January 3, 2024
Happy New Year, still. I hope this finds you well and content, wherever you may be, and I pray that 2024 is a very good year for all of us.
We just returned to Hopkinsville yesterday after spending nine glorious days on the Gulf coast in Gulf Shores, Alabama. I’ve always known that ‘water’ somehow factored into my overall well-being, and I’ve been eagerly looking forward to this respite from reality (spending the winter somewhere cold instead of going south like we planned) for quite some time. There’s just something about being by the water that’s good for one’s soul. It’s revitalizing.
This was the first time we ever visited Gulf Shores, though there were a couple of times that we actually lived along the Gulf Coast, not too far from here–in a house–Pensacola/Gulf Breeze, FL (1985-91) and Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi (2004-05). We even lived in Alabama for a little while, too (Dothan, 1981-85), and drove down to Destin and Navarre (pre-development) whenever we could. I couldn’t help but think, as we drove past multi-million dollar homes along the parkway, “What if we still lived there? What if Dave hadn’t taken that job in San Diego? What if Hurricane Katrina hadn’t happened and our house wasn’t destoryed? In essense, I was questioning the past and indulging in a bit of self-flaeggelation along the way. Ouch. But one can’t help but wonder when one “goes back” to someplace one once lived. That’s just human nature.
Gulf State Park was the site of our holiday gathering–us in the campground and the kids in one of the cabins. Both places were impressive.
The campground is huge! but amazingly, not Alabama’s biggest state park; that would be Oak Mountain, further north on I-65. But here at GSP, there are 496 full hook-up sites on concrete pads. Spacious and clean. Less than two miles from the beach, with 28 miles of biking and hiking trails. Facilities include a camp store, laundry facility, pool, tennis and pickleball courts, a nature center (with lots of planned events), an activities building, and probably more that I didn’t see. There are four restaurants in the park, some beachfront. The campground was packed the five days we were there, and it was hard to believe that this was the OFF-season.
Eagle Cottages, where the kids stayed, are situated along Lake Shelby within the park. There are eleven 3-bedroom/3-bath units, and all were completely decorated for Christmas, including evergreen garlands, lights, and Christmas tree. Two screened-in porches and another one off to the side made the cabin seem even bigger. All in all, everyone loved their accomodations.
We only went out to eat once during the five days that the kids were down, relying on already-cooked meals from Publix to satisfy our appetites, so as not to shackle any one person to the galley. There was only one snafu: I’d ordered the already-baked turkey breast meal, including all the fixings, to be picked up on Christmas Eve, that I figured we’d eat either that evening or on Christmas Day. I probably won’t do that again; the store was SO crowded! We waited in line for more than half an hour before working our way up in the queue to be helped. I felt sorry for the harried assistant deli manager; it seemed like everyone wanted her attention that day.
I didn’t think much about it when she pulled our order out of the massive refrigerator behind the deli counter. It was only when we got it back to the kids’ cabin that we discovered that the bird was frozen through and through. There was no way we’d be eating turkey that day, or the day after, and maybe even the day after. I felt sick. It took days for me to put together the perfect Christmas dinner and then to order it online (challenging in and of itself), and now it seemed all my planning was for naught.
Kate called the store right away and explained the situation to the customer service person who, no doubt, was horrified at the thought of a frozen Christmas bird being given to a customer on Christmas Eve. Back to the Publix we went, where we were greeted cheerfully, yet cautiously, by the assistant deli manager, replacement Boar’s Head turkey in hand. I’m sure she was pleasantly surprised that we weren’t angry or otherwise put out by the situation…no doubt she had her fill of irate customers over the past day or so. Behind her came a young man, who turned out to be the store manager, with two pies in his hands for us, to compensate us ‘for our bother’ and probably hoping I wouldn’t write a scathing review online. By this time the crowd had really thinned out, and I was just grateful that everything worked out. And all in all, all of the food was great. It definitely beat going out to eat all the time.
We went bowling on Christmas Eve and to the beach on Christmas Day, and I can’t think of a better holiday than that.
They all had to go back to Kentucky on Thursday, but we wanted to savor our time in Gulf Shores…it took us long enough to get there and who knows if we’d ever come back? Someone was scheduled to come into our site at the state park, so we scrambled to find something along the coast, preferably not too far away. We tried going to Bay Saint Louis, but the rate at the Silver Slipper Casino was $100/night, and that wasn’t even on the water.
As luck would have it, there was a spot available for four nights at Fort Morgan RV Park, only 13 miles from where we were at GSP. It was a terrific discovery! It’s a very small park with a variety of sites, both large and small. Maneuvering a large trailer or 5th wheel might be a challenge, but parking the motorhome was easy. The location was perfect: far enough away from the Gulf Shores crowd (which picked up considerably at the start of the New Year’s Eve holiday weekend), but close to things like a couple of good restaurants (pizza, Cajun shrimp boils) and just minutes away from the Mobile Bay Ferry, which turned out to be an adventure in itself!
The ferry transports cars, trucks, small campers and RV’s (less than 20′) and passengers to Dauphin Island, and provides fantastic views of both Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan, two historic forts that have long guarded the entrance of Mobile Bay. The fare depends on the type of vehicle, number of passengers, and season. It cost us $27 to go to Dauphin Island and $15 to return (receipt needed.) The ferry operates on a first-come, first-served basis, and monitoring its Facebook page is important so that you don’t chance getting a spot on the return passage. If you do miss the boat, it’s about a three-hour drive back to Fort Morgan.
Once on the island, we drove west until we couldn’t anymore and walked on the beach that seemed to go on forever. We also found Indian Shell Mound Park, with mounds estimated to date back to the Mississippian Era between 900 and 1500 B.C. There are huge palmetto palms and, among the enormous moss-draped oaks, one tree reputed to be more than 8 centuries old! We also found Skinner’s Seafood, had one of the BEST Cajun boils ever, and learned what Royal Reds are (shrimp caught in very deep, icy cold waters…taste like lobster.) 😋
Nine days never went by faster, and if it’s any indication, everybody wants to do it again next Christmas. So that’s a good thing, because family get-togethers can go either way. 😉
So here we are, back in Hopkinsville, with no particular travel plans in the foreseeable future. Although I complain about being cold, I really am glad to be closer to family. I’m grateful to have friends here, too, and have even had some lunch dates, with more to come, now that the holidays have passed. I have a couple of ‘goals’: 1) is to learn how to knit a cap now that I can do a scarf, and 2) is to listen to an audio book that’s been on the back burner for way too long (The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis).
For almost a year I’ve been a part of a group of women who meet weekly with the purpose of enriching our spiritual lives through Bible study, discussion and prayer. It’s an interesting mix of believers; one or two seem to know the Bible inside and out, most go to regular services, and then there’s me. A workamper at our resort started it in the fall of 2022, but within weeks everyone went their separate ways for the winter. A few of us revived it last spring when we returned to the resort but, being travelers, having “in person” meetings was hit-and-miss, at best, even though we all wanted the group to continue.
The group branched out to include some friends who just wanted to join. Somewhere along the line, I found myself volunteering to get a Zoom account and host the weekly gatherings, and that’s the way we’ve been connected ever since. It is so uplifting to get together for 30-40 minutes every Tuesday with likeminded women from all over the country who are on the same page when it comes to God.
I suppose it’s through osmosis that my faith has been strengthened to the point where I can’t fathom, much less understand, how people can not believe in God, especially in the times in which we live. Delving more into the Bible has unearthed a reality I never really understood, or wanted to, and it’s amazing! Having left organized religion decades ago, my change of heart is a miracle, for which I welcome and am so grateful! It gives me hope for the future and belief that the best is yet to come. Happy, Happy New Year, Friends!
