GULF SHORES, ALABAMA

What with rushing back into life as soon as I got home, I never had the opportunity to tell about the Mom’s Day Out I had at the end of February:  I spent a week at the oceanside with my parents.

I had my own bedroom.  My own bathroom.  My own television (with cable).

How.
About.
That.

For the past several years, my parents have spent some winter time in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Up until recently, Gulf Shores has been a mix of wild natural places and small condos.  They stayed at a place called The Lighthouse, a condo that was a small family in and of itself, where everyone went down for coffee in the morning, doors were unlocked, and every person knew every other.

But new owners tore it down and replaced it with something that no one can afford, and its former snowbirds are scattered in other places now (although they still have monthly get-togethers).

The new Lighthouse (photo from vrwd.com)

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan came to change the look of things.

The exciting thing about that event is that now everything is new:  the sidewalks, the roads, the buildings-everything!

The not-so-thrilling side of it is that everything is bigger and more commercial.

Here I am in front of the last remaining building crane: