show that was open at this time of year and after the hurricanes.

Jake's at night

There were several restaurants right together in this complex including Doc's Seafood Shack,

Doc's Seafood Shack sign

but at the moment, I didn't want seafood. We ate at Jake's Steakhouse, Although actually Jake's Steakhouse ALSO has seafood. There are two locations of Jake's - one in Gulf Shores and one in Orange Beach.

Tin ceiling

They had early bird specials (which I don't think we were in time for - they were 3-6 pm) of Seafood Platter or Shrimp Alfredo for $8.95 each and Grilled Chicken with rice for $6.95

Jake's menu

They also had All You Can Eat Specials of Popcorn Shrimp ($10.95) or Fried Grouper ($8.95). Take-out is available.

Specials menu

There were a lot of family groups there, and they had TV sets up near the ceilings and were watching one of the bowl games. Beer, wine and specialty drinks (like Big Jake's Margarita - $6.95) are available.

Lighthouse picture in the restaurant

Bob had a half rack of ribs ($13.99), and I had "Jake's Special" 10 oz. sirloin for $14.95 which came with onion rings on it.

Jake's special

Jake's Special is a regular menu item, and not an actual special. The steak came with a choice of house or Caesar salad and one side. I picked baked spiced apples, but I could also have had Sweet Potato, Baked Potato, Steak Fries, Sweet Potato Chips, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Ranch Beans, Corn-on-the-cob, or steamed vegetables. They gave us little cheese biscuit balls to eat before the food came.

Little cheese biscuits

The total before tip was $31.54.

Escaped Free range rabbits in the parking lot

There were domestic rabbits all over the parking lot - I was told that they were pet refugees from the hurricane.

5 January 2006

We are preparing to leave tomorrow. I cut Bob's hair but he thought I didn't do it evenly. We drove around Gulf Shores

Souvenir City

After Ivan

Honk if you like Hooters

The Cactus Cafe is closed

The Fish Net restaurant which is nothing but the foundation with the inset of the sign

Intersection

and out to Orange Beach.

Driving to Orange Beach

Orange Beach water tower

Construction Zone

We went to the Orange Beach Welcome Center.

Fountain outside the Orange Beach Welcome Center

Reflections in the door of the Orange Beach Welcome Center

Alabama Coastal Birding Trail

Exhibit Outside the Orange Beach Welcome Center

Hotel from the car

Condo under construction

Orange Beach Construction Zone

Biker by the Beach

We went to DeSotos for dinner. It was kind of hidden behind other places (that is, it isn't on the main highway), but was apparently a long term local favorite. The prices were most reasonable, and they offer a coupon that you can print off their website for

$1 Off Any Dinner Entree
Valid only during Dinner Hours
Excludes Senior Menu
Not valid with any other offer

They had Senior Specials. They also had a children's menu, daily lunch specials, and a very extensive and beautiful salt water aquarium.

Fish and anemone in their fish tank

Yellow tang

Aquarium

We both ate off the Senior menu. I had the

My grilled chicken and yellow rice $6.99

and then had

Key Lime Pie

for dessert.

Bob had

Fried oysters cole slaw and sweet potato