Westward Ho!

We were going to leave Sunday with Ron & Roberta and Tom & Heather for Texas.  Ron & Roberta did leave but we stayed put due to lots of rain and bad weather.
Monday we did depart and traveled 301 miles to Breaux Bridge, LA were we caught up with Ron & Roberta.  We had dinner at a Cajun place called Poche's and Judy and I (along with everyone else) had some crawfish stuff.  It took me 69 years to have my first crawfish meal and it will be another 69 years until I have my second one.

Patches likes it here and can stalk the ducks...........

Tuesday was a busy day, it started with a swamp tour.

I'm not sure if we saw more trees or alligators.  LOTS of alligators.

Is that enough Alligators?  We saw LOTS more and they allowed us to get very close.

Birds?  Yup, lots of birds too.  Wood ducks below.

A blue heron.

                                Here's an osprey by it's nest.

                                  Roseate Spoonbill

Nesting egrets

We saw lots of cypress trees but only this one "barrel" tree, very rare.  Guys would climb in the barrel and use it as a duck blind.

That was the morning, an excellent swamp tour.  In the afternoon we went to the Tabasco plant for their tour.  We were here last year but the tour has changed and we can see more of the Tabasco making process.  But first lunch........no crawfish.

 Unfortunately we didn't see the peppers being mashed and ground up.  Here the sauce fermenting in barrels for up to 3 years.  Salt is on the top to seal the lid closed.

These are mixing vats that will also eliminate the skins and seeds before bottling.  Tabasco spend a couple weeks in them.

And finally the sauce is bottled. 

And shipped around the world.

Yes, it was a VERY busy day.






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Ron & Roberta visiting NAS Pensacola

Ron & Robert along with Tom & Heather arrived Sunday the 20th. We are planning on heading west together to the Texas hill country rally Sunday the 27th.  Today we had breakfast at Krystals then drove to NAS Pensacola to see the Blue Angels practice and a spend a little time in the museum.

  

I believe everyone in Florida was there, really!  We were stop and go for over 30 minutes waiting to enter the base gate.  The guards were not slowing us down, it was all the traffic.  We've never seen it this busy, the Angels buzzed over us many times while we were waiting in traffic.  All the lots were full and we were guided to the grass/sand yard in front of the museum, at least we were very close and got to stand outside and watch several passes.

                   Look how skinny my Judy is!!  Look Look!!

Clayton & Pat visit us

Judy is still quite involved with leading water aerobics at least 5 mornings a week.  She has the ladies very concerned because she wants to have one session in the outdoor pool before we leave.  

As you can see Patches likes yogurt, especially raspberry but she is getting to the point of liking all the flavors.

Clayton & Pat stopped for 3 nights as they wander west to see Scott in CA.  We ate out several times, once we stopped at Lulu's for a drink and here they are by the marina.  We played poker every night.

And at the Elks Lodge one afternoon......

Euchre is ending, The last game here at Gulf Breeze is Tuesday the 22nd and at the American Legion the 23rd.

Judy and several of her lady friends took a short excursion on this sailboat one afternoon.  It was a 3 hour trip but fortunately the boats name was not the Minnow and there was no storm!

                                  Do you think they were cold?

The captain pointed out this sailboat, it was 1 of 2 that was made for the movie Captain Ron.

Jody, Renato, Brianna, Dustin visit

Yep, more Krystal's for breakfast.  We usually go 2 or 3 times a week.

One of my favorites is afternoon poker 4 days a week.  Tuesdays and Thursdays is Texas Holdem and Wednesdays and Fridays it's dealers choice, nickel and dime.

Last Friday we drove to Flowery Branch for the weekend to see Jody and Renato.  We always go through downtown Atlanta during the afternoon rush .  

You can see how excited Patches was on the ride over there.  But when returned and pulled into the campground she perked up......

On 2/16 their adaption of Brianna and Dustin was finalized so Judy and I now have two instant grand kids! 

Dueling pianos???

Well, we tried.  The FloraBama bar advertised dueling pianos at 4:30 Thursdays.  We agreed to meet Jenny & Craig and Dave & Donna for the entertainment.  We arrived at 4:30 but a few thousand folks arrived before us.  We stayed for one song and got a picture holding the camera above the heads in front of us.  We left.

So.....we went to Steamers for dinner and cripes, just after we arrive so did the thousands of people from FloraBama!

Winter is going fast

Well, winter is almost over and it hasn't been too bad.  So far it's hasn't been below 32 degrees at night but we have had a fair amount of rain.  The forecast for the next 10 days is going to be in the 60s and sunny most of the time.

A windy day at the beach, we sometimes get some fast food burgers and then eat lunch at the beach.  

                                               A couple of the locals.

One Sunday afternoon Jenny & Craig had two of their RV friends sing us a few songs in the pavilion.  We all brought some snacks and a beverage for the entertainment.  These two also play at the FloraBama bar.

We like to take a picture when we have breakfast at Krystals and text it to our friends Ron & Lois.  They spent a winter here 2 years ago and really liked the Krystal's breakfast.  The last 2 winters they have been in Wachula, FL where it's warmer......but no Krystals!

Every November we buy a 10 pound bag of cracked pecans then shell them outside on nice afternoons.  We finished shelling and here's the end.  I think we took 3 or 4 afternoons to finish. no hurry.

The snowbirds here at the campground have a float they use for the local Christmas and Mardi Gras parades.  They will also drive through the campground so everyone can see it.

Last of the 2015 pictures!

I downloaded Judy's cell phone pictures which I seldom do and there were some from last year I'd like to post on the blog.  Better late than never.

                        Here's Judy on the St Augustine beach.

Here she is with Kim's 1967 bug that she got to drive on Daytona's beach.

You all know who these two are!  Is Devyn tall or Judy short?

Here's a good picture of all our kids (except Dustin) in Gulf Shores last Thanksgiving.

The old man at our favorite breakfast joint.

Here's two shots from the annual Christmas boat parade on the inter-coastal waterway.