Navarre Florida - Day #7

Unbelievable! It doesn't seem possible that we've been here seven days already. Friday was our last full day in Navarre. We'll begin the journey back to NWA on Saturday morning. Our last full day was really nice.

We got up and around and headed for Destin to have one last breakfast at the Donut Hole. Everyone enjoyed the meal and we even grabbed some donuts for the trip home, although I doubt any of them actually make it back to NWA.

After breakfast we went to the beach and set up in a cabana to enjoy our last full day on the coast. It was a cool day. We saw some dolphin almost immediately and they stayed in the area most of the day. Then I was able to catch a couple of small jellyfish and the kids enjoyed seeing them. I got to enjoy a small jellyfish sting on my leg, but I guess that's what I get for jacking with them.

One of the neatest parts of the day was when we noticed what looked like a large dark cloud in the water that was moving down the beach. As it got closer, we realized it was a large school of Rays. There were probably 50-60 in the first group. We ended up seeing several schools throughout the day and I even got a chance to walk out in the water with the Rays as they went past. I wasn't aware they actually traveled in schools, but it's not surprising I didn't know that fact since the majority of my knowledge of marine life comes from Finding Nemo.

We spent about five hours at the cabana and enjoyed the ocean breezes as we relaxed in the shade. After going back to the park, the kids ended the day in the pool, as usual. We just can't believe it's about over. We've had a great week!

A pic from our cabana looking over the Gulf.

A school of Rays swimming along the beach in Navarre.

A little closer pic of a Ray at Navarre.

The school of Rays up close.

Melanie enjoying a book at the cabana on Navarre Beach.

Navarre Florida - Day #6

Thursday was another relaxing day in Navarre. We started the morning on the beach at Navarre. We set up in a hut on the water and spent the next four hours hanging out and enjoying the Gulf.

We had a much more positive dolphin experience on Thursday. We were lucky enough to have a large pod of dolphin swim into the area who really put on a show. They were jumping and playing, which is something you usually associate with a visit to Sea World. We really enjoyed watching them play.

We grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the park and spent a lot of time at the pool. We didn't get too active during the day and just relaxed and enjoyed our time away. It was a little hotter than we'd like, but it was still beautiful on the Gulf. After a light dinner, the kids headed back to the pool and stayed there until it was time for bed. I guess you could best describe our day as LAZY!

Mom and Dad hanging out on the beach.

Garrett grinning on the Gulf.

Ainsley looking for dolphin and enjoying the beach.

Dolphin playing along the coast in Navarre.

Two photographers trying to catch a sunset shot at Navarre.

Navarre Florida - Day #5

We can't believe we've already been here five days. Time really does fly when you're having fun. We got up early and drove the Pensacola Naval Air Station where the Blue Angels were having practice. The Blue Angels were awesome and everyone enjoyed the show, despite the heat. We also toured the Air Museum, although I'm not sure if it was more for our desire to learn about the history of flight or our desire to enjoy some A/C. Probably a little of both.

Before we left the Naval Base, we stopped by the Pensacola Light House. It was really neat to see, but based on the temps outside none of us chose to make the climb to the top of the lighthouse. Then we headed to Flounders for lunch. As usual, we all got stuffed. Another great meal.

We loaded up and headed to Ft. Pickens to check out the old fort structures and take a tour. On the way, we witnessed the attempted dolphin rescue (See the Oil Spill Update II - below). When we arrived at the actual fort complex it was really cool to see all the old structures. Garrett enjoyed reading about the history of the fort and narrated from the self-guided map along the way. Again, the temps probably kept us from seeing everything there was to see, but I think we all enjoyed the trip.

We came back to the park and Melanie and AT ran over to the swimming pool for a while. I worked on some photos on the laptop and stayed in the A/C for a little while. We ran to dinner and had some fish and shrimp tacos and pretty well called it a night. We got back to the RV and now are running down to the tiki hut to watch the sunset. It's a tough life, but somebody has to make the sacrifice.

The prisoner's quarters at Ft. Pickens, near Pensacola.

The Pensacola Lighthouse at the Pensacola Naval Air Station.

The Blue Angels landing after their practice with young fans waving their flags in appreciation.

One of the Blue Angels in the middle of a roll during practice.

The Blue Angels beginning their practice run. It was an awesome display.

Oil Spill Update II

Unfortunately this BP Oil Spill Update is much worse than the previous entry. Although the beaches at Destin and Navarre are still as beautiful as they were when I previously blogged, we traveled 25 miles to the west to Pensacola Beach and things were much worse. We went to Fort Pickens and when we arrived at the park we saw a large crowd and several news crews gathered on the beach. We let curiosity get the best of us and we stopped to investigate.

When we got closer we saw the marine mammal rescue team trying to save a young female dolphin which had beached herself and she was covered in oil. They attempted to clean her and kept taking her in and out of the water to keep her alive. We learned later, the dolphin did not survive. It was sickening.

The beach had turned from a beautiful white to a speckled mess. There was oil all along the beach at Fort Pickens. We later heard on the radio, they had closed the beach to swimmers. We don't know how much longer we have until the mess reaches us, but we can't imagine it will be long. Like one of our political leaders said, "plug the damned hole!" I'm not sure I could have said any better.

It's one thing to live 11 hrs from the coast and see the coverage on the news, but it's another to be here and see some of the impact first hand. I can't explain how it impacts you to see something like this failed dolphin rescue. This is a real tragedy.

Marine mammal rescue tries to save young female dolphin at Ft. Pickens.

Another shot of the rescue attempt. The dolphin was covered in oil and later died.

The oil splattered beach at Ft. Pickens near Pensacola.

The beaches were later closed to swimmers.

Navarre Florida - Day #4

I'm a little behind, but Day #4 (Tuesday) was the most relaxing day so far. We were planning on getting up early and heading to the Pensacola Naval Air Station to watch the Blue Angels practice, but the weather was a little rough so we decided to wait until Wednesday. AT and I got up about 6:30 a.m. and headed down to the beach for a walk. The temps were nice and we enjoyed some quiet time on the sand.

We made it back to the park and it started raining a little, so I took a really long nap which covered most of the remainder of the morning. We spent a lot of the day hanging out at the pool. Didn't really get the camera out much, so there aren't any pics to share. As with most of our vacations, they are centered around food and R&R so we had a group effort for dinner and I cooked 3 lbs. of fried shrimp. We also had homemade seafood gumbo, some crab legs, crab cakes, and some fried oysters. We were so stuffed the only thing we could do was go back to the pool and just lay around the rest of the evening. Nothing exciting . . . just the way we like it.

Navarre Florida - Day #3

Another relaxing day on the Gulf Coast. We ran over to Destin and stopped by the Donut Hole (some of the best donuts on the planet). We had a chance to take a walk along the beach at Destin and had lunch at the Crab Trap on Okaloosa Island. We had fried crab claws, oysters on the half shell, a shrimp po' boy, and some crab legs. We were stuffed so we headed back to Navarre to choose up teams and take naps.

In the afternoon, we took some walks on the beach and just hung out around the RV park. After dinner, we took some pics in the area and ran over to Navarre Island to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset, but wasn't perfect for a lot of photos. It's the nesting season for the shore birds in the area and it was neat to hear how loud it was. It was the kind of relaxing day you hope for on vacation.

A herron, fishing near the bay at Destin.

An abandoned boat beneath the bridge at Navarre.

Ainsley wanted to use Dad's camera and this was her first shot. Much better than Dad's first shot. I don't know if she was trying to frame it, but she did a great job.

Oil Spill Update

Obviously, we were very worried about the oil issues in the gulf before we arrived. I think we are all in agreement, the beaches at Navarre and Destin are about as beautiful as we've ever seen them. If you weren't aware of the spill and there weren't crews working around the area, I'm not sure you'd know there was a problem at all.

On the beach at Navarre yesterday afternoon, we did encounter a couple of very small tarballs. They were about half the size of a dime and I don't think you'd have noticed them if you weren't looking for them. We saw the first signs of the boom at Mobile Bay and there's more boom out at Navarre and Destin. There are a lot of work crews combing the beaches and just off shore to check for oil and that's probably the biggest sign of the problem. There was national media at the Destin bridge.

Bottom line . . .the beaches are beautiful and we are glad we didn't cancel our trip.

CNN News Crew at the Destin Bridge. CBS News was there as well.

The boom out near the bridge at Destin.

A CBS or CNN News Crew Broadcasting below the bridge at Destin.

More boom staged on the beaches at Destin. It's ready to be deployed quickly.

Navarre Florida - Day #2

It's been a great day on the Gulf Shores. We had a leisurely morning by taking a couple of walks on the beach. The kids found several hermit crab and some cool lizards and on our last walk of the morning, we spotted two stingrays near the beach at the RV park. We snapped a few quick pics and then headed for the swimming pool. I think the kids thought it might be a little more safe.

Since we were already soaked, we decided to go ahead and head over to the beach. When we arrived at the beach, we noticed a crowd gathering near the water. We were hoping it wasn't a medical emergency and when we got to the water we realized it wasn't that type of issue, but rather a fisherman who'd landed a 5 ft. nurse shark very close to the place we were about to set up. They let the shark go and it quickly left the area. They said it was over 200 lbs. but it didn't look that large to us. We set up our umbrella, laid out our towels, and let the sunburns begin.

The kids had a blast. Ainsley spent most of the afternoon collecting seashells and Garrett did some snorkeling. We caught some small fish and crab. The highlight of the afternoon was when we had close encounters with a couple of dolphin which came within about 40 yards of us and a large sea turtle which came within about 10 ft. They were awesome.

We finished the evening at Johnny Houston's Grill for dinner. Melanie had a shrimp po' boy and I had grilled shrimp tacos. The kids played it safe with pizza and alfredo. It was a very good meal and we'll probably go back before the weeks over. Then we headed back to the park and watched the sun set over Navarre Sound from the tiki hut on the beach. We're back in the RV and all sharing some aloe vera. I think all will sleep very soundly tonight.

Navarre Florida - Day #1

We loaded up late Friday afternoon in the RV and headed out to begin our summer vacation. This year we decided to play it safe with an old standby in Navarre, FL. We've made the trip 6 or 7 times over the years and are comfortable with the route, the RV Park, the restaurants, and the beaches so everyone was looking forward to a relaxing trip. We made it from Springdale to Vicksburg, MS the first night and arrived around midnight. After finishing a very busy week at the office and the kids finishing VBS, we were all exhausted so everyone went right to sleep.

This morning, we ate breakfast on the road and headed out around 8:30 a.m. We made it to Pensacola a little before 2:00 this afternoon and went straight to Joe Patti Seafood www.joepattis.com. There's so much selection, it's almost overwhelming but if you're in the area, you have to stop by. We picked up some fresh seafood and headed on to Navarre and set-up for the week. The kids headed immediately for the pool to get a jumpstart on the week. We gathered for a low country boil tonight and had some oysters. As soon as we cleaned up from the meal, a massive thunderstorm moved in and it looks like the remainder of the night will be relaxing in the RV. We'd love to be outside, but nobody seems to be complaining about a little rest from the road.

The Suite Life of Brad & Garrett

We didn't exactly experience the "Suite Life" but we did stay in a hotel last night. I had some business to take care of on Little Rock early on Monday morning so I decided to head down on Sunday evening and get a room so I'd have a jump on Monday. I knew I'd have a little time on Sunday evening to try and take some photos around LR and decided to see if Garrett wanted to go along for the ride.

The suite life experience is something the Thresher family has taken for granted. Over the last several years, we travel almost exclusively in our RV which means our kids haven't spent a lot of time in hotels. GT was excited which caught me a little by surprise. We were planning on staying in a really "inexpensive" hotel since we were only there for a short period, but when we arrived we felt like we may have needed body guards to get to our room. We decided to run over to NLR and grab a little safer room on the river. They were having a police convention, so we definitely felt we would be able to rest a little easier.

When we arrived in the room, GT began exploring every nook of the place and was amazed at what he found. He said, "Dad, someone left a Bible in this drawer!" It really cracked me up. He then located all the soaps and shampoos and wanted to know if we could keep them, to which I explained he probably could but definitely needed to leave the towels. The biggest discovery of the night came when GT opened a cabinet door and discovered the "fully-stocked" mini-fridge. It was complete nirvana. He was completely deflated when he realized Dad wasn't going to pay $4.95 for a package of M&M's.

We grabbed a pizza and then ran around LR snapping some shots of the Capital, Heifer International, and the Clinton Library. We ended the evening in the room watching the Razorbacks come up short in the Super Regional in Tempe. The girls stayed home and did a little shopping and went to see Marmaduke, which they said reminded them of Cassius.

GT Standing on front lawn of the State Capitol.

Before we left Monday morning we met Bonk for a little breakfast at IHOP where GT downed a short stack of pancakes. We enjoyed the visit even though Bonk and GT had a little miscommunication on time and we met a little earlier than anticipated.

Before heading back to NWA, we had a chance to go through and tour the Capitol building and I think GT really enjoyed seeing the House and Senate Chambers as well as the Governor's office and the State Supreme Court room. It was a great little trip and I had a blast watching his enthusiasm, however, the best part for GT may have been when he found out you could leave a hotel room without making your bed. I guess it's the little things in life . . .

The State Capitol with the sun setting in the background.

The beautiful Heifer International Building near the River Market in Little Rock.

Another Heifer International pic at dusk.

The Clinton Presidential Library and fountains in Little Rock.

Clinton Presidential Library at dusk in Little Rock.