Ok, here is the long awaited trip report, not much to tell though. Didn't know where else to put this. If it belongs somewhere else, Kurt can move it. We left Memphis around 7:45 a.m. last Friday heading south to Mobile. Had called and reserved a room at the Holiday Inn I-10 Bellingrath, which is at Tillman's Corner, knowing it was closest to Bellingrath in that area. Got into Mobile around 2:45. Got to the motel around 3:00. Problems from the start, where the lodging was concerned. I had reserved a king nonsmoking room, none were clean when we arrived at the motel, wouldn't be ready for another 30 minutes. We could either ride around Mobile and get something to eat and then go back or opt for a room with two doubles. So we just took the room with the two doubles as we were tired. That was a mistake. First they put us in a room facing the air conditioners on the roof. We asked for a room facing the parking lot, so we could keep an eye on our car. They put us in room 216 on the second floor that not only had a loudly clattering air conditioner but it didn't cool the room either. We tried to tolerate it and laid in bed until 1:00 a.m. wide awake from the clatter. Then it started cycling on and off and started having a burning smell, we went down to the lobby at 1:00 asking to be moved to another room. You can imagine moving from the second floor to the third floor at 1:00 a.m.! Thank goodness for rolling luggage carts. The lobby was nice, the bar with pool tables was nice, fitness room, pool etc. However, the rooms left a little to be desired. Well worn carpet, worn beds of course, and for $106.00 with tax it wasn't worth it with all the trouble we had. They had the nice outdoor pool locked with a padlock where you couldn't go swimming. That was the only negative side of things. And of course, eating at any nice restaurant the entire trip was out of the question. However, we did enjoy riding around Mobile seeing the city and took the late afternoon and evening to drive down to Dauphin Island, Alabama and go see the island, hence the picture of the tall bridge in the photo gallery. The island was beautiful. Nice waterfront homes. Nice bird sanctuary. Would have loved to take the ferry over to Fort Morgan but with there being a 1 1/2 to 3 hour wait we didn't have the time to do that and visit Bellingrath Gardens Saturday, which was a must see and the Battleship Park. Bellingrath was lovely, I have never seen a kitchen like the likes of the one in the home. It was huge, looked like a fancy restaurant kitchen. Of course, pictures were not allowed inside the home. The grounds and gardens were beautiful, especially the rose garden. The lush green plant life was wonderful. They really take great care of keeping them watered. Constant watering was going on with automatic sprinkler systems the entire time we were there. The view of the Fowl River from the sitting room on the back of the house was great. The boardwalk and observation tower surrounding and above the bayou was very enjoyable, but tiring also. Quite a walk throughout the entire gardens. It started raining and poured down on us as we were walking up to the last part of the garden we hadn't seen called the Oriental Garden. So we had to bypass that and make a dash for the store as we were soaked. Husband was cursing and fussing. :lol: I was soaking wet and just wanting to shop inside the store. Needless to say he pitched such a fit that didn't happen. I ended up leaving Bellingrath with no souvenirs. Rats. But we still enjoyed the home and the grounds before the soaking. He fussed all the way back toward Mobile about being soaking wet. Said we weren't going to the battleship but this queen got her way there of course. :lol: The battleship was great, even though I got frazzled out totally after climbing level after level of straight up steps through narrow openings to get to the deck. Never drink a soda and then climb several levels, especially when you have acid reflux. The combination doesn't mix. Chest started getting tighter and tighter with each level climbed until I felt like I was going to fall out. I had already walked the entire Bellingrath Gardens. Didn't bother climbing several levels of stairs to go on the sub, chest was bothering me enough. Went back inside and sat down inside the aviation building and cooled off for awhile and then looked at the planes and left to go on over to the beach. Got into Inlet Beach around 3:15. Unloaded the car and went directly out onto the beach and sat for a while around 4:00. Took a dip in the water. Took two days to get over climbing the levels of the ship. Spent alot of time out on the beach. Went out around 9:30 every morning and sat in the beach chairs for about 45 minutes, then took a walk down to Pinnacle Port and back, did the same in the afternoon. Hit the Alvin's Island Beach Stores numerous times, Shipwreck LTD, Sunsations, and Surf Style stores. Bought many beach tshirts and some necklaces and a bracelet for the daughter-in-law, got three tshirts for my son. Went over onto the Dan Russell Pier about 4times, saw two sea turtles, not to mention 4 sharks, 3 jellyfish, and a stingray down by the old Camp Helen pier on our morning walks. Went swimming anyway in front of where we stayed. Just kept a watch out. There was a purple flag every day. Went over to Panama City and visited my favorite Shady Oaks Antiques on Hwy 98 and Michigan Ave. This is his last year, he is hoping he has it sold and that it will be kept open. We bought a concrete pink flamingo and a concrete baby hippo. They are out in our yard by our azalea bushes. A perfect spot for them. Rented a scooter Thursday afternoon and rode around through the neighborhoods off of Front Beach Rd. and down Thomas Drive for about 3 1/2 hours. Sure was stiff and sore after that long. We drove over to historic St. Andrews and drove through this ultra nice neighborhood of huge homes that faced the waterfront. Really really nice. And if it wasn't for IBD inviting me to have lunch with her and Cork at Wild Olive's in Rosemary Beach, there would have been no eating out for me other than the fast food we ate and little diners we ate in. Could have eaten that up here. I explained the situation to IBD and Cork as to my hubby's problem with social anxiety. Thus the reason for not going into any restaurants like Pineapple Willy's, Sharkys, Triple J's, Captain Anderson's, etc. He has that problem and won't go around large crowds. So we ended up eating in Schlotsky's, Waffle House, Coram's Steak and Egg, and Thomas's Donuts, and getting fast food at McDonald's, Arby's and Taco Bell. Not the places I wanted to eat. I miss out on alot by not getting to eat in nice restaurants down there, and sure don't want to go eat in them alone. We were going to have something from the Spicy Noodle the last day but they were out of the steak needed to make it so we had to forgo that. Did take a nice drive down 30A Friday through Rosemary Beach, Seagrove Beach and several other little beach communities. Got a picture of the Hilton Home. Anyway, this is my trip report. We lead boring lives, as you can tell. So it is not a very exciting report. But it is a report. Enjoy. :biggrin:
