Day: January 2, 2024

Transplanted Alabamians

December 21, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

But always Ohio State Buckeyes

After living in Alabama since November 1, I feel tempted to call us transplanted Alabamians.

We have learned to love the beaches here in southern Alabama especially and are tempted to stay even longer.

Alabama State Flag

I learned that the Alabama state flag is a red x on a white background. It is supposed to resemble the crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. We see a lot of these state flags flying.

Since we have already been here for nearly two months and are planning to stay another month, I thought it would be nice to learn more about the great state of Alabama.

Alabama State Bird

According to Wikipedia, the Alabama state bird is the Northern Flicker.

Photo Copyright: © ficusfoxone — http://www.redbubble.com/people/ficusfoxon

The northern flicker or common flicker is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family.

It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate.

I would love to see one of these birds while we are here and get my own photograph of one.

But — according to Encyclopedia Brittanica, the Alabama state bird is the yellowhammer. One of the nicknames of Alabama is the Yellowhammer State.

Either way, I have never seen either one of these birds in person and would love to find them.

Alabama State Flower

Photo Copyright https://camforest.com/products/c-jacks

The Alabama state flower is the camellia. It is a gorgeous flower and I have yet to see any of them.

Being here during November, December, and January is the ideal time for them to bloom, but I have yet to find any.

I guess I will need to be more observant of some of the blooms we see as we drive down the road.

Alabama State Tree

The Alabama state tree is the longleaf pine. We have seen a lot of these all the way from the northern part of the state down here to the southern tip. We even found bald eagles nesting in them.

The capital of Alabama is Montgomery and the oldest city is Mobile as it was founded in 1702. I hope to explore Mobile in the coming weeks, but we haven’t ventured that way yet.

A couple of interesting points —

Alabama has some of the strictest laws in the nation surrounding abortion. All abortions after the point of conception–the fertilization of an egg–is illegal. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

Can You Still Get an Abortion in Alabama?

Marijuana is only legal for medical purposes in Alabama.

Patients eligible to buy weed in Alabama can only do so at licensed marijuana dispensaries.

As of August 2023, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission just awarded licenses to four medical marijuana dispensaries and five integrated facilities with approved dispensary locations.

This means that the legal sale of cannabis will likely begin in late 2023 or early 2024. When sales begin, consumers will not be allowed to buy smokable cannabis flower, marijuana paraphernalia, hash and concentrates.

Sales of recreational marijuana remain illegal in Alabama.

https://www.alabamacannabis.org

Thanks for coming along with us on our journeys and learning more about the states we visit.

 

 

 

 

RV Life – The Boring Days

December 20, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Sometimes we don’t wake up until late morning and then we just sit and relax and drink coffee until noon.

By that time one of us is hungry. The first one to mention food is usually the one who cooks something for both of us.

Dishes might get done or not. We have been known to binge-watch a show on a streaming service and barely move from our spots for an entire day.

We have also played cards or board games all day long while listening to music.

We don’t always go somewhere. We actually stay home quite often. When the weather is comfortable we sit outside and don’t talk for hours.

Living in an RV is much the same as living in a house. Except that we move around to new places and do a lot of sightseeing and exploring.

Yesterday and today were those kind of boring days where we stayed home and did nothing.

We need our rest because tomorrow we get some family visitors for three days. Our daughter and three grandchildren are flying down from Ohio. Let the fun begin.

I promise to take lots of pictures and write all about it. Stay tuned for our family adventures.

 

Beach Birds of Southern Alabama

December 20, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

A photo story of many birds in one place

We were shocked to see so many different breeds of birds in one place at a remote beach just west of the main Gulf Shores Beach. From Gulf Shores, we headed west on 182 and found a public parking area with access to the beach.

We found great blue herons, brown pelicans, willets, sanderlings, and seagulls all in one place.

We have seen several great blue herons while here, and I will never tire of photographing them. They are beautiful birds.

This one was sitting not too far from where we were walking and then it took to flight. I was fortunate enough to catch a photo of him in flight that was not blurry.

He flew to the nearest building and perched on the roof.

As we neared the beach we saw several pelicans resting on the sea wall.

The pelicans were not too bothered by us and were fun to watch. These are brown pelicans. The brown pelican and the American white pelican are the only two species seen on the southern Alabama coast.

The juveniles are brown all over and the adults have a white head and neck.

The willet is common in all areas of the Gulf Coast of Alabama. They are basically an extra-large sandpiper. We are seeing them everywhere we go.

I must declare myself a bird watcher. I am a person who enjoys watching and observing birds in their natural habitat.

Seagulls are common near any type of water. I was surprised to find out there are several types of gulls found on the Alabama coast. Google says the photo above is a white gull and the photo below is a laughing gull.

The sanderlings are also plentiful here on the southern coast of Alabama.

They are small wading birds and are fun to watch as they scurry along the beach sticking their long beak into the sand to find food. They are also part of the sandpiper family.

Before we left, the great blue heron came back and landed nearby as if to say so long. He stayed put while we walked by and allowed me to take several more photos of him. Who knows if this was the same bird or not, but I can pretend it was him.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the many birds of the southern Alabama coast as much as we did. Thanks for stopping by.

RV Life Daily Blog – 12/18/2023

December 19, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Another day in paradise —

Yes, it really was another day in paradise. The weather here in southern Alabama is so comfortable. Highs in the 60s everyday and sunshine. We get to open the windows and let the fresh air in. I love it. It is nearly perfect, at least for us. We don’t have to run the air conditioning or the heat.

After a weekend of collecting shells on the beaches, which you can read about in the article below, we had to clean them all this morning. We washed the sand off of them outside. We don’t want all that sand going down the drain into the tank of the RV. Then we put them on a towel on the table to dry.

I ended up with quite a haul of shells.

After cleaning the shells, we cleaned the RV. We bring an awful lot of sand inside and it seems our daughter and three grandchildren are going to fly down to see us! They will be here Thursday and stay until Sunday morning for a Christmas visit. We want to make sure the car and the house are nice and clean for them.

We went to the laundry room and did two loads of laundry and then Rich laid down for a nap. He seems to take a lot of naps lately. I think it is because he gets bored. I have so many hobbies and things I can do like writing, drawing, coloring, or even crocheting. He has nothing like that. So when he gets too bored, he sleeps.

Speaking of crocheting, I decided to crochet a garland for our little two-foot Christmas tree today. I decided to use a light green yarn that I had plenty of on hand.

For this small tree, I crocheted a chain of 402. Then all I did was skip the first chain and then put two double crochet in each remaining chain all the way across and it automatically curls on its own.

I love how our little tree is turning out.

I am considering crocheting a small white tree skirt next…

Well, guess what I did before I went to bed…yep, I crocheted a small white tree skirt for the tree. I think it turned out pretty good for just making it up.

Thanks for stopping by to read and share RV life with us.

It’s Not About Where You Are, But Who You’re With

December 19, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Home is wherever your heart is

Rich and I have lived in a lot of places since we met in 1985.

We both grew up having lived in the same house our whole lives. Rich may have moved one time when he was a young child but doesn’t remember much about the house before.

My mother still lives in the same house my dad was born in. He died in that house and so will she. She says that no other place could ever feel like home to her.

It’s not that I don’t have a home mentality, it’s just that I like change and so does Rich.

We started out in an apartment and then moved to a mobile home in a trailer park. We went to Florida and lived with friends for a few months before renting our first house. We rented a second house in Florida before moving back home to Ohio.

We bought our first house in Ohio after our first child was born and lived there for five years.

Having outgrown that house with three children, we bought a larger one. We lived there for sixteen years when we had to declare bankruptcy and give it up.

At that time we moved to a town twenty miles away where we both worked and rented a house. When they sold the house we were renting, we lived in three separate apartments until we found the house we were living in when we decided to become full-time RVers.

We lived in that house for nine years and now have been in the RV since April of 2022, not quite two years.

Since moving into the RV we have lived in many places. Each place is different but our home is the same. It’s really great to just close up and take our home with us wherever we go.

It is comfortable, and it is home. As long as we are together, we are happy with whatever type of dwelling we live in. I can make any place feel like home. I wonder where we will live tomorrow.

What does home mean to you?

 

A Weekend of Collecting Shells

December 18, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

RV Life Daily Blog – Saturday and Sunday, December 16 and 17, 2023

We found our very first ever whole sand dollar while collecting shells this weekend! It is small. Smaller than the palm of my hand. These small ones are super fragile. We found a second one, but it broke soon after I picked it up.

December is a quiet month here on the coastal beaches of southern Alabama and Florida. Many times, we are the only people in sight. I expect January to pick up some after the holidays.

But we are not the only creatures in sight. Many times we are privileged enough to have a great blue heron share the beach with us.

He even followed us around for a bit. I think he was curious about what we were picking up off the beach. He walked down to where we were and then, turned around and followed us.

We have found several beaches here that are great for collecting shells. You just have to check the tide schedule and show up at the right time. Here in the Gulf, there are two high tides and two low tides.

Would you believe that Shell Beach is one of the best? And parking is free at all the paid parking lots after December 1. Shell Beach is part of Gulf State Park.

Don’t let Rich fool you. He enjoys finding cool shells just as much as I do.

I want to pick up all the complete shells that aren’t broken, but Rich stops me after a while cause the bag gets too heavy.

When he asks me what I will do with all the shells, I remind him that all the little ones that have holes in them will be hanging on the tree. Just look at all the shells on the tree in the picture above. I love looking at them.

Last year, I made wind chimes with the shells we collected in Florida.

I wish we could find more of the large ones without imperfections or broken edges.

Why do we love shells so much? Maybe because it gives us a glimpse into the ocean. I have never been in the ocean, no snorkeling or diving, so I have no personal experience with what it is like, and seashells give me a personal glimpse into that. The farthest I have ever been in the ocean is up to my knees.

Yep. That is a full-sized bath towel full of just this weekend’s haul. What would you suggest I do with all of them?

We collected shells until we couldn’t. Last night’s sunset was gorgeous, as usual.

Thanks for sharing our travels with us by reading my stories about the places we visit and enjoying my pictures of the things we see.

 

 

RV Life Daily Blog – 12/15/2023

December 16, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

The first thing I did this morning was open the window blinds to let the pretty sunshine in.

The second thing I did was spend a couple of hours on Medium reading and writing.

Then I decided I better get some Christmas cards written and mailed. It is the 15th of the month already. Who knows how slow the snail mail delivery will be? If I get the cards in the mail today, the USPS has 10 days to get them to my family.

I was a little sticker-shocked when I asked for four postage stamps and she said $2.66! Excuse me?! I had a half a roll of forever stamps when we moved into the RV and it has taken me two years to use them all. I didn’t realize how expensive they were now.

After the post office, we put gas in the car at $2.49. I remember paying over $6 a gallon when we were in the state of Washington in May of 2022.

With a full tank of gas, we headed south toward Gulf Shores and turned west on Fort Morgan Road.

We stopped at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge and walked out on the beach. As the surrounding area becomes increasingly developed, Bon Secour is a natural oasis of wildlands, where wildlife can exist without harm.

The dune areas are off-limits and protected. This is the place to come early in the morning for large seashells. We found some pretty good-sized broken ones.

I also found some large mushrooms along the path and of course, had to take pictures of them.

And then I saw another amazing large oak tree that I just had to get a photo of.

We drove on down to the end of the road at Fort Morgan. Fort Morgan is a State Historical Site so our National Park Pass didn’t work for entrance.

The entrance fee is $8 per adult. We opted out for now and just took photos of what we could see from the road.

This is also the location of the Dauphin Island Ferry that goes back and forth from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island.

We didn’t take the ferry today. Hopefully another day but it’s a little pricey.

We parked and walked out on the fishing pier. There was a man out there fishing who said he was from Scotland.

Another interesting site that I had to get a picture of was the oil rig just off the coast. I’m not sure if these are oil rigs or natural gas but there were several of them.

The only battery we could see without entering the fort was the Battery Dearborn on the road as we drove past. It was built in 1900 and completed in 1901. It was named after Henry Dearborn who was a distinguished soldier of the Revolutionary War.

We came home, had homemade chili soup for supper, and cleaned our seashell haul of the day.

Then we spent the evening watching Christmas movies on television.

It was another great day living in an RV that is currently parked in Foley, Alabama. Thanks for following along on our journeys.

 

 

The Many Areas of the Gulf Islands National Seashore

December 15, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

On the southern Alabama and Florida Panhandle Coastline

The Gulf Islands National Seashore on the southern coast of Alabama and the Florida panhandle is a magnificent area to see with its sandy white beaches and emerald blue waters. I didn’t realize there were so many different areas designated as national seashore and protected. We were fortunate to find so many wonderful parts to explore.

The first section we found was the Rosamond Johnson Beach area. This section is located east of Perdido Key, Florida. We are staying in Foley, Alabama and it is a straight drive south to Gulf Shores, Alabama. From there we simply drove east on Beach Blvd for about 15 miles until we entered the gate.

Rich and I have the National Park Pass which gets us into the National areas for free, but if you don’t have one, it will cost you to enter. $15 per person or $25 per vehicle.

Sadly, the road past the entrance going to Fort McRee is closed for repairs and won’t reopen until March 1. The furthest you can drive is to the Johnson Beach parking lot.

The second area we found was the Fort Pickens area. Fort Pickens is one of four military forts that was designed to protect Pensacola in the 1800s and is located west of Pensacola Beach on the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The drive back to the fort is filled with protected dunes.

Fort Pickens was the largest of a group of pentagonal-shaped fortifications designed to defend Pensacola Harbor in the 1800s.

It is located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore from the mainland. Fort Pickens guarded the island and the entrance to the harbor.

It was built with over 20 million bricks and was completed in 1834. I love exploring these old forts and imagining what it must have been like for the soldiers to live and work there.

Fort Pickens defended Pensacola Harbor along with Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, and the Navy Yard. It guarded the island and the entrance to the harbor.

Today the fort is slowly being reclaimed by nature. Grass and weeds grow where soldiers once stood, and stalactites are forming as water drips through the bricks of the ceilings.

Fort Pickens is another pay area to visit. It will cost you $15 per person or $25 per vehicle unless you have a national park pass.

The next area we found was the Santa Rosa Area east of Pensacola Beach. We drove the road past Opal Beach to the end at Navarre Beach.

There are numerous parking areas along this road to stop and see the ocean.

I always search these beach areas for shells and just don’t find many.

Navarre Beach Marine Park is at the end of the road and is free to enter and park.

This is where most of the beach scenes were filmed for the movie “Jaws 2.”

The sand is white and the water is emerald green. It is breathtaking.

The next area we found was the Naval Live Oaks Area.

The Naval Live Oaks Nature Preserve is another part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and is near Gulf Breeze, Florida. 

Notice the osprey nest in the photo in the top of the tree in the distance.

This is one of the most wooded areas in the park and features several miles of hiking trails, as well as a group campsite. The visitor center located at the park headquarters on the south side of Highway 98 is permanently closed.

I love that we stay in one area for such a long time and have plenty of time to see and explore all of the beautiful places. Staying in one place for at least a month at a time has been the best option for us. I hope you enjoyed seeing these many areas of the Gulf Islands National Seashore along the Florida and Alabama coastline.