Beachy Keen Weekend

Last Friday my sister and I headed off to Gulf Shores, Alabama to spend the weekend with my best friend Judy. Since my name is also Judy, and we didn't want a lot of confusion going on when my sister called one of us, my BF went by "other Judy" so in keeping with tradition, she will be known as "other Judy" here!


I had been trying to visit with Judy at the beach all summer. But due to schedules and other family related issues, I had not been able to go. She dropped by my house a few weeks ago, made me get out my calendar, and we were able to come up with a time that I could come to the beach. She and her husband take their camper there for the summer and she has been there since April! Her husband is taking the camper back home soon cause football season is right around the corner and the camper is "tailgate headquarters" in Auburn for a lot of us! Anyway....I'm getting off my point here, which is to say that I asked my sister to come along with me because to put it mildly, she has been through some life-changing events for the past few months and she really needed some time to regroup and just be with the girls.


So Friday morning we started out bright and early, stopped for breakfast at Shoney's, and headed toward the Gulf! When we got there, we did a little shopping and then went back to get ready to go to dinner. Judy had a place she wanted to take us in Orange Beach called The Wharf. The Wharf is actually an outdoor shopping destination with wonderful shops and great places to eat right on the water. Just beautiful! We got there around 6:00 so we could have our choice of tables outside, take our time ordering and eating and stay around to enjoy an outdoor concert at 8:00. The restaurant we ate at is called Guy Harvey's, right on the water next to where the yachts dock. Our table was not 10 feet from where the boats pull in.

I just had to take a picture of this sweet lady....this was her first night as a "cigarette girl". How many of ya'll remember seeing someone like her in old movies where a girl floats around a restaurant selling cigars, cigarettes....? She was very nervous but kept coming back to our table because she said we were so nice to her!

Judy and my sister ordered the same thing, a shrimp platter. I won't go into the problems I had with my order because they first brought out the wrong order, then when they went to correct it, it was still wrong! Oh, well....

My sister (the short one) and my best friend "Other Judy"!

The two Judy's!

My "little" sister and me

Raspberry margarita (very yummy!)

As you can see, Other Judy's drink was delicious too!

Gorgeous sunset

View from our table looking out to the "mall" area

All the trees are wrapped in white lights and when it gets dark, it is something to see!

Anyone want to buy a boat?

We went shopping for a little while before we ate. This sideboard was in the window of a store we loved....you'll see more of it further down

Here's that bright green sideboard in a shop called Bungalows....


...and here is the original location of their store in Foley

Saturday we HAD to get in a little retail therapy and this sofa caught my eye

Ya'll know how much I love black furniture!

There is a well-known restaurant in Foley called Lamberts where they are famous for throwing rolls at customers (to my knowledge, no one has ever been injured by this practice!)

Unfortunately, our trip was cut short Saturday morning. Judy's husband had been in N.O. for work-related school for 3 weeks. He called Saturday morning to say he was pretty sick and was driving up to where we were - about a 2 hour drive. My sister and I decided we'd go out and do a little sightseeing and shopping and check with Judy from time to time to see what was going on with her hubby. We had already decided we'd just drive back home late Saturday evening so that Judy's husband would not be in the camper with 3 girls and one bathroom! Then to top it off, his car broke down in Gulf Port, MS and she had to drive over there to get him, getting caught in a significant storm coming back to Gulf Shores! So my sister and I went home, getting in about 9:00 Saturday night. She dropped me off and drove to their lake place where her family (plus some of mine) were for the weekend. We had a good time while we were there and I hate we didn't get to stay the entire time, but things happen that you have no control over.

I talked to Judy this afternoon and her hubby is okay.....he might have had food poisoning and then got "overloaded" on medication given to him by a doctor....he got a little R&R and has gone back to work so thank goodness he's okay.


Not as many pictures as I would have liked to had, but even the day and a half we were there was a lot of fun.

1st Annual Girls Beach Trip

As you can see, we were 2 miles from our destination at 5:12 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. Call me dumb, but I didn't know that all the blue stuff on the screen was the ocean!!! Shannon pointed that out to me!

After we checked into our motel, we got out and walked on the beach about 6:00 p.m. so the girls could pick up shells. This is how the sky looked....isn't it amazing?

Someone had spent a lot of time building this sandcastle

McKinley is proud of her little seashell

Taylor (blue swimsuit) McKinley and DIL Jennifer


Taylor found a big beautiful shell but she wanted ya'll to see this one!

Now I've got to explain the next few pictures. We could not get into our condo until Friday so DIL went on line and found a "nice" motel for us to stay at Thursday night. She said it had great reviews and pictures and had recently been remodeled. Well, I don't know what they call "recently" but this place made the Bates Motel look like the Taj Mahal! The first thing that greeted us when we opened the door was a dead roach! Uck! I wanted to go to the office and get our money back but they had a "no refund" policy. So, when you see the cracked cement patio the girls are standing on, please know that this is not the kind of place we are used to!!

Taylor put on her sunglasses when she got up cause she was so excited to be at the beach!

Both girls WIDE AWAKE at the crack of dawn!

Ms. Ta-Ta all ready for her day at the beach in her swimsuit, hat and glasses!
McKinley looks like she's found something interesting.

McKinley is ready to go swimming Taylor "instructing" my sister's grandson, Mason (remember, she is the 'big sister' and just a little bossy)!

Mason (love those eyes)

Taylor and her floaties (she took off swimming like a little fish)

McKinley in her "big girl" float

I told ya'll most of my pictures were of the girls! We didn't get to spend much time with my sister (Besty), her daughter Elizabeth and Betsy's grandson Mason because they stayed in a different condo but we got together to eat on Friday night and they went swimming with us Saturday.

We ended the day swimming - so peaceful and relaxing.

I don't know where we'll spend the 2nd annual girl's trip but we have a year to decide. This coming weekend the my daughter and her husband are going to son and DIL for the weekend so MiMi and Pop will be keeping the twins!

Lazy Days at the Beach....

Thursday I'm off for a little R&R at the beach with the girls! According to the weather forecast, it will be hot, hot, hot! I bought a new swimsuit cause I couldn't find my old one (plus I WANTED a new one!), flip flaps (what Taylor calls flip flops), sunglasses, beach bag, lots of bottled water, and good books. There will be a caravan of three cars heading to the panhandle of Florida so if you see a bunch of crazy looking women and kids.....get out of the way!


See, they've got my chair set up just waiting for me!!!




I'll have lots of pictures when I get back so see ya'll then! Have a wonderful and safe weekend.