17 Hours South, 17 Stories Up!

Hello All!

Re-reading our blog, our lives sound really exciting, hopping here and there across the country.  Luckily, most of our time is actually pretty relaxing, spending time with family, friends and pets, but we've gone and made things exciting again.

Co-pilots at the National Naval Aviation Museum

My mom's parents, Tom and Kathy Giddings, rent a condo in Gulf Shores, Alabama for the month of February.  Generally they come down for two weeks, and then some friends come down for the other two weeks of the month.  This year their friends unfortunately encountered some health problems and had to bow-out.  Being the generous grandchildren that we are, we offered to come and stay.  Peace of mind, you know, so they wouldn't have to worry about the place sitting empty.

Grandma and Grandpa Giddings at McGuire's Irish Pub

We hopped into the Element with our suitcase (minus the dogs, who we miss like crazy) last Friday the 7th, and headed for warmer weather.  We brought the cold down with us, and encountered snow all the way into Alabama, but finally warmed close to the coast.  Now we are on the 17th floor of a wonderful condo, right on the Gulf of Mexico.  We have been lucky enough to overlap with Grandma and Grandpa Giddings, and have been having some crazy adventures!

Don't make me pull this plane over...

The first day, we went to the National Naval Aviation Museum.  The guides were all very friendly, and we learned a lot about the many planes that they have used.  We got to go aboard Marine 1, climbed in and out of various planes, and learned all sorts of interesting new things!  Nate and Grandpa bonded over the many interesting exhibits, and Grandma and I laughed about the men wondering over the gizmos and do-dads.

Fun fact: The HUD is made up of lights reflected off an angled piece of glass

Our second exciting adventure was to Alligator Alley, which is actually an alligator sanctuary.  If an alligator is getting a little too friendly with the locals, and it is fit and healthy, it comes to this place to live out the rest of its days in peace.  There is a boardwalk through the swamp that you can walk on, and it was a bit like playing Alligator I-spy.  Look at the photo below and see if you can spot the two alligators.

Fun fact: Alligators have excellent healing properties, so losing a limb isn't a big deal.
Just ask "Stumpy" the Alligator

Talk about Southern hospitality, the owner of the place wandered over to us and we got to ask him all sorts of questions about the place.  For instance: the oldest that they have had an alligator live to at the farm was 42, which they knew because their rear leg bones have rings just like trees and you can count them.  They have 201 adult alligators, and they harvest the eggs every year to help control the number of alligators at the farm and keep them from escaping to neighboring areas.  Then, as if that weren't enough, they were having a fund-raiser and voting drive for a local Judge, and they invited us to stay!  They had a whole roasted pig that the owner carried over to a table and pulled some pork for us to try.  It was a republican gathering so I think he was having fun introducing the liberal Northerners to a Southern shindig.

As we sipped on our sweet and unsweet tea, one of the employees offered to catch one of the juvenile alligators for us to hold. He drove off in his truck and came back with a little alligator on his lap.  This little one was 2-3 years old, and wiggly! The skin on top was very leathery, but it was surprisingly soft, especially on the bottom.  As you can see, he wrapped the mouth a few times with electrical tape for safety. After that, we snuck away to dinner before the political event hit full swing.  All in all, a very cool day!

Imagine holding a really big, really strong Alligator wallet

As an added topic, though only semi-related, we have been talking a lot about what a fabulous family that we have.  We are so lucky to be able to come stay here, and equally lucky that we are totally comfortable with leaving the animals with my parents - we are sure that they are having their own vacation, and they are always a little chunkier when we get home.  When going through the emails on our business site we ran across an email from Alister just saying "great start, keep going!" and we love all of the emails that we get from family and friends keeping up up-to-date.  All in all, we are so blessed; you don't get to pick your family, but we'd have picked you all if we could!

Our plan tomorrow is to head to New Orleans to explore the French Quarter!  Can't wait!

Love to you all,

-Justine and Nate

Justine finds the only dog at the Naval Museum