A Morning on the Gulf Coast

Waking up on the beach was lovely. It was a warm, clear Valentine’s morning. I took a walk across the white sand, down to the clear water, where various birds searched for food in the sand. I enjoyed capturing them with the camera until an osprey flew overhead, causing them to scatter. I saw several pink jellyfish on the sand and in the water.

Valentine’s Day

Since we first got together, we have been together most of the time. We have worked together for most of our relationship and have spent most of the last 11 plus years together. We enjoy each other’s company and wouldn’t have it any other way. We have never done much for Valentine’s Day, partly because we already spend so much time together, and partly because we are usually working.

A few weeks before, I read a blog post, “10 Days of Love Notes for Kids,” on Momma Has Her Mindful by Chelsea K. Baxter. I loved the idea so much I wanted to do it for Chris. I bought a box of pink heart-shaped notecards, which wasn’t easy to do without him knowing. On the front of 10 cards, I wrote something I love about him. On the back, I wrote “Will you be my Valentine?” a few letters on each card to create an anagram.

On February 4, after Chris fell asleep, I put the first heart in the light on the truck ceiling for him to find when he woke up. He chuckled with delight when he read the note. The next night, I fell asleep first. We stayed at a rest stop that night. When he went to the restroom in the morning, I put the second heart in the dashboard. He broke the truck down, not finding the note until we were ready to go. Again, the delighted laughter.

By the time we got to day five, he had begun to expect them, even disappointed when he didn’t find a heart right away. He commented that it was like an advent calendar. On Valentine’s morning, he had fun putting the anagram together to see the “secret” message.

After we settled in on Valentine’s Eve, I climbed out of the truck to answer nature’s call. When I got back in, there was a card on my pillow. I was in total shock. I’m not sure when he could buy a card without me knowing about it, but my guess is he did it while we were at the ranch. The card fit our relationship, particularly the last few months, perfectly. Chris had handwritten “You are my one true love” on the card. After I read the card, which brought tears of pleasure, I had to give him the final heart a little early. It said, “I love you because you make me feel like I am the ONLY one.” It was the perfect start to the best Valentine’s Day.

We decided to pick up Waffle House for a special breakfast. There seemed to be one every few blocks. We picked the one closest to us at 612 Beach Drive in Gulfport. We called our order in from the parking lot and went in to pick it up 15 minutes later. We parked next to the beach to eat. It was the best Waffle House food we have ever eaten. They had cooked everything to perfection, and the coffee was delicious.

We continued our journey east, with a brief stop at the Biloxi lighthouse. When we pulled into the parking lot, a swarm of pigeons flew around a woman as she fed them. The sight was incredible.

Before we left Mississippi, we stopped at Gulf Islands National Seashore. It was curious to me that part of the park is in Mississippi, and the rest is in Florida. We only made a brief stop, as Hurricanes Sally and Zeta heavily damaged large parts of the park in September and October

Alabama

We next headed to Alabama, where we followed Alabama’s Coastal Connection, a beautiful scenic highway that runs along the coast. We crossed the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway on the three-mile Dauphin Island Bridge. I enjoyed the numerous birds we saw on the pilings and islands near the bridge.

The small island was beautiful, with brightly colored beach houses lining the roads. We went to the end of the island to a public beach near Fort Gaines. It was neat to see the cannons on the ramparts overlooking Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

We spent a little bit of time on the beach enjoying the view and watching the pelicans. I loved that we had seen them flying all day at Padre Island, and now we were able to watch them on the water. I would have liked to explore the fort, but we had decided to take the Mobile Bay Ferry across the bay, saving us driving around the bay.

The ferry ride was about 45 minutes long. I stepped out of the truck for a bit to take pictures of the seagulls and pelicans flying with us. It was fun watching them dip in the wind as they flew along, sometimes landing on the ferry briefly and sometimes landing in the water. The bird watching made the trip pass quickly, and before I knew it, we were on the road again.

We stopped at Bon Secours National Wildlife Refuge as we passed through Gulf Shores. There were trails, but they were daunting as they wandered off into the swamp. We had visions of alligators showing up, so we decided to skip the hike. I was impressed with the lovely trees in the area.

When I researched the most beautiful places to see in Alabama, Orange Beach was on the list. It was on the route we were already taking, which is always a bonus. I’m sure the beach is lovely, but it looked like a typical beach town to me, with high rises lining the shore. There is a state park right next to the beach. I considered staying there for the night, but it was more than we wanted to spend, so we continued to Florida.

Florida

We arrived in Pensacola just after sunset. We found a Walmart that allows overnight parking. We scoped it out, and it looked like it would work for an easy overnight. When we sleep in parking lots or truck stops, we do not cook. Those places work well for a quick overnight but are not conducive to camping (although we have seen people set up with grills, chairs, and awnings). We looked up the directions to a nearby Hardee’s. We hadn’t been there in a while, and we enjoy their Frisco burgers.

As we pulled into the drive-thru, I noticed Greer’s Cash Saver right behind Hardee’s. Seeing the word Greer’s made me think of Greek food. I mentioned it to Chris, and he said gyros would be great. We looked online and found a Greek restaurant nearby. We called in our order from the parking lot of Founaris Brothers and picked the food up curbside. We wanted to eat the gyros fresh, so we ate right there in the parking lot. There were palm trees in front of us lit up with green lights. It was a perfectly romantic setting for our Valentine’s dinner.