Windy Wednesday in Fort Walton

Eliott's been sick off and on since Sunday night, and he woke up today not feeling well at all again.  We had a light breakfast and headed out to the beach because it's supposed to be the only day not raining while we are in Florida.  Lucas finally got to build the castle and moat he's been talking about since before we left.

Lucas and his castle by the sea

Speaking of Lucas, I'm fairly certain you've seen the last blog from him.  He prefers imagining his own stories and writing them out. Maybe one day I'll get him to create a story and put it on here for everyone to read.  He sure loves to write.

Eliott didn't last long at the beach so Aaron and I took turns hanging out in the hotel room with Eliott while the other one spent time with Luke.  Aaron came in with Eliott and Lucas and I made sand castles, and then he decided he wanted to swim in the pool.  No big deal, I thought.  It's heated.  We swam for a whole 10 minutes and he decided he was done so then we had to get out....in the 20 mph winds....and 50 degrees.  Brr.  We did not think that through.  We came back up and hung out with Aaron and Eliott for a bit while we thawed out.

We had to make a quick run to Target for a few things, and by the time we were done there, Eliott was exhausted.  The poor guy has felt worse today I think than the last few days.  We went back to the hotel to drop Eliott and Aaron off and Lucas and I went to grab some lunch.  We found a fairly new restaurant to try called Rockin' Tacos Grill & Bar.

 It was the best food I've had down here.  We left there stuffed, and went off to find some geocaches.  (We found two!)

Later on we came back to the hotel and Aaron and Lucas went off to take a walk on the beach and to find some more geocaches (I'm telling you this kid is obsessed).  I hung out with Eliott and watched Food Network...which was his pick not mine, although I was certainly not complaining!

Later on Eliott was feeling up to getting out of the hotel room, so we ventured out to this place that had a ropes course and a great big putt putt course.  We opted for putt-putt, because we were unsure how long Eliott's ok-ness was going to last.  It was a good time and they had lots of special effects throughout the course.  We had a few bucks left on our card from that place so we played a few arcade games.

Eliott racing motorcycles

Aaron's a stealthy fruit ninja

Getting in some Alpine skiing

We headed back to the hotel and ordered some pizza for a late night dinner for the 3 of us who were hungry.  Poor Eliott got sick again here just a bit ago and I'm pretty sure we are going to head back a day early.  We're supposed to get thunderstorms all day tomorrow here and Eliott just wants to go home and lay in his own bed.

Tuesday....Battleships and Alligators

This morning we had breakfast at our hotel, and while mom was getting ready, the three guys went geocaching in downtown Mobile.  We found the one we were looking for last night, and we found a second one too!  

We packed up and we headed to our next location, which was the USS Alabama Battleship Park. 

  This ship was used in WWII in the Pacific Ocean.  We were going to look up more information about the ship when we got to Florida, but our internet is not working at the hotel.  We toured the ship below and saw where the men slept and where they did everything else.  It was like a small city on the ship.  2500 men lived on the ship together.   I (Lucas) thought the most interesting part was that they had an old fashioned soda shop aboard and that the smaller ships would trade for ice cream when they were near because they didn’t have enough room to have ice cream.  

Lucas & Eliott at the back of the USS Alabama battleship

Mom and Lucas (and Dad) in the front of the USS Alabama

A very intimidating ship!

Our view from the highest possible point on the ship

After we toured below the deck, we went up top and climbed as high as we were allowed.  It was fun to see all the different guns they had on the ship too.  Some were big and some were really really big.

Look at our big guns

 We went to the front of the ship where the anchor was down.  I laid down next to the chain to show how big it was.

That's a thick chain!

After we toured the battleship we went through the hanger, which had 10 or 12 different airplanes in it.  We were hungry, so we didn’t stay long…only long enough to get some pictures for Papaw.  We headed out to see the submarine, which actually wasn’t in the water, it was next to the battleship on the land.  It was a lot smaller than the battleship and it was neat to look out of the periscope.  About 70 men stayed on the submarine together but we only counted beds for about 30.

Bunk mates on the submarine.  Lucas said comfier than home.  lol.

After we left the USS Alabama we grabbed some lunch at Zaxby’s and then went to Alligator Alley in Summerdale, AL.  They had areas for little baby alligators, and an area for 1 year olds, and an area for 2-3 year olds, and an area for 3-4 year olds.  

The 1 and 2 year old alligators

They said once they were 5 or 6 year olds then they put them in with the adults.  We bought some food to feed to them and it looked like horse pellets, if you know what I mean.  They were hard and a mixture of vitamins and fish blood and parts, and corn meal.  It sounds a lot grosser that what they are.  It was like Alligator Rice Krispies.  In the area where the 1 and 2 year olds were, there was a lady that had an alligator that we could hold.  His name was Gatorade and we all got to hold him.  

Lucas and Gatorade

Eliott and Gatorade

Dad & Gatorade

Mom really liked holding him and she said she would want to work here if it was closer to home.  

Mom & Gatorade

Mom thinks Gatorade is her baby.  Actually he was cold and the lady told her to put him on her shoulder like that.

Mom really liked how cute Gatorade was

For the adult alligators, they had a swampy area that looked like where Yoda lived except no fog.  There were boardwalks that walked over this area and we could see all of the adult alligators and feed them.  But don’t worry it was safe!  There was a fence on both sides of us. 

The beach area of the swamp for the adults

 In the back of the swamp was an alligator named Captain Crunch.  He was caught in Tallahassee, FL after he had learned to hunt for dogs at night to survive.   They measured his bite in 2002 and it was the strongest one ever on record at 3900 pounds.  He’s not the biggest alligator they have though.  That one is named Colonel.  He was next to Larry and they were both being lazy.  Colonel had a piece of food on his back someone tried to feed him and he was so lazy he just let it lay there on his back. 

The Colonel and Dad

 At 4pm it was feeding time so we went to the area that they feed them and a guy came out with a cooler and a microphone.  He was telling us about all their names and feeding them wild pig meat.  He said they have a big problem with wild pigs in that area and they have plenty of farmers that kill the hogs for them and donate the meat to the alligators.  The biggest alligator he was feeding was Buckwheat, and there were others too.  JW, Lucky, Chili-dog (who liked Jack Russel terriers before he came to live there) and Si.  It was neat to see him feed the alligators and get so close.

Time to eat!  Alligators are not graceful getting out of the water.

Buckwheat eating some wild pig meat

Once they were done feeding the gators we left, and made our way to our last stop of the day, which is….Florida!  We are staying in the same hotel we stayed in last year and we are so excited to be back next to the ocean.  Tomorrow it’s supposed to be nice and mom bought me some sand toys at the store tonight so I can get started on my sand castle and moat early in the morning.  I also got a sand claw that will help me dig my moat faster.  Hopefully Eliott will be feeling better tomorrow.  He’s not been feeling well the last two days.  He thinks he ate some bad Chinese food on Sunday.  Since our internet is not working at the hotel, we will have to wait and post this in the morning too.  Nighty night!

Talladega Days

This morning we woke up in Talladega, AL and packed up the van to head to our next adventure.  Lucas finished the next Harry Potter book on the way to Alabama so he decided to take himself an AR test for school while the book was fresh in his mind.  I bet he's the only kid who enjoys homework over Spring Break.  :)

We left our hotel and drove deep into the Talladega National Forest.  We didn't see much on the drive but lots and lots of pine trees.  Mom had found a neat trail for us to hike that was supposed to have a lot of waterfalls to see, so that's where we went.  It was called the Chinabee Silent Trail.  While we were on the trail we found a geocache too.

Lucas found the geocache without any help from the app.

There were lots and lots of waterfalls and fun places to get close to the water.  If it was warmer we would have played in the water but it was only around 50 degrees.

We found these trees all over the place that looked like they belong on the Lorax movie.

When we started out we found a great place to go out and eat next to the waterfalls, but it was too early to eat, so when we got hungry, we went back to that spot.  It was perfect!

Eliott wasn't feeling good so we ended up finishing our hike early.  We drove 4 hours to Mobile, AL, the next spot for our week of fun.  Mom found a neat hotel in Mobile online and booked it on the way there.  It's called the Malaga Inn and looks like it belongs in New Orleans.

Malaga Inn

 The building is really old and has a courtyard in the middle of it.  It's very relaxing.

For dinner we ate at Heroes Bar and Grill.  It was good and inexpensive but nothing special.

We walked back to the hotel and called it a night....tomorrow we tour the USS Alabama and a submarine!

Spring Break 2016

I've decided to blog our Spring Break so that we have it all some place for us to remember....and Lucas is helping me blog since he aspiring to be a writer when he grows up.  :)

This morning we left about 8:30 am and it was snowing as we drove through Evansville!  Luckily it didn't last too long.  Our first stop today was the Jefferson Clark Memorial in Fairview, KY.  The monument was really tall, but sadly the elevator was broken so we weren't able to tour the monument.

Aaron & the boys in front of the Jefferson Clark Memorial

We went through the museum and learned that Jefferson Clark was born right near where the monument was built, and was the President of the Confederate States.  We also learned that his first wife died of malaria after only being married 3 months.  She died on Luke's birthday.  After we toured the museum we looked to see if there were any geocaches nearby, and there was one right next to the monument!  (If you don't know what geocaching is, you can click here and learn about it.)  We found it pretty easily and it had a trackable in it.  These are specially made items that you can log where you find them and take them to another spot and log where you dropped it off.  We found one in Cynthiana, IN a few months ago, and we left it in this spot.  The one we left behind was started in Germany!

Eliott & Lucas found the Geocache under the water meter lid

The boys looking at all the swag in the geocache box

Next we headed out towards Nashville, the site of our next stop.  I (Lucas) wanted to visit the Parthenon in Nashville, which was in the movie "Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief."  The building was bigger than I thought it would be and Athena was creapier than the movie.  Not everything in the building was the same as in the movie but it was neat to see it in person.  We found out there was an art gallery under the Parthenon.

Eliott & Lucas at the Parthenon in Nashville, TN

Statue of Athena at the Parthenon

After we left the Parthenon we looked for another geocache nearby and found it outside of an army surplus store.  They did a good job hiding that one!

We got back on the road and headed to Talladega, AL where we were staying the night.  We had dinner at a chinese restaurant, but it wasn't very good.  We went back to the hotel and watched some Lego Star Wars show and then went to bed.  Tomorrow we are hiking in the Talladega National Forest!

Rick Steves and cheap wine in Paradise

July 13, 2014
Sunday morning we woke up early to catch the short-bus to town for Mass.  Although the novelty of attending an Italian Mass was enticing, I really wanted to be able to understand what was going on, so we headed to St. Francis, who offered one English-speaking Mass a weekend.

Cloisters at St. Francis in Sorrento

Cloisters at St. Francis in Sorrento

After Mass we decided to take the steep ramp down to the beach and see what the coastline had to offer.  I was dying to get my feet in the Mediterranean Sea!

Ramp from top to bottom is on the far left.

 The air was chilly and the water was even colder, so my feet were all that got wet that day.

We walked along the boardwalk/beach, and found a bench near the water to just sit and enjoy the breeze, the view, and each other.

 This was one of my favorite moments of our trip.  No plans made, nowhere to be, the calm of the sea, and my love next to me.

We decided from here to follow a self-guided tour, laid out by Rick Steves in his tour book.  (love me some Rick Steves on PBS!)  We enjoyed seeing the hidden treasures of the city, and found ourselves in this canyon that was a road back up to the city.

It was really beautiful....until we made it to the end.  All those steps!! Aaron's fitbit counted 8 flights of stairs but it felt like so much more on my knees.

Um, where's the elevator?

Once my knees and lungs recovered from the climb, we did a bit of shopping amid the local shops, each one having an overwhelming smell of lemons to them.  We also found a shop where they sold products from a local farm, including wine.  YUM.  They claimed to provide most of the house wines the restaurants offered in Sorrento.  Of course I purchased some for myself and a few of my fellow vino lovers back home. 

No shortage of lemon products here!

Lemon tree for sale at the farm stand shop.

Because of awesome Rick Steves, we happened upon an off-the-main-strip restaurant that was dirt cheap and delicious!  Grill tuna and salad for me, and a pasta dish for Aaron.  Wine was the cheapest I'd seen in all of Italy so far and I was not going to pass it up!

Simple yet sooooo good.

The huge "slice" of lemon on my salad plate.

 We visited another church in the city, and found where St. Anthony was buried.  Not the St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things, but at the time, I had no idea.  Again....Italian-English barrier.  He's a pretty big deal to Sorrento, being their patron saint, and on February 14th, the people of Sorrento celebrate his feast day, not giving much thought to St. Valentine.

Statue of St. Anthony outside the church

Yup, there he is.

After we toured the city, we headed back to the hotel for a nap, and had dinner on the deck of the restaurant at the hotel, overlooking the city.

Mt. Vesuvius at night

Sorrento at night