Y'all Come Back Now

   We're into our last two days here in Mobile and we've had a full week of sightseeing, food and golf. Let's get started!

  When the last episode finished we'd just returned from hitting Florida and Mississippi in the same weekend and the news that we were headed to Cyprus for the month of February. That meant Mike The Travel Agent was kept glued to his laptop for the next three mornings organizing flights so that we could get to our housesitting assignment and have some time in Greece at the tail end. Penny and I are looking forward to getting off the North American continent, finally.

  Well, I was only partially glued. We did manage to play some golf Monday then head out to see the USS Alabama WWII battleship Tuesday. We left this guy at home and he didn't eat anyone's shoes, like he did with Sandi's sandals last week:

  The Alabama was a member of the second-largest class of US battleship, about 70% the size of the Missouri, so it ain't small. After a quick tour of the accompanying submarine, USS Drum, we embarked on a marathon of exploration through most of the decks of the massive ship.

  Our first stop was an exhibit describing the various exploits of the ship and the battles it took part in. One of them featured a ship that's familiar to Torontonians:

  It's a bit weird to encounter this in the Deep South after seeing the ship moored at Ontario Place for decades. After some wandering through some of the interior spaces we hit the deck where we got a true sense of the ship's size. And I shot down some kamikaze pilots. Just another day the the office.

  With the upper decks tour completed Ben and I headed below to check out the technical spaces, like the Engine Room:

  Given there were usually around 2,500 sailors aboard it was fascinating to see the inner workings of what amounts to a floating city. We saw the surgery, kitchens, shoemaker, laundry, post office, print shop and even a soda fountain! This was the first class of battleship that was equipped to have ice cream on board which became a valuable commodity when trading with smaller vessels.

  With the tours done we headed out to Wintzell's Oyster House in downtown Mobile for some local seafood. Apparently, they cornered the market on salt before we arrived as some of the food was inedible and the rest made us all thirsty for the rest of the evening. So much so that ice cream was required!

  During the drive home we stopped to check out some neighbourhood streetlights the residents strung up.

  It's something we've seen quite a bit here with lights tied between the houses and the roadside trees. It certainly livens the place up at night.

  Speaking of the roadside trees, you don't see many people walking at night here and it's not because they're worried about crime. Those same beautiful trees with Spanish Moss hanging from them have very shallow roots and they dramatically heave the sidewalks so much that walking in the dark can be dangerous. No exaggeration!

  Upon our return home Ben and Penny (and Willie) were plum tuckered out. Eating ice cream can certainly sap one's energy 😳.

  Wednesday morning brought the completion of my airline ticketing nightmare so we decided to head off to the Eastern Shore in the afternoon, checking out Daphne, Fairhope and Point Clear. It's a very scenic area with pocket beaches, shopping and lots of restaurants. We found a little deserted beach to hang out on for an hour then decided to head down to Gulf Shores to catch the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay:

    That brings me to today's event, the second of our two food tours, this time during daylight. Well, the two tours were like night and day. Where last week's evening stroll was uninteresting with largely disappointing food selections, today's was a five-star feast! We spent the afternoon hitting all the iconic Mobile eateries where we had friend green tomatoes with biscuits at the Ruby Slipper, followed by bao buns at Squid Ink, three kinds of oysters at Wintzell's (no salt this time), terrific BBQ at Moe's and completed the adventure with deep-fried deliciousness at the Mo'Bay Beignet Co. All the food was wonderful and more than made up for our earlier misadventure.

  Tomorrow is our last day in Mobile. Ben and Sandi will be taking off for home after spending the past two weeks sharing our exploration of this interesting neck of the woods. They're been wonderful houseguests and their companionship has made our stay here so much more fun. We wish them safe travels as they make their way north while Penny and I work our way south and east.

  Mobile has been a different kind of experience for us. Willie is another dog we'd happily take home with us (that makes three) but this wasn't a beautiful house in a scenic location. We sat for a young family in a working-class neighbourhood. No gated community, this. No spectacular views of city and ocean. No mountains. No limitless vistas with nary a house in sight. It wasn't anything like all our other sits but we enjoyed it just the same. I know we'll garner another excellent review and we'll once again receive requests to come back. I'm not sure we would but we've added a new place and new memories and that's why we do this.

  On Wednesday we start our next assignment on Hutchinson Island, FL, midway between Daytona Beach and Miami. We're looking forward to sun, sand, sea and waving buh-bye to Alabama where everyone likes to say, "Y'all come back!"