2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Fairhope Alabama and Beyond

Good friends John and Donna gave us a ring early this AM, suggesting we get together.  So, we did.

What a day it was, 126 photos worth of a day:  Cotton fields, lunch at Big Daddy's Grill on Ferry Road.  Big Daddy's has a HUGE sand pile for the kids to play in and dogs are welcome, even provided with a bowl of drinking water, thank you.  You know Man had some kind of seafood, yepper. This time it was soft shell crab poboy, see:

After a great lunch, we went to check out a campground nearby, Wales West, which is owned by railroad enthusiasts who have built a 2 foot gauge steam railroad like are found in Wales (yep, near England). 

One of my personal goals in life is to meet "Characters", people who are interesting, a little bold and "out there", who have experiences so different than my own. Well, today, I met few. These people LOVE trains! There are not enough photos to show the Christmas decorations. EVERY THING in the campground is decorated, yes, I mean EVERYTHING! Even the old farm equipment in the back 40 have Christmas lights strung all over them. I cannot imagine what their electric bill must be for the month of December! It is over the top but before long, you can feel your inner child coming out and you are smiling and laughing and enjoying! Yes we rode the train, a coal burning steam engine. Yes, it spurts out embers and ash, you can see the black ash in my hair.

After several hours of visiting Wales West, we climbed back in the truck, patting John and Donna on the back for such a unexpected delightful afternoon. We headed to Fairhope, eventually stopping at their public pier where there is a very nice rose garden. Donna and I had a grand time taking photos, it was late in the day and the lighting was great.

We walked out on the pier watching the sun set.

A great blue heron landed on a roof of part of the pier and we again started taking lots of photos.

Isn't it breath taking??

We had a wonderful day, spent with good friends, made extra special because it was not planned, it just happened.  It could not have been any nicer, even if we had micro-planned it.

Thanks John and Donna!

Now I need to go wash my hair!

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