A misty morning for saying goodbye

Every year, it gets harder and harder to leave! Especially when you hear there's SNOW?!? at home!

We woke up to another foggy morning, just right for taking pictures of palms from the second-floor hallway... Via our friends on Facebook, we were hearing about snow at home. Several inches of snow! And we were getting ready to head that way, voluntarily??

It was sad, but true... We piled into the car and headed north for Memphis. Beach Bag, which had served us admirably on its maiden voyage, found its place in the trunk. Daddy was streaking down the road when he snapped a photo of a milestone on the odometer.

Somewhere north of Jackson, Miss., we crossed the magic line where 80 degrees became 40. Brrrr! By the time we got to Southaven, just south of Memphis, we beachgoers were woefully underdressed for the wintry weather. On Sunday, when we hit the Jefferson County line in Missouri, we saw the first of the snow. It was a good thing we were so close to home, because the temptation to turn around was pretty strong!

In our front yard, I took this picture, kind of a sad meeting between our warm beach memories and the cold realities of home!


Now it's back to the routine. Can't wait for next March -- it'll be our 10th trip to the beach! I think a commemorative book will be in order...

My favorite shots of Steve at the beach

I've said that the best thing about our beach vacation is that we get to be all in the same place at the same time. It's really the only chance we get for that!

After just about a day, especially if the weather is nice, I feel a whole winter's worth of tension just start to bleed away. Being by the ocean just has that calming effect on me, especially, and also Steve.

It's fun to take pictures of that smiling, vacation-bearded face! Oh, how I love my Crabbes at the beach!

National seashore . . . and ice cream, of course !

The weather was SO warm, we chanced a trip waaaay out to the end of Perdido Key, to the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Gulf Shores is a beach town , but the national seashore is pure, unadulterated beach. For miles, there are no buildings. Just the gulf, a beach, a road, dunes, and the bay.

The dunes look a lot better than they did after Ivan! Steve and Allen went off to explore them, crossing the road from the beach to the bay side. They saw great shells in the shallow water, picked them up and... Surprise! Someone's home! Hermit crabs!

That side of the tiny island is more sheltered from the wind, which was pretty harsh on the gulf side. The water was a lot colder than at our "urban" beach house! Daddy and Allen dug a hole that was half an Allen deep. We saw two herons posing and preening and circling around...One pranced off toward where the Crabbes sat in the sand. They spooked it... so it flew right back at me! Boy, I wish my zoom worked better.



Did I mention it's isolated? The closest buildings are just a speck in the distance. Allen tried out the boogie board! And Steve braved some mighty big spray! For a while, anyway... I got some shots of sandy feet that make a great Facebook profile photo.

After Emilyn went on a walk, I saw two dolphins surfing!! They lined up perpendicular to the breaking waves and jumped and rode them right in. It was the most awesome thing, but too far away to catch with the camera. I wish someone had seen it with me!



A pretty long drive back to Alabama... We stopped at Lillian's pizza for lunch -- where I took the best picture I've ever taken of a candle holder -- and used our coupons at Bruster's ice cream. Emilyn tackled a double Dreamsicle cone. Bring your own banana day?? Shoot! We didn't know! Steve dove in to a Key Lime Pie waffle cone. Mmmmmm. Allen had a cool Dino sundae, and I had chocolate-peanut butter buckeye that rivaled Oberweis back home. But just rivaled.

For all the photos from the day, click here.

Lunch at LuLu's

On a great, busy day, LuLu gets a whole post of her own...

One place we drive by all the time but have never stopped is Lucy Buffett's (she's Jimmy's sister) restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway. It's right under the Gulf Shores causeway bridge, and next to Jack Edwards Airport.

Well, it's a landmark, and with good reason. It's a pink and yellow paradise, equal parts theme park, bar and restaurant. Well, maybe heavy on the bar. There are three of them!

We treated ourselves to -- what else? -- Cheeseburgers in Paradise! The burgers were just OK, but the desserts were to die for. We had a huge slab of key lime pie and Krispy Kreme bread pudding! Next time, we're going back just for booze and desserts. Maybe at sunset!




We bought a shotglass for Pete, who's the biggest Parrothead we know.

While Allen was busy playing in the sand, guess who showed up? Spontaneous Abby! Our new friend from the beach! She was sportin' a little sunburn, for sure. Overheard, Allen to Abby: "Do you remember the three tips I told you for learning Swedish?"


A great day overall. Tell LuLu we'll be back for more pie and pudding!

Full family fun in the surf

It's probably a good time to mention that this is the best weather we have ever had at the beach. Best. Weather. Ever!!

So warm, in fact, that we ended up getting Emilyn a boogie board (with evil dolphins on it) -- and all of us ended up using it! There aren't photographs of that all-Crabbe party in the waves... Because Mommy, the photographer, was having way too much fun!

But there are plenty of pictures from Wednesday, starting off with seagull feeding and ending up with sandpipers at sunset. It was really a perfect day at the beach.

For the rest of the shots of the day, click here.

Dolphin cruise !

Emilyn was the first to request our annual dolphin cruise... When I first called on Monday, their sunset cruise was sold out. There's a reason we want the sunset cruise... So we waited until Tuesday.

We were back with Cetacean Cruises, some real fun people with a very comfy glass-bottomed pontoon boat. The tour guide and captain are always so nice, and the two-hour dolphin and nature cruise takes you back into some really neat bayou areas... It wasn't our best year for spotting dolphins, but we did see a few, and got a couple of "Jaws"-like shots.


On the way back to dock, all the kids get a turn steering the boat. Allen's a veteran by now! And this year, our tour guide even snapped a quick family portrait for us!


Another beautiful evening on Wolf Bay. To see all the shots from our cruise, click here.

Back to Swimmy's birthplace

It was a nice, lazy day... We went back to the home of Swimmy, the Original Oyster House, where we bought that great stuffed shark five years ago. Swimmy is five! How time flies for that floppy fish!

Out front, Emilyn posed in front of a new wooden sign... They still have the cutout of a diver, though. When Allen saw it, he said, "I want to be the astronaut!" Upon closer inspection, he said, "I want to be the fishtronaut!"

They've done a lot with the Boardwalk shopping center since we were here last year... There's a lot more boardwalk, and they painted it pretty colors. Sharky's Arcade, an exciting addition, seems to be only open in season. We did, however, go next door to Incredible Candies, and we loaded up a bunch of goody bags to go.

Eating is a major part of Beach Week. And watching some pretty bad movies. This week, we buckled down and let Emilyn watch "Dinner for Schmucks" -- which is rated PG-13, but probably was a bit too racy for the girl!! She thought it was pretty funny, though, and assured us she's plenty mature enough to handle it. I guess it's Mommy and Daddy who are going to have to get used to that concept!

A foggy start . . . and our first tarballs

We noticed right away on Saturday how clean the sand and water were. Truly, the water was as nice as it always has been, and the sand was cleaner and softer than ever!

But it stood to reason that we couldn't totally escape the effects of last year's devastating BP oil spill. On Sunday, after a foggy start, we started noticing our first tarballs.

They were not plentiful, by any means. They showed up about as often and randomly as sticks, seaweed, seashells or anything else you'd see at the beach. They look like little pebbles, but with bits of rock and shells embedded inside. And they're a little gooey, leave dark smears on your hands, and smell a bit icky. There, full disclosure. That said, they in no way ruined our day at the beach. Daddy even collected some to bring home, but Allen vetoed that idea and tossed them back. So all the evidence we have is this photo!

A bit later in the day, we saw an odd orange slick in the water... But Steve said that seemed more like algae or something. It was little specks, not oil. And all the while, I was shooting for the Luxe 365 theme of "Water," so I kept trying for just the right picture. I picked the lonely-looking seagull, but the rest were great too!



To see all the photos from Day 2, click here.

We're heeeerre !

Allen and Emilyn took a little nap to make up for a long night at the hotel...

It was a pretty long drive, and with lots of traffic because we're here on a Saturday instead of our usual Sunday. But the weather's warm and we are here.

Sure, when we got to the realtor's office, we found it totally empty! They'd moved!!? Where?!? After a couple frustrating walks up and down 59 in the heat, we found them. I was mad, but that quickly evaporated when we got to our beautiful home away from home.

We didn't waste any time getting into the water! Like I said, it was very warm out! Over 80! This is not our usual beach weather.


It's warm enough for somebody to jump right into the waves. No caution this year. We're gonna have to watch him closely! Beach Girl, of course, never misses a step.


After our traditional dinner at the Crab Trap, we were treated to a great sky show... the super-bright, super-big full moon!


Yep, we're here! Time to relax and have fun -- and just all be in the same place at the same time. Ahhhhhh...

For all the shots from Day 1, click here.