Our Summer Vacation...

has come and gone and everyone had a good time.

Here are some highlights:

We made great time on the interstate and found ourselves in Baldwin County Alabama well before noon last Wednesday. One of the first things of note that we saw was the Gulf IntraCoastal Waterway:





We knew we were close to the ocean then and as we drove into Gulf Shores, I snapped a pic of the sign pointing to our real destination:




Palm trees are a nice touch too:



Then, on to the city of Orange Beach:



Once we got checked into the condo and bought a few groceries, Tad immediately stripped down and was ready for the ocean. (Please don't tell him that he has his swim goggles on upside-down):



After our first trip to the beach, we wandered around for a while checking out the condo:





FOUR swimming pools within walking distance of the Gulf of Mexico?






That's Shelby and Tad on the boardwalk as I snapped their pic from the third floor balcony.



Of course, we went to our favorite restaurant: The Original Oyster House several times. The kids got a kick out of the novelty photo-op outside:



Stacie and Shelby wanted to do some shopping, so Tad and I wandered around. We didn't quite understand this sign we found as you can tell by Tad's expression:



Shelby also got into the 'posing for pictures' routine:



I also took some photos from the car. Here's a nice one of the beach. That's how close the beach is to Perdido Boulevard.



Here's one of the Perdido Pass Bridge:



I also got some amazing sunset pictures in and around Foley:





On Thursday, I got up at dawn and went to the beach looking for some more interesting scenes. It was a little overcast, so I didn't get any really good sunrise scenes:









Before, I went back to the room though, I got one final pic of something really strange:



This is a shell in the sand just after the surf broke over it. It looks like an eyeball?


Later, everyone got in on the beach fun:





On Friday, we went to 'The Track' for Go-Cart racing:



...for Bumper-Boat, water squirt battles:



...and had another silly photo-op for the kids at a landmark souvenier shop:



We also took time to stop at Gulf State Park to set up a family picture. I backed the Pathfinder right up to the dunes with the camera propped up in the cargo area and set on auto-exposure. I really didn't think it would turn out this good:



This may be our Christmas card picture.


Saturday, we packed up, gassed up and did some more shopping and eating on the way back home.


One last thing, A guy named Strange is running for Lieutenant Governor of Alabama. I just could not resist getting a pic of this: