Last weekend we got away to the coast and I got started on my spring cleaning.
This basket of towels lives by the doors that lead out to the porch, pool and beach.
It’s a perfect spot for the towels but I finally noticed that the basket looked a little tired…
Do you have something in your house that needs replacing or fixing but you just walk by daily and not even notice?
Time for a change!
Look what I found at Home Goods a few weeks ago!
Great price too, baskets can be so expensive and I thought $60 was a steal for this big beauty. I was just cruising around and there is was…all alone…I couldn’t believe my luck, it was so PERFECT! I glanced all around feeling like a thief in the night… before I grabbed it and plopped it in my cart…I couldn’t believe this was going home with ME! Just in time too, on my way to the check out people were ohhhhing and ahhhing, clearly wishing they had spied it first! Lucky me!
What do you know, that whole pile of bulky beach towels has a nice new tidy home! Whew! I was exhausted after all that Spring cleaning so HH said, “Let’s go for a boat ride”…
Why don’t you come along?
The waterway in front of our house is called”Ole River.” Don’t ask me why, because I have no idea…it’s not even technically a river, it’s just always been called that…
Residences line one side of Ole River, in all colors, shapes, and sizes.
The houses are on a private, gated island, called Ono Island. There are lots of theories about where Ono got its name. The most popular version is that because the island is half in Alabama and half in Florida that both states were fighting over the property rights…It’s in Florida, Oh no, it’s in Alabama…silly, I know…but that’s the local legend! Alabama eventually won the battle so the whole island is considered in Alabama, and everyone has an Alabama address, even though the island straddles the state line.
The entrance to the Gulf of Mexico is just ahead on the left,
past the tall condos. The birds love to guide the boats…
Boat traffic is light today, but by the end of May there will be boats everywhere
It’s still a little chilly on the water so instead of going out into the Gulf we turned around and decided to just cruise down Ole River. The bridge up ahead is the bridge from the main beach road onto Ono island.
The main beach road which is actually on another island, or thin strip of land called a “key.” This key is also partially in both states and connects to Orange Beach Alabama and Pensacola Florida by a bridge at each end. Perdido Key is considered a barrier island, only 1/4 of a mile wide in most spots. It is the only thing separating us from the Gulf of Mexico. Perdido means “lost” in Spanish and the area was a haven for Spanish pirates hundreds of years ago.
On the Perdido Key side of Ole River there are lots of condos, houses, boat docks and small businesses.
Pelicans abound here.
Sailboats and jet skis and
private marinas. It is truly a boaters paradise
all live happily together in this maze of piers.
This is the water view of state line between Alabama and Florida. The line is marked with a world famous bar, the Flora Bama which is the low building in the center of the photo. The Flora Bama is located on the beach side of the key and you can walk out to the beach from the rear of the bar.
Lots of boaters dock their boats and walk across the road to the Flora Bama which is in the center of the photo just beyond the blue flag. The last weekend of April is their annual “Mullet Toss” where people flock from miles around to actually TOSS A DEAD FISH to see who can throw it the farthest. Really! You can’t make this stuff up!
Oh look there are some dolphin! Look closely into the center of the photo and you will see their gray backs and fins.
We see dolphin daily from our porch. After the BP oil spill in the summer of 2010 all the wild life disappeared. The waterways were blocked off and we spent the summer sitting on the porch watching the clean up going on in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a terrible scary time. But by the next summer, the wild life was back and the day we saw the first dolphin again, we knew that nature was bouncing back.
Time to go home and have some lunch
I hope you enjoyed your boat ride and mini tour…
Summer is just beginning, and there’s lots more to see in the next few months! Be sure to stop back by for some interior tours and beach time recipes!
Praying for Boston…
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I’m joining some of these great parties this week:
the Tablescaper for SEASONAL SUNDAY and OH, THE PLACES I’VE BEEN!
Between Naps on the Porch for METAMORPHIS MONDAY & TABLESCAPE THURSDAY
Stone Gable for ON THE MENU MONDAY and TUTORIALS, TIPS & TIDBITS THURSDAY
A Stroll Thru Life for INSPIRE ME TUESDAY
The Gunny Sack for TIME TO SPARKLE
Memories by the Mile for TUESDAY TRIVIA
Savvy Southern Style for WOW US WEDNESDAY
Cuisine Kathleen for LET’S DISH
Rattlebridge Farms for FOODIE FRIDAY
Alderberry Hill for MAKE THE SCENE MONDAY
The Dedicated House for MAKE IT PRETTY MONDAY and ANYTHING BLUE FRIDAY
No Minimalist Here for OPEN HOUSE THURSDAY
the Answer is Chocolate for BFF OPEN HOUSE
The Busy Bee’s for THURSDAY BLOG HOP
Crafts ala mode for WHAT TO DO WEEKENDS
check out these amazing blogs!