End of Summer

After our trip to the Northeast, we went back and stayed with my mom in Southern Illinois till Labor Day.  During that time, we played some more golf, visited some more with relatives and did a couple of day trips.  With the pandemic still in full force in Southern Illinois, we had a couple of small get togethers with relatives too.

One of the other enjoyable things we did was go to Vin De Set in downtown St Louis for a Sunday brunch.  The food was tasty and generous portions - I think that brunch provided me with 3 additional meals as leftovers!  They have a roof top deck that is quite large and much of it is covered so we had an enjoyable outdoor dining experience.  Due to Covid 19, they have tweaked their brunch and that is part of the reason I had sooo much food from a single meal.  Each table starts with breakfast food baskets.  We had scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage balls in one basket and then another with breakfast pastries.  We also had a complimentary mimosa - yum.  We had to be careful because that was enough food to fill us up and we had 2 more courses coming.  The second course was of your choosing - I had ham, broccolini, and potatoes; my mom had prime rib and potatoes, and Jeff had chicken and waffles.  We had requested and received a box for our leftover breakfast goodies and then we all had boxes with our leftover main course.  The final course was dessert.  They brought out a tray with 3 small desserts - mini crème brulee, mini cheesecake, and a mini chocolate mouse.  We could have had seconds if we wanted.  In addition to good food, the setting is nice.  It is well thought out and you have a view of the arch from up there.

When we had gotten back from our trip, my mom had mentioned that an aunt had suggested the two of them go for a ride in the convertible with the top down.  The only problem was we took the convertible.  So a day trip with the convertible top down it was.  Scenic drive near us- hmm. Jeff suggested Lake Carlyle so off we went one afternoon.  It is about a 1-hour drive there.  Amazingly, Jeff, the navigator sent me to the sail boat dock/marina there - think someone wanted to check out the sail boats.  Lake Carlyle is a large lake in Southern Illinois that is a State Park.  My and my mother's impression is that it is a park that has never really taken off.  We have both heard stories of how it is a dangerous lake when the wind comes from certain directions so maybe that is why.  Regardless when we were there we only saw 1 boat out on the lake.  We did wander the marina a little bit and saw a couple of people around their boats, but all in all, it was pretty quiet.  I learned some family history on the ride too.  Lake Carlyle was made by damming the Kaskaskia River and it seems that my great grandfather had a clubhouse up around what is now the lake.  My mom had stories about a couple of the small towns we went through to get there.

Our other day trip we went to the western side of St. Louis to the Long Row Lavender Farm in Wrightsville.  Summer isn't really the time to go to a lavender farm, but the write up said they had sunflowers and zinnia blooming so off we went.  We expected to have the farm to ourselves, but boy were we wrong.  The parking lot was almost full.  We wandered the rows of lavender and other flowers for a few minutes and I recognized a couple of different types of lavender.  Then we decided that it was lunchtime and they had a café and some tables outside so lets eat!  It was a great decision.  The setting was quite pretty and the food was delicious.

One of our small get togethers was the day after our drive to the lavender farm.  The next day was the Kentucky Derby.  We invited one of my aunts over for mint juleps, quiche, and dessert.  I had to do something for the derby.  If you remember I had a virtual cocktail party for the virtual derby in the spring so I needed to do something for the real derby, but the whole covid thing meant no party (oh, and yeah I am a guest at someone else's house!).  The mint juleps were good, but maybe a little strong.  We all picked a horse and my aunt chose Authentic who won which was nice since her birthday was coming up.  Our dessert was a Mrs. Hullings split lemon cake we had bought the day before specifically for my aunt.  She had asked us about the locations of the stores that still carry that cake so we knew she would enjoy it - we did too.

We had another aunt over for labor day pizza and apple pie.  Apples had started to come in locally and let's be truthful - fresh local apples don't happen along the Alabama coast.  Apple crumb pie it was and it turned out well.  Finished up our visit the next day with one more aunt - her house this time.  My Aunt Marilyn is a very good cook so she made us a very nice send off dinner.  Yep, Wednesday morning we drove off for Alabama happily imagining beach walks and playing in the ocean.

Summer Part 2: Venturing Out

   We canceled our trip to Tennessee and the Blue Ridge Parkway since the virus was bad, but were determined to go visit our daughter in DC and then my cousin Kathy at her beach house in Delaware.  As we talked about it, we both wanted to do more, but what could we do in the age of corona?  We heard wonderful things about Maine and since we had also heard it was a popular vacation spot for Canadians it sounded uncrowded and good. The problem is that to visit there we needed either a negative corona test within 72 hours of showing up at the state line or the ability to quarantine for 14 days. Neither seemed likely so we gave up on that idea - for this year. We had pretty much given up on the Finger Lakes region of NY thinking we couldn't go there either.  Then we realized we could, so before anyone changed their minds we were off.  Yep 36 hours after deciding to go there, we were in the car heading there. Made the reservation on Thursday afternoon and left on Saturday for a very long 14 hour straight thru drive. Stopped at truck stops and roadside rest stops I think lunch was a Chick-Fil-A somewhere or maybe Panera - eating in the car.  Dinner was from a New York Highway plaza that was barely open. The other two restaurants were closed. We had a choice of a Tim Horton or the vending machines. Lucking Tim Horton has more than breakfast food!!  We ate outside at a picnic table and then back on the road.

Finger Lakes, NY

   We stayed at a B & B I had seen on the Fodors website which had a AAA 4 star rating and sounded nice. It was a wonderful choice - more so than I realized at the time. It was a very comfortable place for us. The innkeeper lived onsite in an apartment in the second level of the barn on the property with her 89-year-old mother. So she was very determined to keep her mother safe and provide still the very nice experience the place was known for. She succeeded. Every morning she served a gourmet breakfast - the first day was fresh fruit, crème Brule french toast, and sausages.  Every morning was heavenly good. When the weather was good, we had an assigned table for 2 with a tablecloth, fine china in a garden. By the way, it was a very pretty garden. On the two overcast mornings, we sat indoors - more than 6 feet from anyone else. Because we were there during the week, we were their only guests part of the time. If you go to Canandaigua, NY in the Finger Lakes I highly recommend the 1795 Acorn Inn.  We were in the Hotchkiss room on the first floor with our own little patio. Oh and a funny thing is we were in the township of Bristol. Bristol was going to be one of our first stops in England so we made it to Bristol; just not the one we had planned on visiting!

   Breakfast the last morning in Finger Lakes.  The red on the table by my hand is my mask. Notice too the ribbon with hand sanitizer on the door behind me.  

   The gardens are the above picture and our patio is the bottom picture.

   When one decides to go somewhere and leaves 36 hours later, there isn't a lot of time for planning of activities! Cheryl the innkeeper helped us out some.  We knew we wanted to visit wineries, maybe hike a little, some bike riding, and maybe a little golf. Cheryl suggested the two wineries we visited and she was right on with her recommendations. Had an idea for a bike ride/kayak trip and a hike to a waterfall. We visited Herron Hill Winery first. While sitting in the tasting room drinking our wines and nibbling on cheese and meat talking with our server who was a local school teacher we could look down the hill and see one of the lakes - Keuka. After our tasting, we sat outside on a picnic table watching the view on the lake.  It was a nice afternoon and an improvement from our morning golf game. Jeff had chosen the course because they advertised their lake view. That was true they had a gorgeous view.  But, the course was lacking. It was lacking water. The ground was so hard we saw dust fly from our balls and our balls took bounces neither of us could explain. Ah well, we got out and it was a very pretty view.

  

   The golf course with a view.  (Note the condition of the green)  We were adventuresome that day because we also headed out to Watkins Glens Falls.  See below

 

   Watkins Glen Falls is a state park. The path around all of the falls is very well built out so easy walking. Well let me clarify it is nice and level concrete for the most part, but there are something like 200 steps. If you look closely behind me in the picture you can see some of the concrete steps. The official write up says there are 19 waterfalls. Oh and yes we did have masks with us which we wore when others were around us.

   One thing we don't have pictures from is our car drives.  We took my convertible on the trip so a couple of days we just went out and drove around with the top down. We saw some of the area that way including some of the other touristy areas like Geneva and the other lakes. We went to Ben and Jerry's in one small town and a marina was a couple of blocks away that looked like it would be a blast in a normal summer.  Like so many things these days we had to have reservations for tastings at the wineries in the Finger Lakes. Cheryl had recommended 3 wineries - we visited 2 of them. Hermann J Wiemer Vineyard was the second one and my favorite of the 2. We had a table for 2 on a smaller shaded patio. The tasting was set up a little differently - you picked, however, many wines you wanted and then they priced it according to how much you tasted. Each wine tasting came out in a small carafe that you could pour into your glass. It made it easy for us to share. Since the law said we had to have food too, we were served a little tray with some nuts, popcorn, and dried fruit. It was a very relaxing experience - our host came and checked in on us every so often, but otherwise, you were enjoying nice wine on your own patio. They taught us that the climate in the Finger Lakes is very similar to Germany's so they grow many of the same grapes thus making a lot of German-style wines. We had a couple of different Rieslings and in fact, I brought a bottle of one home. I ended my tasting with some of their sparkling wine which was quite nice too. On our final day in the Finger Lakes, we drove to Pittsford, NY to the Erie Canal. We thought we would ride bikes along the canal, but that was not to be.  We did walk it some which were interesting and nice and we had a nice beer at a restaurant overlooking it.  If ever in the area, I would go back there.

 Washington DC

   DC was our next stop on our trip.  We were both looking forward to seeing our daughter.  For this part of the trip, we had rented from a long term stay hotel in town so we could cook some of our own meals. We had also downloaded an electronic version of our room key so we could do the contactless check-in. Um yeah not so much. Seems like many downtown hotels you need an actual key to unlock elevators and some of the exterior doors. So they had to give us room keys after all. Also don't you love the sign that welcomed us!

    

   We also learned that DC was very strict about mask-wearing. You were required to wear a mask when you were outside unless you were exercising or eating. No mention of if you can not keep 6-foot distance - nope it was wear a mask. So we wore masks. Hopefully years from now it will be easy to know what year it was that we have a family picture in front of the WWII memorial with masks on!

    

   We walked around the basin and along the Potomac River, the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington Memorials on Sunday. We fortified ourselves at the Federalist Farmer with a very nice Sunday brunch before we started out.  

Railroad, PA

   Jeff and I had gotten in on Thursday night in time for dinner. Then Friday the three of us headed up to Pennsylvania in search of some family roots. Jeff's maternal grandparents had a furniture factory near York. He knew that the factory had been near a town/borough called Railroad too. GPS got us close to it all and in fact right by a rails to trails park so out we got and started exploring. The Innkeeper at a B & B knew of the factory and set us down the trail parallel the train tracks. Jeff knew that the factory had a sign from the days of passenger rail service that faced the railroad tracks rather than any road. When we saw this sign Jeff compared the current sign to an old picture he had found on the internet a few years back and compared - yep we were in the correct place.

    

   Seems the local park district repurposed the supports when they set up the new park!  But where was the factory? Jeff knew that while it had been nearby it had never been visible from the train tracks.  after we got in the car and drove a little we did find it. Looks like someone had started to do something with it - some newer facades, but it was now vacant. The picture below is the main town of Railroad and the bike trail is there too. You can see there are still train tracks.  In fact, as we were leaving a small tourist train went by.

Fenwick Island, DE

   From DC we headed to my cousin's place at the beach.  We hesitated a little going there at the last minute because the tropical storm Isaias was heading that way and we wondered if it was a wise time to go. After assurances that flooding was not expected and that the convertible could be kept undercover, we hopped in the car and went. It was about a 4 to 5-hour drive and for the most part interesting to Jeff and I since it is a part of the country we are not that familiar with. We saw lots of farms and passed several farmers' markets. Traveled over bodies of water that had just been names to us before. We got to the end of the road, hung a left, and went a couple of blocks and found their place. They are right in town, but without high rise condo buildings the traffic wasn't too bad and they had a back road they could use to get to places.  Have to admit a little jealous of how easily they can eat at a variety of places.  

   The beach was a very short walk away and of course over a dune.  We walked the beach the first day some and sat around and talked. Learned to the south where it looked more crowded was Ocean City, MD with high rises and to the north was a state park and then expensive homes and eventually Rehoboth, DE.  In the end, we would get out on the beach for all 3 days we were there. Yes, tropical storm Isaias hit, and yes it knocked out the power for a while, but we all got a laugh because it was worse in the DC/Baltimore area where we each had a child suffering through it.  Sorry no pictures, but a great little beach town and a good time had with good friends.

 Poconos, PA

   We drove north along the coast for a while which was nice because to us it was all new and we both love the beach.  Then headed west around Philadelphia and onto the Poconos and in particular East Stroudsburg for our second extended-stay hotel.  We had a nasty surprise at the first extended-stay hotel - a kitchenette does not include an oven.  We had a refrigerator, a microwave, 2 burner cooktop, but no oven which was a problem since we needed an oven for a couple of the dishes we had chosen from Hello Fresh!  So this time we stopped at a Wegman's grocery store in Allentown, PA, and stocked up on some ready to heat dishes from them.  Wegman's is a nice chain that does a lot of partially prepared dishes.  Our first night we had a couple of dishes we simply microwaved and a couple of other nights we did dishes on the cooktop.  

   Sorry to say, but the Poconos were underwhelming.  It seemed like a place that had been nice at one time but now was rundown.  We had good friends joining us later in our stay or we probably would have left earlier.  Now not everything was bad, it just wasn't the Finger Lakes.  

   We were very close to the Delaware Water Gap National Park so of course, we checked that out promptly.  We ran into a problem we had in NY too - no one was currently renting bicycles.  So even though there were trails we would have loved to ride along the river, it was not to be.  Jeff tried to talk me into floating, but I wasn't interested.  We did have another convertible top-down drive though!

   Bushkill Falls - Niagara of PA per the advertising.  This is actually a commercial place, not a state park.  It claims to have the largest falls in PA and they were big.  Thanks to the recent tropical storm the falls were really moving.  In some of the pictures, the water looks kind of brown that is not mud but tannin picked up from the rocks.  We of course hiked the longest route and had our masks with us for when we saw others.

   This is towards the end of our hike. We had seen similar rock pilings earlier on our way, but this area was full of them. They made me think of a meditation spot.

   My cousin had informed us there were wineries in the Poconos. In fact, there was a couple near us. In the end, we only visited one and we actually went to it twice. True to its name, Mountain View Winery has a very pretty setting in the mountains. It is a newer facility with a deep porch on 2 sides meant to sit on which is very convenient these days. The first time we went during their "happy hour" and had our food for half price. It was Friday night and their entertainment started shortly before we left - he was pretty good. We decided we would take our friends there when they got into town.  We did.  The winery was also a brewery and distillery too so Jeff and I decided to try a beer each when we went back.  Jeff really liked their Randy's Brandy Barrel-Aged beer (it was a porter) - so did I.

Milford

   Our friends had mentioned a little town called Milford that they had thought cute years ago so off we went one day. We had a nice drive there and walked around it some, but not a lot open at least on a Sunday afternoon. This is the old hotel/restaurant we ate at. We sat on the porch and watched a lot of motorcyclists go by. We had driven there with the top down and had to agree it was a pretty area for a drive.    

Jim Thorpe - last town, I promise

   So are you surprised there is a town in PA named after an athlete who lived elsewhere?  Seems that in 1953 after his death his wife wanted a fitting tribute to him. She moved his body to what was then Mauch Chunk, PA, and East Mauch Chunk. The towns agreed to merge and name the new town Jim Thorpe. We wandered around the town on a quiet Monday. There was a nice looking live theatre/opera house, but due to pandemic was closed. We also saw some people white water rafting. The Appalachian Trail is nearby as are other hiking areas and there was a B & B that is an old mansion that has a popular series of mystery dinner weekends so Jim Thorpe could be a fun few days. We had a nice day wandering and a little shopping.

Dingman's Falls and Silver Thread Falls

   On our last day in the Poconos, we visited these 2 waterfalls in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We thought we were going to get a short hike to each of the falls only to find that the road back was closed so instead we had a mile hike each direction to the visitor center. The walk was mostly in the shade happily. The falls were pretty. Silver Thread was well named because it was skinny in width but strong in volume. Dingman's Falls was impressive too. I would love to visit in the spring some year when the rhododendrons which are huge and thick are in bloom.

Lafayette, IN

   Onto our last stop - Lafayette, IN, and a chance to visit Jeff's, Aunt Mary. We were supposed to go to her 100th birthday party in March, but it got canceled days before the big day due to the virus. We were lucky to get to go inside to see her since inside visits had just started at the assisted living center the week before. It was good to see her and catch up with her. Then homeward we went.

Summer 2020 Part I - Hiding Out In Illinois

Jeff and I decided pretty quickly that staying at the beach this summer would not be a good replacement for our canceled UK trip. Too many people for our comfort level. Happily, my mom offered us the option to come and stay with her. Our original plan was to leave right after the 4th of July to drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway ending in DC to see Cierra. Well, the coronavirus won another round since we canceled the car trip when the cases in those states started increasing quickly.  Now we are about to leave for New York state and then down to DC and on to the beach in Delaware.

So what have we been up to in Illinois?

Yardwork
       Apparently, we have not yet recovered gardeners because we quickly found some yard work for ourselves.  As we sat on my mom's covered patio, we noticed that the grass was no longer growing around the edges on 2 sides.  We realized that the walnut tree was so big and thick that the area was too shady for the grass.  Sooo off to the garden center we went with mom in tow.  She got to vote on what we got.  We bought plants like we had in our yard In Kirkwood- ajuga, coral bells, Japanese painted ferns and astilbes.  Plus true to form Jeff found some plants to transplant mainly hosta and some irises.  Oh, and for good measure, we bought a couple of azaleas to replace some.  So far the ajugas love it here and the astilbes are not too sure.  Time shall tell.

Closet/attic cleaning
      All of us were curious as to what was up in the attic above the garage. So that was the start of our cleaning.  Our findings? Magazines from 1963 (the year my parents moved into this house), my mother's wedding dress, and a few other things including old photos.  The cardboard boxes were falling apart, but the photos looked pretty good. From there, Jeff moved to the basement and to the old tools and stuff that had been my father's. I now know my father had the market cornered on golf magazines and racing forms from the thoroughbred racetracks he worked at.  I had to get in on the action a little too when I realized my mother had a kitchen cabinet full of old vases from floral gifts.  Being the recycler he is Jeff was able to give them and some from other aunts' to the local florist.

Sewing
     Since we knew we would be at my mom's house for awhile, I packed up my sewing machine and brought it up from Alabama.  It has been busy and is now getting a professional cleaning and tune-up! What have I been making?  Well, a few masks of course.  A skirt for my daughter,  a pair of shorts and a top for me.  The shorts and top were not as simple as they could be.  Both were from fabric remnants I had, the shorts required matching some ruffles on an angle.  The top was when I jumped in the deep end.  I again used a fabric remnant but used a pattern for a lined dress and instead made an unlined top. I really like the dress, but it is a more formal dress which isn't something I am wearing a lot now so a top version seemed good!

Bike riding
    Madison County, IL has a very large network of bicycle trails. Most if not all are from former train lines. There are 2 different entry spots we have used and have done some out and backs and a couple of loops.  If you remember from our last post, we were doing around a 12-mile loop in the State Park in AL. Well, we are up to 20+ miles now.  If we go to the end of one out and back we are doing 24.5 miles and the loops have been around 22 and 23 miles.  Happily, most of these trails have a fair amount of shade so we don't get too hot.

Golfing
    Ahh, one of the few socially distant and thus acceptable sports so off we went.  The par 3 course has been our Monday go-to spot with my mom and a couple of aunts.  Since normally a league would be playing at this time but it is canceled this summer, we have practically had the whole course to ourselves some weeks.  Jeff's arm has finally recovered so he has been working on his swing some including time with a coach. I have been playing on Thursdays too as part of a standing 4 some which have been fun.  The only downer is that summer has hit and it is hot and humid.

Cooking
    I started to do more of my baking, but when I almost did in my mom's mixer with a loaf of bread.  I decided: 1. there is good bread around here, and 2. it is too hot to be running a hot oven so time for a baking beak.  However, we have been faithfully ordering boxes from Hello Fresh and Blue Apron and making all sorts of dishes for summer.  Plus now local corn is in  - yum!!

TV watching
    I think like a lot of people we have been watching TV most evenings.  After dinner, clean up and short walk it is time for TV. Whether it is a Hallmark Christmas movie as part of their Christmas in July, a British TV show or a movie such as Tom Hank's new movie Greyhound which is quite good or Marvelous Mrs. Maizel.  The three of us pick our seat in the living room most nights and watch something together.

Exploring
   We did a couple of day trips.  We went to Kaskaskia, IL, Grafton, IL, and the Aeries Winery.

Kaskaskia
  I had wanted to go explore Kaskaskia for several years because it was where the nuns first started the academy that would become the Visitation Academy of St. Louis which is the school my daughter attended.  When we drove there we learned a couple of other things along the way.  The route from Collinsville to Kaskaskia takes you through the town of Chester.  Guess what - Chester is the home of the man who created Popeye the Sailorman.  There was a statue of Popeye at the visitor center at the state line/bridge over the Mississippi River.

After we crossed the Mississippi River, we were in Missouri for about a mile before we entered back into Illinois WITHOUT crossing the Mississippi River. So for future trivia games. The town of Kaskaskia, IL is on the WEST side of the Mississippi River. Seems back in the 1800s there was a flood so bad the river changed its channel there and the town of Kaskaskia ended up on the west instead of the eastern side of the river.  Further trivia information - Kaskaskia has the Liberty Bell of the West.  We could only peer at it through a window since it was closed due to the virus.  Kaskaskia also hosted the Lewis and Clark expedition.



 

Jeff at the Chester Il bridge over the Mississippi River.









Grafton and Aerie Winery
    Early in July, Jeff, my mom and I headed about an hour north to Grafton, IL which is another river town on the Mississippi River.  When we had a sailboat, it was a popular destination for all of us sailors.  Grafton is at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.  The picture below shows the 2 rivers meeting on the left side. Oh, I should add this was while the rivers were at flood stage.  Plus the marina we would visit is at the bottom of the photo.

We went to the Aeries Winery which is on the bluffs above the river. We enjoyed lunch and the view. The wait staff there has the saying "best view in the Midwest" on the back of their shirts. You can see for a long way up there. The farm fields in Missouri were all green and pretty from our view.  Oh, you may notice from this photo  I am part of the going grey with the pandemic women.

Look for part 2 next month!

Leaving for the Season

It is Memorial Day Week-End which means the start of summer which is the start of high season at our beach condo.  So Where are we?  At Carol's mom house in a state that is still on lock down.  On top of all that, it is rainy and cool here.  Oh well.  The last couple of weeks at the condo were interesting and nice.

Why interesting?  Well we learned a couple of new things in April and May about the area despite the corona virus.  Like did you know there are forest fires/grass fires along the coast?  Yeah one night on the local 10 o'clock news they start talking about the 6 fires in the area. Huh?!  So further story was that I 10 was closed at one exit because of the fire and another was around Bellingrath Gardens.  We knew we were under a drought advisory.  Hey if you only get 0.10" of rain in a month (yes less than a single inch in a month) and the next month is dry it is not hard to assume droughts were a concern.  What we had not considered was that humidity was really low (like 20%) and it was quite windy so it was not that hard for a controlled burn to get out of control and the other one - who knows.  Anyway, it is common enough that the TV guys had a catch term for it to get your attention.  Even the state had a term - fire advisory.  They spoke just like they do for the fires out west - the Bellingrath fire is 20% contained X number of acres have burned and Y buildings.  To say the least, we were surprised.   Oh, and for those who don't know the area.  Bellingrath is a former fishing retreat for an early Coca Cola bottling exec where he fished and wife gardened.  Right on a bayou close to the gulf itself so an area I would expect to be wet.  The gardens and home are available to tour.

The nice part?  Long car drives, sitting on our balcony and staring at the beach/water and walking on the beach.  We did not get to go to the fairs that we had expected to visit or go out to eat much, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  We explored the area on long drives with my convertible top down.  It is also very relaxing to just stare at the waves.  Any dolphins today?  No.  But I did see skate rays while I was walking the beach as well as their egg casings/mermaids’ purse.  (See Video)   Then all the tourists started to show up - time to let them enjoy the area and us to go away for a while.

Sheltering In Place Coastal Style

Like many people, Jeff and I are sheltering in place.  Unlike most people, we were supposed to be putting our final preparations in place for a 5 month trip to the UK.  Instead, we are still at our condo, on the Alabama gulf coast. We live in a high rise building with over 100 units.  Currently, there are 12 or so cars out front with 2 of them belonging to us.  The other 3 buildings are similarly occupied so in other words there are very few people staying here since the beaches and pools were closed.

So what are we doing to pass the time?  Well, being runners, we are running some, bike riding a little, walking a lot, and indoor activities such as reading, cooking, and sewing.  We are also finding a few new activities relevant to the current world situation.

Great perch for reading

Our running is around the resort and long runs on a nearby bike pathway that we have been doing for years so no new routes there.  Bike riding has been at the Gulf Coast State Park which did a lot of work on their trails a couple of years ago.  We were quite surprised to find the backcountry trail included hills!  At the beach, hills!!   The plants make us feel like we are back in northern California.  Then as we continue to ride we get to a marshy area where you may see alligators.  Continuing on we ride on a long wooden bridge that goes over the Alabama Beach Mouse preserve and then along the marshy side of the lake.  Just to be sure you see a little of everything on the bike trails in the park, you also ride in an area that is a former road.  Jeff took some pictures.  We have not done all of the trails these pictures are from our current 12+ mile route.

We love the live oaks

Orange Beach in the distance

Miles of causeway

They cut the asphalt of a former road creating a winding bike path.

While we have learned a new bike route, our walking has been limited to the roads in the resort itself.  The State closed all the beaches to ensure social distancing so we cannot walk on the beach.  There is a garden walk by some of the cottages that have a pergola covered in jasmine which smells wonderful these days.  We also enjoy looking for our creature friends (yes we are little lonely!)  So we stop on the bridge over the bayou where the turtles are and watch them, then we move on to where the blue heron is (Mr. Heron) and look for the "Mexican ducks" - a breed that is normally in Mexico but migrates up here for part of the year.  Lately, we discovered there are at least 2 alligators on property.  One is rather small - maybe 5 feet in length and then another one who is a little bit bigger is in a more secluded spot so we have only found him a couple of times.  After that, we end up walking around a bunch of empty lots.  Us and several other couples that are here - go down the little dead end and then circle the empty block ending up one way or another up at the promenade which is on the south side or beachside of the buildings.   I am glad to get out and walk, but I look forward to when we are allowed to go on beach walks.  I know lots of my neighbors feel the same way!

Causeway to the beach is blocked due to closure

Our Covid test is if we can smell the Jasmine.

These Mexican ducks have orange bills and pink feet.

When the beach was open, you would find these Blue Herons by the fisherman hoping for a handout.  Now you find them gathering their own food in the ponds.

We have to gators we look for each day, both small.

Well, our governor is changing our orders to "safer at home" in a couple of days and opening up the beaches so I think we will have company soon.  Thus, this is the end of our sheltering in place blog.