E - I - E - I - Ohhhhh!

More pics of Fairhope

As Betty labeled it, Fairhope is a "quaint" village on the Mobile Bay. Here's a few more pics-- the streets downtown really do look like this! Click here.

October in KY

(There's a post below this one that got out of order. Sorry.)

Well, I know it's no longer October. And we're not in Kentucky any more. But I thought it was about time I caught the blog up to date. Although it actually wasn't that long ago that we left Mexico, it seems a lot longer, I guess, because we've covered (literally) so much ground since then.

We left Ajijic on Sunday morning, Sept. 3o, with the intention of stopping in Saltillo, about 3 hours south of Laredo, for the night. It was an easy trip that day. The dogs were very happy to be back in their minivan habitat. We only got turned around once in Lagos de Moreno, not too bad. We could only contrast our ease and comfort with the wariness and apprehension crossing the border by car back in May. Now we felt like old hands. As we neared Saltillo about dusk, I kept looking for the large American-style hotels I knew were coming up and where we planned to stop. (I knew one of them allowed dogs--not easy in Mexico.) We kept driving, never passed those hotels, but about 9 pm we saw the lights of Monterrey ahead of us. Hmm. Having missed our stopping point and realizing we were only an hour and a half from the border, we decided to go for it. We knew it was a superhighway all the way and well-traveled. No problems at all, crossed the border about 11:00 that evening. The next day we crossed Texas, stopping in Texarkana for the night. Then home to Frankfort the next night. 3 very long, but easy days, and about 1600 miles.

Susannah flew to KY to visit the first weekend and we had a gathering at the house with her, Mark and Mindy and Pam and Steve. Then we went to work getting the house ready to go on the market. Bob had lots of handy-man jobs. I spent more time clearing out closets and various nooks and crannies in the house. We made two trips to the dump and numerous trips to Goodwill. Feels good to purge!! So we attended to all those things, loaded up a rental truck with stuff for Corey and Candy, and drove back south to Alabama. Kentucky was in our rearview mirrors for the time being. Ahead of us were two months in Fairhope, AL, then January in Tarpon Springs, FL, and after that we weren't sure.

Fairhope, Alabama (and lots of Gaby, of course)

Fairhope, Alabama is a small town on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. Lovely and "quaint" (in its own especially contrived way), it's home to artists and artisans, has boutique shops, an old-fashioned village air about it, and gorgeous cottage homes. Of course, along the bay front, some of those gorgeous homes are not cottagey at all. It was established about 1908 as an early planned community designed for outdoor areas and devoted to progressive education. Corey and Candy moved here from California last March when Corey started his new job. In June, they moved into their new house (the first pic on snapfish). In August, we visited from Mexico and arranged to rent a townhouse here for two months. We knew Fairhope from many years ago when Bob was stationed at Whiting Field in Milton, FL, about an hour or so east of here (and where Corey was born). We met Bob and Evelyn Young at Whiting, who are both from Fairhope. We visited here over 30 years ago and since then several times when we would visit the Youngs.

When we first got here from KY the end of October, we babysat for Gaby at her house for several days while Corey and Candy attended a wedding. Then we moved into the townhouse here in a condo complex by the bay. The townhouse is quite large--3 levels, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, carport, etc., and very comfortable. There's a big pool and a beautiful deck right on the bay where we try to catch the sunset as often as possible. The setting here along the bay is spectacular. The Fairhope pier is less than a mile walk along the avenue with sidewalks and parks between here and there. From the pier it's just about 4 blocks east to the village shops.
www.city-data.com/city/Fairhope-Alabama.html

Since we've been here, we've spent a lot of time with Corey, Candy, and Gaby, hung out with the Youngs, entertained family for Thanksgiving, taken walks with the dogs, read a lot, and I don't know what else. We though we would take some day trips in the area, but other than a visit to the Gulf Shores Zoo with Candy and Gaby, we haven't really explored that much so far. Oh yeah, we spent the night in Pensacola early in November and went to the Gulf Coast Art Festival with the Youngs. That was phenomenal. The weather has ranged from gloriously beautiful to chilly and rainy. Some days we wear shorts and t-shirts, other days long sleeves, even jackets. Some days all of the above--just not at the same time.

For more pics, click here.

Gaby's 2nd Birthday

Gaby's second birthday, November 12, 2007. Party and friends, pizza, cake and presents. For pictures, click here.