Making the Most of it!

We are in our last days here in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We have met so many nice people and made new friends while here. It is going to be hard to leave.

We had some nasty weather come in over this past weekend. Winds gusted at around 30 mph and boy did it rain! I took the girls for a walk during a rain break and I thought to myself, what is that sound? I thought it was the wind but it was actually the sound of the waves at the beach, so I got in the truck to go and see!

And after the storm you get….

Foley is a town north of Gulf Shores on Highway 59. Its where you will find all your favorite eats and shopping. We visited downtown Foley and it is a treat in itself.

We visited the Hotel Magnolia.

This beautiful ten room hotel was built in 1908 by John Burton Foley and in 1967 purchased by John and Marjorie Snook. Snook was the owner of Gulf Telephone which is on the alley across from the Hotel. Marjorie worked for John at the telephone company and after they married she ran the Hotel. John had a tunnel built under the hotel to the telephone company for purposes of inclement weather and as a bomb shelter in the cold war era. The tunnel still exists but is sealed shut at the entrance to the telephone company.

We were fortunate to have a personal tour of the hotel by Miss Annalisa of the hotel staff.

The entrance to the hotel.

The parlor and breakfast nook.

The grand chandelier in the entrance to the ballrooms.

Room #1

Room #10 the biggest of all rooms with whirlpool tub and stand up shower.

There is a parlor on the second floor.

A ballroom for weddings and receptions.

Thank you Annalisa for the tour!

Next we visited the Foley Train museum, complete with a model train town.

Some old hats, telephone, trunks and train calendar from the museum.

Model trains!

The caboose and trains outside the museum.

Ever wonder about the loo?

We enjoyed the museum and would recommend it.

We also visited the Holmes Medical Museum. The first hospital in Baldwin County in 1936. Closing its doors in 1958, leaving everything behind after the new hospital was built. The museum is literally full of all the original hospitals equipment and instruments.

This was really cool and really creepy at the same time. Lets tour!

The Surgery Room complete with surgery table, EKG machine and anesthesia apparatus.

The X-ray Room

The Pharmacy complete with a real human skeleton of a local man.

The Kitchen

Exam Room

The Dental, Hearing and Eye Exam Room

The Nursery *** Want to take a guess at what the fourth picture is?

The Nurses Quarters

The “Quakery” Room. This room has items donated from other sources. These items were not from the original hospital.

Day Nurse Station

Anyone need a bedpan? This was the bathroom. Notice there is no toilet, that is because back then it was recommended total bed rest for the patients. Therefore, bedpans were used.

Interesting Odds and Ends

Dr Sibley Holmes Office

Dr WC Holmes Office

I learned about segregation from school, movies/TV and books. But, this just really upsets me when I see this kind of thing. No, I am not offended as it is part of all of our history and I feel it should be here to show future generations what people went through and how unfair things were back then.

Were you able to figure out what the fourth picture was from earlier in the Nursery? Here is the story; Prior to the invention of heating pads this domed equipment used light bulbs for heat treatment, much like the incubator.

Like I said earlier, it was really neat and just as creepy. Thank you Mr Swanson for answers to all our questions about the Museum.

Next was Bobby’s Area 51 Thrift Shop

This place had some really bizarre items along with some very neat finds.

Annabelle is locked in a box. Why???

Did you know that Freddy Krugger hung out with Santa? I guess this way Freddy gets whatever he wants for Christmas!

Some of the things we like to do is go the Farmer’s Markets. This one had everything from fresh produce to homemade treats and jams to local crafters.

This was outside the market. Looks like a huge oyster shell.

Found another at the Oyster House!

Oh yes we did!!!!

I found this guy at Walmart!

I found this guy and he wasn’t as friendly as Santa!

The three of us went on a dolphin cruise this week. We had a great time!

They took us on the intercoastal and out to Wolf Bay. The Intercoastal Waterways are 3000 miles of inland waterway that run from Boston, around the tip of Florida and across the Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville Texas.

The dolphins are very friendly and very hard to catch in action on a photo. Here are some that I took. I will apologize for the poor quality.

John got to drive the boat. Aye Aye Captain!

On the trip back I got this great picture of Tracy.

Took a drive with the girls to see some Christmas lights. There weren’t alot to see but I managed to find a few.

Today we decided to take a hike at the Gulf Shores State Park. It was a beautiful day. 58 degrees and mostly sunny. We set off on the trail to the dog/day park area. Along the way there was marshy ground all along the trail. Here is Laky Shelby.

Did you know that the migration of the monarchs which takes place in the Michigan area most often ends along the gulf coast and into Mexico. You could get close enough to them to touch them.

We continued to hike past the day park and around Lake Shelby (We’re sorry John) on several wooden boardwalks and bridges. This is just one of the waterways that flow into Lake Shelby.

We found the path to alligator island and were curious enough to investigate.

Soon enough, I spotted an alligator catching some rays. It was about 6 feet in length and really didn’t seem to be bothered with the fact we were there.

From the boardwalk you could see an osprey nest and also some ospreys in a nearby tree.

At the end of the boardwalk and across Lake Shelby was a beautiful view of the condos that line the beach of Gulf Shores.

A couple of really cool things along our hike were, this cut out of the span of an Eagle wings and some other larger birds of the area. Tracy had the span of an osprey (which by the way is in the eagle family).

Another nice touch by the park was the bottle/person/doggie water fountains.

We saw a dead snake along the hike and this very intriguing deer moss that looked like popcorn.

John found a nice spot to take a break.

We ended our nearly three hour hike just under 7 and a half miles.

Here’s proof!

In a few days we will be leaving Gulf Shores for Buccaneer State Park in Mississippi.

Get your Christmas shopping done because you don’t have much time left! Until next week! Hola!