Florida Bound

So we took off a couple of hours ago to begin a 2 day trip to St. George Island, FL. Joanna came down from Chicago yesterday and we’re meeting Joe and family in Nashville, hopefully in a couple of hours. It started raining when we left, and has rained ever since.

Nashville was a quick stop, but we got BBQ and cornbread at Edley’s and wow! So good! Nora took bites of Joes brisket and she said, “Am I in a dream?”

Going through AL, we were surprised at the very religious billboards. One actually said: Go to Church or The Devil will Get You. Wow!

We spent an uneventful night in Montgomery. The next morning we went to a Starbucks to order coffee. The guy said their coffee machine was broken! So we ordered Americanos and were over-charged. Later we noticed the coffee maker had mysteriously healed and was making coffee. They were really busy, but too busy to brew a cup of coffee? Really? On the road again, stopping at another rest stop to stretch and let the dogs run.

We drove down through Alabama and arrived at St. George Island about 3:45 pm. We entered our beach house and vacation began! Hello Gulf!

We knew the weather wasn’t going to be hot, but it was high 60’s and the water was just warm enough to swim in, if you just grit your teeth and did it! We had so much fun. We walked and walked everywhere. There was a homemade donut stand a block away, oh heaven! The owners said they lived in Cincinnati, OH, but left it all and now they make and sell donuts in paradise! We ate pizza and went to Paddy’s for oysters and burgers and fish tacos. Paddy’s was a lot like cheeseburger in paradise. We could have taken the dogs, but while walking up to the restaurant, Henry went off on a little beagle, growling, lunging and snarling. 😪. So we left the dogs at the house. The food was so good.

I’m going to put a few more pics up. Gonna miss beautiful St. George Island.

then heading home, lunch at Chicken Salad Chicks!

then free dinner and 3 free drinks at the Drury Inn in Birmingham.

From Birmingham it was supposed to be a 7 hour drive, but we were on the road 7 hours and still weren’t to Evansville. And of course it started raining in KY. It’s a lonnnnggg way to go.

A lot of vacation was continuing to deal with Henry and his aggression issues. We tried the DDT’s of training (yes, I made that up, it stands for Distance, Distraction and Treats!). Sometimes we’d think he was doing better, but mostly he’s just a mean, stubborn dog. He finds bare legs irresistible, and wants to nip them so bad. And the way he lunges and growls is like a Baskerville hound from Hell. It’s hard not to feel helpless.

One sweet thing from vacation was being around Nora. She has so much life and love. She’s so bossy and yet loveable! She ran into the ocean without a second thought, braving the cold. She dances all the time. When we were at Paddy’s they had live music and she got up and danced in front of everyone. She’s such a presence you sometimes forget she’s just a 5 year old. She wanted to have a “sleep over” with Joanna in the loft bedroom that Joanna got. (Joanna has to sleep in the “children’s loft’ with 2 twin daybeds, and she wasn’t too pleased) Joanna made her wait til the last night to have the sleepover, and by Wed, the day of our last night there, Nora was so excited! She adores her Aunt JoJo. And don’t forget her saying, “Chicken Lickin’ Good!! Lol!

we got home late Friday night. Saturday it was cold, rainy then started to hail and finally snowed in earnest. Indiana, what a cruel welcome home!!