Visit With My Sister Kathy in Tuscaloosa, AL

Here is my sister, Kathy, and her husband, Buddy in Northport, AL near Tuscaloosa. They live in a house built primarily by Buddy along with many renovations he has made over the years. They are always very gracious hosts.

One of their renovations lately is their new bathroom downstairs. One of the main changes was building this easy in-easy out shower that took the place of a standard tub and shower. We were the first ones to "christen" it.

One of our first jaunts was to Birmingham to visit my niece, Jessica, her husband, Derek, and their son, Dexter. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures. We enjoyed our visit so much we just forgot about pictures. But we had a very nice visit with all of them including a boy, Zion, a second grader who can talk up a storm and he did. But it was so much fun.

We took Buddy's truck and trailer and hauled the guest bedroom funiture from Jessica's to Kathy's. Derek did most of the work in Birmingham, but the four of us (Kathy, Buddy, Bob, and I) had to unload when we got to Northport. But we old folks did just fine even though there were some pretty funny moments. Here is the furniture.

We went to my nephew's, Joe's, for Super Bowl Sunday. Joe is on the left hand side in the picture below. The other two guys are some of his friends.

This is one of his daughters, Kayla, with a good friend of hers. Kayla had a few friends over for the game too.

Here is my sister and my nephew's wife, Karen. She joined us for something to eat, but she went back out to the shop (Joe has an auto body shop) to do some homework she needed to do because she's working on her degree in nursing. She is an RN and an EMT so life is very busy for her.

I think my sister was rooting for the Saints and was happy they won.

On the left is another one of my nephew's daughters, Summer, with a friend.

Here is Karen with their son, Taylor. They look happy, don't they?

This is a picture of my sister's fairly new hot tub. We did enjoy it one evening, but it rained a lot while we were in AL so it limited our time in the hot tub.

This is the view of the back yard of my sister's house. It is located on Lake Tuscaloosa.

When we visit Tuscaloosa we always visit my sister's church which was where we attended when we lived there in the 60's so people there remember us. The church has been renovated since I attended in the 60's. They did a really nice job.

While we were there we visited Buddy's side of the family and joined in on a family birthday celebration. One of Buddy's daughters is a 3rd grade teacher so Bob couldn't resist going to her classroom to give one of his famous magic shows. They all had a great time. Here they are.

We had a great visit with Kathy and her family. It's always fun to be there. Thanks, Kathy and Buddy.

Trip As We Left Florida

We sadly left Charlene and have left with very fond memories. It's always so much fun to visit her.

On our way to Alabama we visited some sights north of Ormond Beach. Our first stop was Ft. Mantanzas. It was a fort created by the Spanish to protect the area from the French. It worked. It was also used to help protect the fort in St. Augustine. The National Monument is free here. There is a free ferry to take you across the intercoastal waterway over to the fort. It was very interesting.

A look out.

We stopped and ate at the South Beach Grill just south of St. Augustine. This is the view we had. Looks a lot like Hawaii too, doesn't it?

Then we visited the fort at St. Augustine.

This was the rock used to build the fort and it is found in various places in that area. It is compressed broken up sea shells and absorbed the shock of cannonballs.

Bob admiring some cannonballs displayed inside the fort.

A shrimp boat which is a common sight along the Atlantic coast.

Bob liked this view of this catamaran because it reminded of a boat that a friend of Uncle Chuck's was building in Culebra.

Good bye, Florida. Now on to Alabama.

A Whale of a Time Here in Florida

One thing we did not experience last year here in Florida, and I was afraid we wouldn't experience this year either, was a sighting of a Right Whale which is a rare type of whale that migrates south every winter and goes right by the shore here in Ormond Beach. Well yesterday we were driving along the beach road when we came to an area where lots of people were parked and standing looking out into the sea. So we stopped and looked too, and low and behold we saw a couple of the Right Whales swimming by quite close to shore. You really could hardly see them, but when they were pointed out to us, we could see them. One of them blew out of its blowhole, and that was pretty exciting. I didn't get a picture, but here are a couple of websites to visit if you want to see pictures and get info about these creatures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_whale

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/rightwhale_northatlantic.htm


Another creature we have observed on our walks on the beach is a different kind of jelly fish. We researched it, and it is called a cannonball jelly fish. Here is a website to see pictures and to get info about it too.

http://www.beachhunter.net/thingstoknow/jellyfish

We have really enjoyed being so close to the ocean and being able to enjoy all it has to offer whether it is just driving along the shoreline road or taking a nice walk on the beach. No swimming though because right now the water is about 55 degrees. Brrrr. It's a lot warmer in the summer. And we do NOT miss Iowa's winter weather one bit!!!!!!!!

Last Curry Meal at the Flea Market

One of our favorite places to eat while we were here was this Thai restaurant at the Daytona Beach Flea Market. They served the most delicious curry chicken dish I have ever eaten. Today we went there for the last time this year. We had to enjoy the dish one last time before we left. We will be leaving Wed. and will be heading for Tuscaloosa, AL to visit my sister, Kathy. We will also make a trek up to Birmingham to visit my niece, Jessica and her family. We are looking forward to that visit. Then we will be off to San Antonio, TX to stay with my sister, Susie, until it's safe to go back to Iowa which is about the middle of May. It might be June this year. Who knows.

Cruising on The Halifax River

Before we left FL, we wanted to take this luncheon cruise on the Halifax River which is the intercoastal waterway that goes right by Charlene's house. We were south of her place in the South Daytona Beach area. On the cruise we had a delicous lunch and narration about the area. It was very relaxing and informative, and we had great food. Here are Bob and Charlene in front of the paddle wheel boat. NOtice the paddle wheel in the back.

The dining room was decorated with a Victorian flair. There was a stage, and on some cruises they do have live music, but not on this one.

Another view of the paddle wheel.

There were a couple of draw bridges that had to go up so we could go by. I guess it's the equivalent of having to wait for a train to go by.

Some bridges were high enough so going under did not affect the traffic on the bridge.

Another view of the paddle wheel.

Here are some decorative bridge columns. Different marine life has been painted on them.

Manatees are often in the river here, but during the winter they go where it's a little warmer. There's a park called Blue Springs State Park and during the winter if you go to the park you will see hundreds of them. We went last year, but not this year. They are so cute.

For lunch, Bob and Charlene had delicious salmon, and I had Shrimp Creole. All the food was great. The water was calm, and the temp was about 70 with partly cloudy skies. Beautiful day.