Alabama Fun

Chuckie the Alligator

The weather has been good and we're enjoying it. We visited the Gulf Coast Zoo, which bills itself as The Little Zoo That Could.  Growing up in Milwaukee, I spent a lot of time at the Milwaukee County Zoo, so I have pretty high standards for zoos, and Gulf Coast has some challenges.  They're landlocked and many of their enclosures are chain link fence.  But they are trying and the animals appeared healthy.  Our favorite exhibit was the lemur island where 3 lemurs were playing energetically.  We also saw Chuckie, the 14' alligator who gained fame when he escaped his habitat during Hurricane Ivan.  After his 15 minutes in the spotlight, he was recaptured and returned to the zoo.

Lemur

Next up, dinner and a Mardi Gras parade in nearby Fairhope, AL.  We had eaten lunch at a really nice bistro the day before and they offered dinner and a seat along the parade route on Friday evening.  The parade was scheduled for 6:45 and our dinner reservations were for 6pm, so we headed to Fairhope about 4:45.  I don't know what we were thinking...probably that this was a pretty small town and how big a deal could it be?   We were wrong!  Traffic slowed to a crawl blocks from the restaurant and the police had the streets barricaded.  People were pulling coolers and carrying chairs heading for where we wanted to be.  We watched the map on the GPS and finally I dropped Robin a couple of blocks from our destination and followed the signs to the Methodist church where $10 donation to their mission got me one of the last 3 parking spots a half a mile from the restaurant.  By the time I hiked back, we were questioning if this was really a good idea.  But, the staff at this small (40 seats) restaurant welcomed us warmly and dinner specials of duck etouffee and grouper with crayfish orzo were wonderful.  Then we moved outside for out first ever Mardi Gras parade.  What a riot!  Wild floats filled with the Maids of Jubilee Crew costumed in flashy gowns and glowing rings and feathery masks.  Parade watchers screaming as strings of beads were whipped through the air towards the crowd.  Children and adults scrambling for booty that hits the ground.  All this at a small town, family-friendly parade.  We can't imagine what New Orleans is like.

Waiting for the parade

Parade float

Maids of Jubilee Krewe

Jockey float

My booty - and I wasn't even trying!

The parade route was fairly convoluted and many watchers ran from street to street to catch it in 4 different places.  It was an amazing spectacle which coupled with a great dinner and more wine (we had to wait for traffic to clear) made for a fun evening.

I bet you're wondering about our boats.  Yes, two of them.  One, ordered from Amazaon, arrived on Friday.  In the meantime, we went shopping again for a paddle at the good boat store in Fairhope and then for a seat cushion at the Coleman outlet store.  While at Coleman, we saw the same boat we had ordered from Amazon, though last year's model, for a really good price and decided to buy it thinking we would open the Amazon boat and if we liked it we'd then open the Coleman boat.  If we didn't like it, we'd return the Coleman boat.  Makes sense, right?  Well, it our heads it did.  Yesterday was the big day.

Boat 1 inflated and ready to go

KT paddling our bay

We each took a turn and agreed we liked it enough to keep boat 2.  We need another paddle and seat cushion before we go out together, but it looks like we're boaters.  No names for the crafts yet, but Titanic and Hindenberg come to mind.  We'll keep you posted.

On another note, some readers wonder how the cats like the traveling.  The seem to love it and adjust to changing places and circumstances really well.  Like most cats, they can make anything a toy.

Beanie and Nortie happy that wine box is finally empty

 One last zoo picture because I really like it.

Stay warm while we try to stay dry!