Sweet Home Alabama

We had the opportunity to spend last week in Gulf Shores, Alabama for the Moody/Harber/Hoopes family vacation. I admit that I was a little sceptical about the spot but it was a blast.

Dr. Hoopes and I flew into Biloxi, Mississippi on Monday night and then drove about 2 hours to Gulf Shores. We were greeted with a major storm when we landed; I was praying that Katrina wasn't making a coming back. OK maybe I overreacted but we get about an inch of rain in Vegas per year and it was really coming down. We made it safe and met the rest of the crew that had been there since Saturday.

Being in the gulf of Mexico the water was super warm and clear. There were days when there would be little 2-3 foot rollers and then the next day the ocean would look like a lake. The only thing that didn't allow me to totally relax in the water were the jellyfish. Even though the burning sensation passes pretty quick these little suckers hurt. Lucky for us there weren't any stings bad enough that first aid had to be applied on the beach. I question whether or not urinating on the sting will really take away the burn. Sounds to me like a joke that someone played during spring break in Mexico and it just stuck. It would have to hurt pretty bad for me to resort to letting someone pee on me.

Besides hitting the beach we played put-put golf, ate some great seafood, and played at least a hundred hours on the Wii. The other highlight was the local water park. It reminded me of the days at Wet N Wild (with a little redneck flair). I wish I had taken a picture of the rules for the water park; one of them stated that you couldn't wear cutoff jeans on the rides. It was funny to me that enough people were doing it that they had to post it as a rule.

It ended up being a great trip; thanks to the Moodys for setting it up. The Harbers will be looking forward to next year.