Beach Weekend on the Alabama-Florida Gulf Coast

Before I get into telling you about our weekend, let me make a correction from yesterday's post. The prizes I showed off that came in the mail were my winnings from Kristen Robinson's blog. I've made an addition on that post, but wanted to make sure it's clear.

So. . . our February weekend at the beach was VERY NICE!!
I don't know if you saw the moon on Friday night, but it was HUGE and awesome. I tried my darnedest to get a photo of the beauty of the big, beautiful, full moon just after it had risen. However, that didn't work out so well for me. Once we checked into the condo, I was able to snap this okay shot.

By the way, that photo was taken with my new favorite iPhone app - Instagram. If you have an iPhone, you should TOTALLY check it out!

Since it was Friday when we got there, we knew it was a must that we partake in what we call Margarita Friday.

Saturday was spent recovering from the margaritas, eating at some of our local favorites, and enjoying just being at the beach. I did squeeze in some creative time and made this necklace.

I'd REALLY like to know what you think of the necklace.

Sunday was one of my favorite days of all time.
Since we took our bikes down to the beach with us, we decided to check out the walking/biking trail at the Alabama Gulf State Park. We explored one part of the trail on foot several weeks ago. Come to find out, we barely made a dent in the trail that time. The main trail is about 5.5 miles long and paved the whole way. Of course, there are a ton of unpaved walking trails just off the main path AND several paved branches and forks off the main trail. There are benches, porch swings, and picnic tables all along the pathway. In addition, there was this screen-enclosed picnic area with porch swings on the front. This building was just near the bathrooms and water fountain.

Almost the entire trail (at least the route we took) is wooded and lovely. There are patches of sand and palmettos on the side of the path, reminding you that you're at the beach. However, this was my favorite spot on the trail, reminding me that we were at the beach in Southern Alabama.

Pat and I rode from one end of the trail to the other for a total of 11 MILES!!! Of course, there were forks off the path that we didn't take and are excited to explore next time.

After that long ride, we were thirsty and hungry. We headed back to Perdido Key to check out a restaurant we've never visited before. We'd seen the Oyster Bar from the bridge that it's almost under and had wanted to check it out since it had a nice looking deck along the river.

 Oh my gosh! It was GOOD!! We both wanted to eat somewhat healthy after the exercise we had gotten, and lucked out with the yummy Mahi Mahi and sauteed crab claws. (the Bushwackers were to die for also!!) But the view absolutely sold us on the place. We'll be going back there!

 Back at the condo, we relaxed and enjoyed our last night on the beach.
In the morning, we took one long gaze off the balcony.

I should let you know that we rented the condo from Meyer Realty and stayed in Perdido Key.  We usually rent from Meyer because I really like the way their website search works and the amount of info you can get on each of the properties available. As well, they're almost always offering some sort of special. In this case, we got the "rent two nights get the third free" special that they were having for Valentine's.

Now that I've been home for a full day, I'm getting back into the swing of things and knocked a few tasks off the to do list.
These simple earrings were listed

Flower Power Earrings

As well, I knocked out a custom piece and finished up a few more for the Bead Soup Blog Party on Saturday.
Now, I'm ready to relax again.
Oh well, vicious cycle.

I hope you enjoyed my little review of the Alabama/Florida Gulf Coast and recognize that there is plenty to do down here other than swim in the water. Of course, had it been warmer, we would have TOTALLY been in the water. We were on the beach two days and saw lots of cleaning activity, but not a single tar ball. Come on down, there's lots of fun and food to be had!!