(I wrote this on Sept. 17 and am just now posting.)
I’m
sitting here in the Ft. Lauderdale airport waiting to head back to Little Rock
from our Orange Beach vacation. We
spent a week there and had a great time. It’s always hard to go home. I always want to blog about our vacation
because if I don’t, I’ll forget some things that I want to remember. For example, because I blogged about
our Colorado vacation, I remembered that Enterprise was the BEST place to rent
a car so that’s who we used again and they were once again wonderful! We’ll
never rent anywhere else. We are
sitting by some really nice people here who we’ve been talking to us about
football and dentistry. They are from Jonesboro and have children and
grandchildren in LR. Lamar is also watching the Nebraska game on TV. He couldn’t find a SEC game on TV so he
went with NE since Marci lives there. Anyway, back to our trip, we left last
Saturday and our plane was delayed a couple of hours. Our flight ended up leaving around 10:30 pm and it was the
easiest check in ever. We flew
with Vision Airlines. They have
cheaper tickets and their flight is non-stop. It only has a flight to Ft.
Lauderdale once a week but let me tell ya, it is SO worth it to fly!! It is so
nice not having to make that long drive.
Because of the delay, we ended up getting to Seachase about 2:30
am. We stopped by Wal-Mart on the
way to get some essentials. We ended up going to sleep at about 4:00 am.
All week was so great, we just did whatever we wanted…we slept as late as we wanted, went to the beach whenever we wanted, ate wherever and whatever our hearts desired…..it was just so relaxing and just a great great trip!
Our
condo: We stayed in Seachase 1002
Center. It was really pretty and the blue paint was so soothing. I REALLY think
it is the same room that Mar and I stayed in on our honeymoon. I just got the feeling that I had
stayed there before and it looked just the same except it had been repainted
and redecorated. Mar asked them
but they lost all their records in the hurricane 5 years ago. Anyway, I just love Seachase. It feels
like home to me. Actually, Orange beach feels like home to me. I know it so
well. I even know how to get places which is saying a lot for me. We ended up having to sleep in the guest
room because the beautiful plantation shutters in the master had too much light that shone
through early in the morning that woke us up. I loved the
condo, though. I have never stayed in a condo at Seachase that I haven’t loved.
Restaurants:
We went to lots of restaurants and this is what I have discovered: LuLu’s and
Doc’s have the best onion rings, Doc’s and Wolf Creek Lodge have the best royal
red shrimp, the Original Oyster House had the best praline cheesecake, and Cosmo’s
has the GREATEST firecracker shrimp ever that tasted a lot like Bang Bang
Shrimp from Bonefish but better.
We went to King Neptunes and didn’t like much of anything. They had fried
cheesecake that was okay but was frozen in the middle. We thought Jimmy Buffet was playing at
LuLu’s but it wasn’t him. Lamar
insisted and then when I googled his images, the guy looked like him so I was
convinced. I ended up asking our waiter and it wasn’t him. :) We went to Bahama Bobs one night and it
wasn’t our favorite. It was nice
to eat outside, though. We really
liked Wolf Creek Lodge’s atmosphere.
They did not have good onion rings but everything else was great! I got
the shrimp scampi and Mar got royal reds.
I also got eclair cake for dessert that was really good. Poor Mar burned his mouth on the cheese
grits at the Original Oyster House and had trouble eating every day since. But, he said the cheese grits were well
worth it. :)
Favorite
sunblocks:
We
bought every sunscreen known to man and my favorites were Ocean Potion and
Exotic Blend with bronzer because of the smell. I loved the bronzer in the
Exotic Blend because it has a bronzer in it that makes you look tan. Also, for some reason, it smells a
little like chocolate. How can you
go wrong with tan and chocolate!!! You just can’t! The Ocean Potion spray was
sticky but the lotion wasn’t. The
best sunscreen spray as far as not being sticky is Neutrogena. We wore 30 on the first day because we
were only out from 3:00-5:00. On
the second day, we wore 50, on the third day we wore 30 and all the days after
that, we wore 15. I write all this
where I’ll remember for next time.
We didn’t get burned.
The
Beach:
Jellyfish:
Man, were there LOTS of jellyfish!!! I always love going to the beach at the
first of May or in September because there are never any jellyfish and the
weather is perfect! Well, this time around, there were TONS of jellyfish. Mar got stung very slightly by one. I
think one just brushed against his arm. It wasn’t too bad, thankfully. I went running on the beach yesterday
and had to dodge jellyfish the whole time. I stopped counting at 83! I literally saw hundreds. I wanted to look at my surroundings but
couldn’t because I would have stepped on a jellyfish. The run was HEAVENLY
though but I hurt both my knees…probably has something to do with running
barefoot and on the sand. It was the first time I had exercised in a week,
though, and the breeze was just wonderful.
Shopping:
We
didn’t do a whole lot of shopping but I wanted to stop by the Wharf because
there are a few shops I like there that I wanted to go back to. One is Ooh La
La. I have always loved that name but I like it even more now since my cousin,
Emily, works in a salon called Ooh La La.
I got me a really cute shirt in there. We also went to another shop that
was adorable but I can’t remember the name of it. They had the cutest dresses for cheap. There was a shop there called H. L Hood
which immediately reminded me of Hope since those are her initials. I sent her a
pix. She said she thought it was a
sign from God because she’s always wanted to open up a shop. When I looked up
the shop online, it turns out that the H. stands for Heather! Hope said the
name of the store was a mixture of our names. It’s so cool because Hope and I have just signed up to have
a booth at one of the flea markets in Little Rock. We’ll open our booth on
October 1st. I thought
that was neat that I saw that sign.
We also went to San Rock Cay (mom’s favorite) and Fanatic Fanz
today. I got Reggie a LSU
jersey at a store in San Roc Cay. It is so cute! I plan on getting a picture of
CB in his Razorback jersey and Reggie in his LSU jersey with Mar and I dressed
in our LSU and Razorback gear! I also found me some Miss Me skinny jeans at the
Private Gallery. My favorite
jeans are Miss Me but they are boot cut so I can’t tuck my boots into them.
I’ve been looking for some skinny Miss Me’s to wear this fall/winter to tuck my
boots into and I found them. The fun thing is is that this shop also has one
other shop in Fayetteville, ARKANSAS!!! I love that! It’s always been one of my
favorite shops. We always go to Fanatic Fanz and get LSU and Arkansas
shirts. Alabama has the best LSU
football stuff I’ve ever seen. I LOVE LSU colors so I always love buying LSU
stuff since they are, after all, my second favorite team.
Pier
and State Park:
This
was the first time we went to the state park and the pier. I don’t know why we never discovered
those places before. They are both
beautiful places to go watch the sunset.
We went to the state park a few days ago and we got there right at
sunset, when they close. We still managed to get a few pictures and see some of
the sunset, though. Last night, we
went to the pier and there were a lot of people fishing (I am so glad Lamar
doesn’t fish). Anyway, one guy
caught a baby shark!!! It was the first time I have ever seen a shark in
person. Here’s a picture. It’s not
the best but it’s the best I could do standing on the pier with a shark
fighting the line like crazy. We
also saw this neat bird: I don’t know what kind he is but I liked him.
Pier
Pier
State Park
Mar’s
favorite part:
Would you believe of all things the JELLYFISH!!!! WHAT??!!! Are you kidding me! He thought they were cool…all the jellyfish on the shore.
He also said he loved seeing all the houses with the porches (they were
gorgeous) and he loved exploring the restaurants and eating desserts with
me. He also liked “chilling out”
on the beach. He said the icing on
the cake was getting to eat whatever he wanted. He’s been on a healthy diet for about 10 months now and his
blood work is GREAT!! He just got it drawn again right before we left for the
beach and his numbers were great again.
I am SO thankful!!!
Hadoo’s
favorite part:
The
BEACH, of course! Laying on the beach on comfy chairs for hours and hours
looking the beautiful ocean with the breeze blowing. I took in every single second. I also loved having no restrictions on eating. I just let
myself eat whatever I wanted and I had Sprite for every meal. I also got a dessert for every meal!!
YES!!! One of my very very favorite things about the beach is getting to do my
quiet time on the balcony. That is
always heaven to me. I love sitting outside with the ocean in front of me
studying God’s word. Also, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the sunsets!! Just look at the beautiful sunsets we saw!!!
Orange
Beach vs. Destin:
Well,
for the last 2 years we went to Destin and stayed at the Adagio which are
gorgeous condominiums. We always
go when they are having a half price deal or it would be too much to stay
there. They are just beautiful
condos. I also love the beach at
Destin. The water is so so clear
and the sand feels as fine as flour. I just love the feel of it in between my
toes. I like the restaurants
there, too. BUT, there is just
something about Orange Beach that I love, love, love!! Lamar and I went there
on our honeymoon, as I mentioned, so that may be one reason but we also have
gone just about every year since.
They were closed down for a couple of years from the hurricane so we
went to St. Thomas and Grand Cayman and while those places were beautiful, they
just weren’t Orange Beach. I love
the familiarity of Orange Beach. I
love knowing all the restaurants and what to eat. I love the grocery store being right across the street. AND, most of all, I LOVE the beach
chairs that you rent at SeaChase. I know that sounds like a small deal but we
spend all day every day at the beach and having comfy chairs is important!
Adagio chairs just aren’t as good.
They don’t lay all the way back and they have an attachment for at the
bottom for your feet. At SeaChase,
the chairs are like a bed. They
have 4-5 inches of a foam cushion on top of wood that goes all the way back so
you can lay on your stomach. Your
gadgets (like my iPhone and iPad) are protected from the sand more because of the chairs. I don’t know….Orange
Beach is like my second home so I think we’ll go back there again over
Destin, even though Destin is great, too! Lamar said he definitely loved the
Destin beach better as far as the water and the sand but over all, we’d go back
to Orange Beach again and I’m sure we’ll back again this time next year unless
we get to go at the first of May again!!! Wouldn’t that be great!!!
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