November 10, 2022

Fairhope Marina, Fairhope, Alabama

We are meeting with Jeff and Laura today at 10:30 a.m.  They rented a car and are picking us up to go to the USS Alabama Battleship, the USS DRUM Submarine, and the Airport Pavillion museum.  

We then walked over to the USS DRUM Submarine, which was really interesting inside.  It is hard to believe that so many sailors could fit into that small of a space!

We stopped at the Blind Mule for lunch located in Mobile.  Our waiter Jonathan was very gregarious and loud, but fun.  We ordered an appetizer, waited, and our food came out.  We asked him where the appetizer was, and he said "Oh, I'm an ass hole."  He forgot to put the order in, so he said that the appetizer was on the house.  The food was really good!  Jonathan gave us directions on what to see that was close by, so we started with the Cathedral.

They had vigil candles, so I lit one for our family and loved ones.

There was a sign in the church that talked about the stained-glass windows.  They are worth about $145,000 each, they cannot be replaced but they can make slight repairs on them if necessary.  They were beautiful.

There was another building that we saw but we don't know what it is for.  It had to sphinx outside on the steps, so Kip had to go and examine them.

We walked further into town and stopped at a bookstore, a candy store, an Alchemy place where they read tarot cards and such, a nut store, and took in the cool looking buildings.

Unfortunately, the hotdog store was closed.  😄

Jeff and Laura were telling us about the Buck-ees gas station and wanted us to experience it.  This place has over 200 fuel pumps, clothing, kitchen items, gifts, food, a bakery, a restaurant, and more.  It was huge.  Since we had the luxury of a car ride, we stocked up on pop and water and a few other items.  

THEN, we went to the bike shop to pick up some items that Jeff and Laura had purchased.  I ended up getting a bell for my bike.  

We didn't want to end the day quite yet, so we stopped at an ice cream store for a final snack.  On the way back to the marina I snapped a few sunset pictures.  What a fun day!

We are waiting for a UPS package that was supposed to be delivered today, and it didn't arrive.  We might have to stay here until that comes.  We are also being hit with wind and waves from the Tropical Storm Nicole, so that might be ok for us to just hang for another day or so until that subsides.