April 17 - Thur.

Well sadly we said goodbye to Florida for 2014 as we crossed the state line into Alabama  to our next stop azalea RV park in Robertsdale, AL. It is a very nice, clean family owned park, but it is "out in the boondocks". The nearest town Loxley is about 10 miles away. The Gulfshore Beaches are about an hour away. By the time we got all hooked up, it started to rain, it poured all night. 

April 18 - Friday

It was still raining in the morning, so we got the laundry done. The laundry room here is super clean. We took a ride to check out the beaches, even tho it was not a beach day we just wanted to see where they were. They are nice white sand, but very congested, a lot of high- rises and spring breakers.

April 19 - Saturday 

Today was a busy day. A little chilly, so not a beach day. We heard about a museum & tour of the USS Alabama battleship about an hour away.,so off we went. Richard said we were only about an hour away from the Alabama / Mississippi  state line, so maybe we should check out our next stop in Mississippi. Boy am I glad we did! When we found it, we decided it was not up to the standards we are used to, & we would not feel comfortable staying there. We also checked out the beaches in the area. They were white sand, but the water did not look clear, rather murky looking. According to the news stations, this area was affected by the oil spill a few years ago & is not completely cleaned up. So we made the decision that we would not be coming here. That meant we were 4days with no reservations anywhere. When we get back to the RV Richard would get on the computer & see what he could find. We went to see the museum & battleship. We were really glad that we did. It was a self- guided tour of the actual ship itself which is docked there. It is HUGE! We were able to tour all over the ship. I didn't do the entire ship, to many sets of stairs in the lower bunks and upper decks. To tour the entire ship takes about 2 hours, Richard said it was amazing, but a lot of walking & climbing. There was also an actual submarine to tour, but I can't remember the name. On the way back, we decided to stop for chicken for supper which we both had a taste for. Well we drove around for over an hour, and would you believe we could not find one chicken place! No KFC, no Browns, unbelievable !! We ended up at a grocery store Winn -Dixie.. They had fried chicken! 

Well Richard got on the computer & found that we could get 3days at the State Park we had just came from back in Destin,FL (which we really liked with the great beach) , so we made reservations. Looks like Mon we are heading back to FL.! We were also notified by e-mail that one of the campgrounds we had reservations at on our way home was cancelled do to flooding. They were refunding our payment. So Richard  had to find places for those days also, which thankfully , after a lot of time on the computer , he was able to do, so we are back on track.

April 20 - Sunday

A Blessed & Happy Easter to all! We found a church about 1/2 hr away and went to an early mass. It was finally a beautiful , sunny, blue sky day.... A perfect beach day! So after church we got our beach gear together and off we went! We spent the day there. Richard had a good day metal detecting ... He found $1.13 and a bracelet. Tomorrow we leave here.

April 13 - April 16 (Sun - Wed)

Our next stop was at Henderson Beach St Park, Destin,FL. This is one of the places we were really looking forward to because we had heard from several people that it was a beautiful beach, with fine white sand. Well it certainly was that! Also a very clean beach. Sunday was a warm, sunny day, so after we got all hooked up at our campsite, we spent the day down by the beach. It was a good thing we did because the other 3 days we were here were not beach days. It stormed Sun evening  and poured, very windy. It was very overcast Mon and chilly. So we took a ride to Pennsicola, FL, about an hour away. We had heard about the Naval Aviation Museum there. It was very interesting and while there we saw an IMAX documentary about the Navy Blue Angles stunt flyers.  Really neat! 

Tues. It was "down right cold" (are we in Florida??) We did some errands in the morning, shopping, post office, etc. in the afternoon we went down to the beach, which was only a few minutes from our campsite in the park. but it was so cold  & very windy. We had on sweatshirts and we still were cold. It was much more windy by the water ( which incidentally is a pretty aqua color) so we found a golf course nearby, and golfed 9 holes. Richard got 2 pars!

Wed. The sun was out and it wasn't as windy, but it still was quite chilly ... Again not a beach day! We decided to go to a show in the afternoon. We saw the movie NOAH which we saw advertised on TV &thought it would be good .. NOT!!! We both thought it "stunk". Not at all like the biblical version. After the show it seemed to have warmed up a bit, so we went to the golf course &Richard did nine holes, I drove the cart and was his caddy. Tomorrow we leave here. We were really disappointed that we couldn't  enjoy the beautiful beach more. Oh well, we have no control over the weather, do we!

April 10 - 12 (Thur -Sat )

Our next stop was at St Andrews St Park in Panama City Beach, FL. This is our 3rd year staying here. The beach is just about 5min from the campground and it is a really nice beach with white sand. Fortunately the weather finally co-operated, and we were able to get a lot of beach time. There was  a lot to watch on the beach. Surf boarders, para-sails,  jet-skis, boats, both sail and motor. The water was a little chilly, but nice to walk along the shore. One day after spending the day at the beach, we went back in the late afternoon to watch the sunset. We wanted to get a picture of Richard "holding the sun" like we did last year. Richard's metal detector find for the 3days was a whoping 85 cents! But he had a good time finding it. Friday morning we  found a laundromat & did the laundry. We spent the afternoon at the beach and later treated ourselves to dinner out for fish & shrimp at a restaurant  called Po Folks, where we went 2years ago with our friends Maryjo &Paul. It was real good and enough left over for left-overs. Sat we did some grocery shopping in the morning and spent the afternoon at the beach. We went to mass at a church we had gone to last time we were here, St. Bernadette. It was a good 3days, but we leave here tomorrow. I love the beach, it is so relaxing watching & listening to the waves. It's a good thing we don't live around here because I would never get anything done, I'd be spending all my time at the beach! 

April 5 - April 9

OWe spent an enjoyable weekend relaxing at Jack & Jan's & left Sun. Morning to continue on with the second half of our vacation. Our next stop was to be at St George Island. It was too far to make it all in one day, so we spent one night at the Oak & Pines Campground  in Lake City, FL. We  stayed there last year. It is a very well maintained family owned campground. We got an early start on our way to St George Island. The weather was very gloomy & overcast. When we got there the park ranger who checked us in said that severe thunderstorms were on the way with possible tornados. Oh great! I felt like we were back in Illinois! Well he wasn't lying, there  was a lot of thunder & lightning and it poured all night long. In the morning there were huge puddles all over the park. We had to walk through a large one even to get to our car which was just in front of our RV. But we were fortunate we didn't have not one leak in the RV. We saw that others were not that lucky. A brand new trailer in the site just next to us had leaks and had to leave. There  also were several people camping in tents which got drenched. It still was overcast, but stopped raining so we went to check out the beach which is less than 10 min from the park, which is one of the reasons we like it here. This is our 3rd year coming to St George island. We were only at the beach for a short time because it was super windy and very chilly ... We decided not a "beach day". So we went to do some sight-seeing. We happened to see a public golf course, so since we had our clubs in the car, we decided to golf 9 holes. I had on sandles so I didn't golf, I was Richard's caddy & drove the cart.  He did pretty good, but there were several puddles on the course.Since we can't pick up any TV channels in the park and do not have Wi-FI we saw a Red-Box on the way back & got a movie to watch. Then played a game of rummy (which Richard won).

Wed we woke to a sunny day with temps forecast to be in the high 70's. After a delicious breakfast of bacon & eggs, which Richard made outside on the griddle, we went to spend the day at the beach. We finally got a day at one of our favorite beaches .....sunny & not windy. Richard had a good find with his detector ... A quarter, a dime and a penny! He even practiced his putting on the sand, and got in a nap. Tomorrow we leave here for our next stop.

Tues. APril 2

First if all a Very Happy 21st Birthday to our grandson Jake at Notre Dame University in Indiana. Have a great day , but don't celebrate too much!! Matthew's confirmation was very nice. His older brother Christopher was his sponsor. Both looked very handsome. I will add a picture later, I have to get it from Nancy since no camers were allowed in church. There was a reception afterward in the school gym. I also got to meet my newest great niece, Gabriella  Grace. When I got back home, I decided to take a shower since I would be leaving for the airport in the morning. When we leave for vacation, Richard turns off the water and drains the hot water heater since we are gone for 2months. He told me I could turn the water on, but I wouldn't have hot water. Nancy said I should go to her house and shower, but I thought I would just take a "cool" shower at home.... WRONG! The water was so cold there was no way I could take a shower. So I thought why not be like the pilgrims and heat the water on the stove. Well I had all four burners going plus our two coffee pots and an electric tea pot. I carried the pots one by one into the bathtub.. It took a while, but I finally had enough to get in and bathe. You don't appreciate running hot water until you don't have it!! I feel for the pilgrims!! Nancy and Matthew met me at the car rental to take me to the airport. It had stormed all night and was still raining in the morning. When I got to the airport, I found that my flight was delayed an hour. When the plane was finally ready to board, they announced that they needed three people to take a later flight. They were offering to pay for the flight plus give a $300.00 voucher to anyone who would volunteer to take a later flight.when I was finally able to board, I asked why they over-book. She said they don't , but there was a situation on the plane. Someone on the flight the plane came in from vomited. And they had to remove three seats and didn't have extra seat belts for the replaced seats and the flight was filled. So until three people volunteered to take a later flight, the plane couldn't take off.i guess 3people must have agreed to the later flight because the plane finally was able to leave. It was very overcast out for about thr first half of the flight, so I wasn't able to get any pictures until it finally cleared up. The plane was filled of course .. A lot of families going to Disney Land. Richard, Jack &Jan picked me up at the airport. It was good to be home and see Nancy and the kids,but I was anxious to get on with the next month of our vacation.

Tues April 1 - Fri. April 4

We left for the Orlando airport, which is about 40min away.about 11:00. My flight was to leave at 2:25, but I wanted to be there early enough so I had time to get to the right gate ( I didn't want to get on the wrong plane and end up in Syberia!) I was flying home for our grandson Matthew's confirmation. Since I haven't flown since 9/11,I was a little nervous about getting through security. Jan came into the airport lobby with me and showed me where to go. I knew you had to take your shoes off, but wouldn't you know I get to security and forgot to take off my shoes, da!! which they informed me I had to do before I could go through the body scan. Well I made it to the right gate. Good thing I gave myself enough time because I had to walk quite a ways to get there. Sitting there waiting to board the plane it amazed me how many people fly and nobody dresses up anymore... The outfits, oh my !! Well I got to my assigned seat on the plane and a flight attendent came by and said "are you Audrey?" I of course  said yes (I was thinking oh dear, what did I do now) he said we have a seat up front holding for you if you would like in the business section. So I grabbed my bags and made my way back up the aisle to the front of the plane and another flight attendant said you are Audrey? I answered and she showed me to a seat which was definitely better, more leg room & the seat next to me was vacant. All the while I was wondering why my assigned seat was changed (yes I did shower that morning) I asked the attendant. She said sometimes if there are empty seats available they will upgrade someone and I was the lucky one!! That was great they even brought me a bottle of water. The flight was so smooth, at times it felt we weren't even moving. We landed in Chicago at midway and what a temperature change It was 79 in Orlando  when I left and 45 in Chicago. Nancy, Matthew & Zachary  met me at the airport.i decided to rent a car for the 2days I was going to be home since my car we tow behind the RV was in FL. I do love to fly and it was so clear I got some good pictures.

Mon March 31

Been a busy few days! We arrived at Jack & Jan's, which we refer to as the "J&J Resort"as we were coming down their street we noticed they had a "Vacancy " sign posted by their mailbox, referring to our campsite in their driveway. That was funny. We spent a relaxing afternoon by their lake. They have this long necked sand cran that comes right up to their doors swaking wanting bread, they named him "cluck". Well they found out that Cluck has a girl friend when they arrived in their yard the other day with a baby cluck!  We made it an early night because I had to get things ready for my flight the next day.