Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Flora-Bama and the USS Alabama

What is Flora-Bama, you say?  Well, everyone kept telling us that we just had to go see it. It gets it's name from the fact that it is on the beach at the border of Florida and Alabama. It appears as though someone collected a whole bunch of scrap materials which were strewn about during a hurricane years ago and built a bar out of it. Then after all the other hurricanes, they would collect more material each time and add on. We drove right by it and had to stop at a gas station to ask where it was. We were told that it was "down the road behind the trailer selling T-shirts,and that it looked like a construction site".
   These above pictures are of the outside. The one with the porta-john is when we were looking for a way in. The door said "exit" but we entered anyway. The other picture is of the entrance which we found later on our way out. The beer was cold and the Royal Red shrimp were great. It's something that everyone visiting the area need to see. I can't believe that the city allows it to stay open. The roof over the dance floor was PVC pipes taped together with a large tarp covering them. On a rope above the dance floor hung a bunch of bras and bikini tops. If you ever get there, look for Deb's. We were there on Valentines day so she was wearing a sexy little red one. The place sits right on the beach between some huge, beautiful condominiums.




Our Visit to the USS Alabama was on another earlier treck. It is actually the first tourist site that we visited. I don't know how the sailors got around that ship without getting lost. Along with it is a submarine and a hanger full of aircraft.

Naval Air Museum

    We drove over to Pensacola, FL a couple weeks ago to visit the Naval Air Museum. It's a pretty cool place , highlighting a large number of aircraft pretty much from the beginning of time thru the Viet Nam era. We both would have liked to see some of the most modern aircraft that our millitary are using but, I guess that they are using them.
    One of the neatest things about this museum is the Cubi Bar Cafe. I would assume that a lot of people miss seeing it because it is a working cafe which, until you get into it, is not really highlighted as a "must see" part of the museum. The Cafe's decor and layout duplicates the bar area of the famous Cubi Point Officers' Club that was a major source of enjoyment for Navy and Marine Corps squadrons, ships and units as they passed into the Western Pacific.

   For nearly 40 years, the NAS Cubi Point Officers' Club, in the Republic of the Philippines, was a mix of American efficiency and Filipino hospitality. The club was especially famous for its Plaque Bar, where transiting squadrons retired old plaques and commissioned new ones to commemorate each WestPac tour. The tradition of placing plaques in the O' Club bar was started during the Vietnam Conflict and endured until the closing of the base in 1992.
    When the original officers' club was closed in 1992, the thousands of plaques that adorned the walls of the club as tokens of thanks were packed up and sent to the Museum to be placed as they were when the Cubi Club was closed. The legacy of this Cubi Bar brings back many memories to aviators whose squadron plaques decorate the walls.




Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!




   There was even a 14' long 1,400 pound aligator! They were all at the Gulf Shores Zoo. Deb and I decided to be kids agian so we spent the afternoon feeding the animals. It's really a small zoo but they have quite the selection of animals there and in the near future they have plans to relocate to their new facility. For $8.00 a person (senior rate) it wasn't a bad afternoon.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Still in Alabama

We have been busy with a variety of things. Rob has been pig hunting, I have been teaching myself how to crochet. The park we are staying in has daily events of which we occasionally participate. Thurs. night potluck dinners,(last night was Italian night),and Wed.  bingo are what we try to (me) to attend. 

I have been working out almost every day. Can a 55 year old woman take up jogging if she has never done it in her life? YES!! I have been a power walker for 20 plus years but the thought of jogging or running  always intimidated me. The first day I jogged I thought my body forgot how to pick up my legs. The key is to start out small, just jog a couple of feet then walk a little ways until you can catch your breath.  Just kidding, but I didn't go to far that first day and then that night every thing hurt. My muscles didn't hurt but my bones did, from the pounding my body experienced. Also I made a BIG note to myself to make sure I wear a sports bra, I am sure I looked ridiculous holding myself in place as I jogged. The second day I went twice as far and I experienced no after effects. So everyday I try to double what I did the day before. Won't be long and maybe I'll try a 5 K.   NOT!!

We'll be heading out tommorrow to our first  Mardi Gras parade in downtown Mobile,( the birthplace of Mardi Gras). Their are activities everyday now until Fat Tueday. Everything is decorated in the Mardi Gras colors, even several of the RVs in our park.  So bring on the party!!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

This little piggy went to market...

   As everybody knows, I love to hunt so when we got to south Alabama I decided right away to get out and talk to some landowners to gain acces so I could deer hunt the last month of the season which ended January 31. I found out right away that this area really doesn't have any deer to speak of but there are a lot of wild feral pigs. I don't care if it's wild parakeets, I like to hunt so off I went.
   I have never really pig hunted before so I thought that I was pretty damn good when I killed two the first afternoon and 6 the first 5 days. I won't go nto all the deatails but I can tell you that these pigs are pretty cotton pickin' smart because once they learned that I was after them, they have managed to evade me every step of the way since. For a week and a half now I'm having trouble finding them much less shooting one. I know that they are still here because I saw about 80 of them in one field so the 6 that I killed didn't even put a dent in the population.
A picture is worth a thousand words so here are some pictures.

   This big boar was over 400 pounds and had 5" tusks which were as sharp as a knife.