A relaxing couple of days

The Shrimp Festival is in full swing.  We visited it last night, parking our car at a local supermarket and catching the shuttle bus taking tourists a few miles to the festivities (the roads are closed around it).  We enjoyed an overpriced supper from the vendor that won this year's prize for the best shrimp dish, wandered through the various stalls (but didn't buy anything), and tried to protect our ears from the two amphitheaters set up for entertainment and dancing.  It was very crowded and noisy, so we didn't stay long, preferring to head back to the condo for a bit of peace and quiet.

Given how jam-packed the Festival is, we decided to do something different today.  We went back to the Mobile, AL area to take an airboat tour of part of the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta.  It was a lot of fun, albeit noisy - I was sitting in the rearmost seat, next to the skipper, with a 460 cubic inch (about 7.5 liter) V8 motor about six inches behind my head!  Fortunately, hearing protection was provided.  The trip lasted a little over an hour.  We didn't travel all that far, but saw a 12-foot alligator, a number of different birds, and something of the swamp environment.  It's a lot more open there than in the swamps near New Orleans (at least, those I've visited).  There were several people fishing from flat-bottomed boats and kayaks, and more from the roads (most on piers) crossing the delta.  The weather was perfect for the trip;  bright sunshine, not too hot, but enough to make the mosquitoes seek shelter in the reeds.

This afternoon we swam again from the beach as sunset approached (the water's lovely and warm as the air cools), then went on a leisurely drive looking for a light supper.  I suppose it's ironic that we've eaten so much seafood since coming here ten days ago that we couldn't face any more of it!  We settled for Chinese take-out, which made a pleasant change (and the fractured English on the menu made us smile).

We have another four days here before heading home on Thursday.  The two-week visit has been exactly what both of us needed to relax, de-stress and unwind.  We'll be visiting Pensacola once more, all being well, to see the rest of the Naval Aviation Museum, visit another local bookshop that comes highly recommended, and enjoy another meal at a restaurant there.  We also want to take the ferry across Mobile Bay between Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island.  It's been closed due to mechanical problems since we arrived, but we hope it'll be running again before we leave.  If it is, we'd like to use it to visit the Sea Lab and Audubon Bird Sanctuary.

Thanks for putting up with limited blogging while Miss D. and I have been on vacation.  Only a few more days, then normal service will be resumed.

Peter