Fielder's Choice
I got the most exercise yet since my October 20 surgery.
And best of all, it was walking on the beach in Perdido Key, Fla.
Last week, four members of the Burleson bunch made the annual vacation trip south for Thanksgiving. Pam and I left early Tuesday morning. Emma picked up Erin at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, and they joined us later that night.
Son Andy and daughter inlaw Brooke took a “rain check” as they celebrated their second wedding anniversary in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Walking on the beach, barefooted, is the best kind of walking. It’s so, so peaceful and relaxing. Plus, I get to search for shells along the way. I walked Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Pam and I have gotten pickier over the years about the shells we bring home. I think we spotted three of four special ones this time around.
That Saturday walk was just as the sun was setting. It has to be the most beautiful scene on the beach.
Pam and I also celebrated an anniversary — our 32nd. It’s on November 25, but we dined out for our anniversary a couple of nights earlier. We went to a new place, for us, Cobalt, The Restaurant. It’s in Orange Beach, just across the line from Perdido, and it was one of our best dining experiences ever. And, yes, we chose seafood.
We experienced another new restaurant, for the Burleson bunch, on Friday night. We drove a few miles toward Pensacola and ate at The Jellyfish Restaurant — upstairs in a small shopping plaza. This one did not disappoint either. Hopefully we can go back on a future trip to the beach.
Our other favorite diningout experience came at a place we’ve visited time and time again but not recently Doc’s Seafood. It is one of the mainstays in Orange Beach, “serving great seafood since 1984” and voted one of the Top 10 Seafood Shacks in America” according to Fox News.
We had about a 45-minute wait, but it was worth it. The oysters, shrimp and seafood gumbo were all wonderful.
We changed things up slightly for our Thanksgiving Day meal. We go with the traditional things, like turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, corn, rolls, etc. But since we’re on the beach, certainly we have to throw in some seafood. There’s not a lot of restaurants open on Thanksgiving Day, but thank goodness, for the second year in a row, we were able to pick up some shrimp and crab dip from the Crap Trap, just a mile or so from the condo where we were staying.
At times during the week, the leftovers were fine, too.
And of course, Pam always cooks our favorite things for breakfast each morning.
Needless to say, I needed to walk more than once a day on the beach with all that good eating.
The girls did some shopping. I enjoyed some extra time soaking up the sun, either on the beach or on the balcony. Plus, I watched a lot of football and basketball, always a highlight of Thanksgiving week for a sports lover.
The Alabama-Auburn game finished off our sports watching. It was ugly for the most part, but it ended the way we wanted — a four-overtime win for the Tide.