BABY SNOWBIRDS...

For a few years now I have been wanting to get out of town in January.  It's such a bleak month and my husband has said multiple times that he could really work from anywhere with Wifi.  So I held him to that and several months ago found a condo on the beach in Alabama to stay in for two weeks.

  

Orange Beach, Alabama is the home of beaches, condos, seafood, brunch, bread pudding, backcountry trails, and lots of friendly people. We had been to Fairhope for a Spring Break trip a few years ago, but never as far as Orange Beach.  We knew it was drivable – about 13 hours – and we could take whatever we wanted, so we did!  We took our bikes and some books and projects, along with our swimsuits, with high hopes! 

We learned that there really are such things as “snowbirds!”  Almost everywhere we went we were the youngest couple around!  In the information we got at the welcome center, we saw there are snowbird groups from specified states that meet and do activities together.  We were BABY SNOWBIRDS just testing this thing out.  

What did I do for two weeks?  I read, walked on the beach, meditated, biked, tried new recipes, replaced the zipper in my robe, completed a craft project, binge-watched a Netflix series with The Hubs, learned new makeup techniques on YouTube... Some of it may sound silly but these are things I rarely have time for when I'm at home.  The beach was cold, but wonderful!  I walked on it barefooted every day except one, when it dipped to 20 degrees – quite cold for them! Twenty degrees is cold, but back home it was only 6, so we still felt fortunate.  Most days the temperature was in the 50-60's.  There were trails nearby for walkers and bikers that were the best maintained ones I’d ever seen.  We biked several different ones, mostly with the end result being the local Starbucks.   

Living in our tiny condo (392 sq. ft.) was fun for a short amount of time and I cooked most of our meals.  It was really the first time we had ever gotten away without some kind of tourist plan with sights to see and history to learn.  I think most of our married life we spent our vacations with our children in mind, educating them and showing them the wonders of the world.  So to go somewhere WITHOUT AN AGENDA was really different and relaxing! 

THIS was a TRUE VACATION...