Orange Beach, Alabama 2018

Last year while we were visiting family in Baton Rouge, we decided to take a few days and head to a "real" beach on the Gulf Coast.  We had such a good time that we have decided to make it an annual tradition. 

This year we tried to get other family members to come along with us.  My dad was hoping to come but it didn't work out.  But Stuart's brother and his daughter came.  It was fun for the cousins to get to spend time together.  

We got rooms at the Hampton Inn and Suites right on the beach.  This is where we stayed last year.  The rooms are nice plus they have a great breakfast included with the room price.  And, did I mention that it is right on the beach?!  We bring umbrellas, ice chest, snorkeling gear, sand castle gear, etc so it is nice to be right there on the beach and not have to lug that stuff around more than necessary.

We arrived late in the day but we hadn't even gotten our stuff unpacked when the kids were begging to go down to the beach.  Look how beautiful the view from our room was.

The next morning we got up early to play on the beach.  The waters were no longer still.  Instead they were actually quite rough.

We played in the surf some but we spent most of our time just hanging out in the sand.

Nicholas played around with dripping wet sand on to itself.

Eventually it started to look like a sand stalagmite!

Stuart buried Nicholas in the sand.  Look at that big smile on Nicholas' face!  He loved it!

I love that I can always find THE BEST flip flops at the beach.  I bought a pair of Cobian flip flops when we were here last summer and they were my favorite shoe all year long until they eventually broke.  So, of course, I had to come back to get a replacement pair.

Even the waves hitting the shore were strong.  If you weren't paying attention, they could knock you over.

One great thing about the strong waves is that they brought in a lot of shells. Most of them were not very big but we collected quite a few neat ones to bring home.

Plus Rachel had fun "riding" the waves on her boogie board.

We played and played until we were just wiped out.

We headed back to the rooms for showers and to go searching for food.  I was ready to just sit on the balcony and read a book while listening to the waves and watching the seagulls but the kids were longing to go down to the beach again.

So we headed back down and spent the rest of the afternoon in the sand and surf.

Nicholas enjoys playing in the sand.  He buried Rachel in the sand and shaped the sand to make her look like a mermaid.

Pretty impressive!

Then he wanted to bury Mommy.  I wasn't excited about being buried in sand but then I reminded myself to savor the days.  He had so much fun and it was neat seeing him at work.

He used the tip of the shovel to make a neat pattern that could be used for scales or feathers.

In my case they became feathers as I transformed into an eagle!

There had been some rain earlier but it was short-lived and moved through quickly.  But the waves were still quite strong.  I kept getting knocked over when I went out in it.  But they were beautiful to watch and the sound of them crashing was so relaxing to listen to.

This is our second summer to come to Orange Beach and we just love it.  We love the location of this hotel, we love the quality of the beach, and we love that it isn't too far of a drive.  However, the only problem we have with this beach is..... 

….there are a lot of jellyfish in the water!  And they aren't far out where it is deep and most people don't go.  No, they are right at the shore where everyone is playing.

And look how long their tentacles are!  I think we might have to hunt down another beach to visit next summer, even if it means driving a little further.

Sometimes we saw dead jellyfish that has washed up on the beach.

We have each gotten little stings over the two trips we have made here.  Your skins burns some but fortunately we haven't had it bad enough to keep us out of the water.

This summer we found a new fun thing to do here.  Helicopter rides over the beach with Orange Beach Helicopter Tours!  Even though they gave rides all day and each ride was rather short, we still had to make reservations.  There was a constant stream of people coming in for rides.

The helicopter is only big enough for three riders.  Stuart and I took a helicopter tour in Hawaii so it wasn't as big of a deal for us but both kids were super excited to ride in a helicopter for the first time. 

I got a video of the take-off but somehow the video stops just as they leave the ground.



I love the video of them coming back in for the landing.  They come in so quickly yet gracefully.



We only stayed for two nights so it was a short trip but it was a lot of fun.  The brothers got to hang out and relax.

And the cousins got to spend time playing at the beach together.

Hopefully we can make another trip like this again next summer!

American International Rattlesnake Museum - Albuequerque, New Mexico

We left Pimentel and Sons and found our way to the Turquoise Museum.  I love turquoise so I was pretty excited about this stop.  Unfortunately when we got there we saw a sign on the door that said they were closed for a private event and wouldn't open until later in the afternoon.  We would already be on the road out of town by then so we missed getting to see it.

Next on our list was the American International Rattlesnake Museum.  This was mostly for Nicholas but we were all at least a little bit interested because this museum has the largest collection of live rattlesnakes in the world.

We arrived a little before the museum opened but we were entertained by two beautiful rescued African Spurred Tortoises in a stock tank outside.  This is the third largest tortoise species in the world.

The gift shop has a lot of great souvenirs.  Both of my children bought their own authentic rattlesnake fang to bring home with them.  They are small but very sharp looking.  I cringe at the thought of that piercing my skin.

Before I show you around the museum, did you know that all rattlesnackes are born live?  Vipers and boas also have live births.  They do not hatch from eggs like other snakes.  

Here is a Mottled Rock Rattlesnake.  It lives in the dry rocky lands of Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas so its mottled dull colors help it to camouflage with the rocks around it.

This guy below is a Royal Python or Ball Python.  He is called a Ball Python because if he gets scared, he will roll up into a ball shape and just roll away!  I would have liked to have seen him do this but I guess he is used to big human faces staring at him all day long.  Ball Pythons are non-venomous and they usually doesn't bite at all but they are constrictors.  These snakes live in Africa.  Their coloring is usually dark brown or black with tan markings.  

There are more than just rattlesnakes in the museum.  I was fascinated to see this platypus skeleton.  Did you know that a platypus is venomous?  Yes it is!  It has venom glands connected to spurs on his hind feet.  

Now this guy was one that Nicholas had hoped to find in the wild while we were hiking in the Sonoran Desert.  The Gila Monster!  It is the only venomous lizard in the United States.

Why would Nicholas want to encounter a Gila Monster in the desert?  Because he has seen Coyote Peterson find them there.  Check out Coyote's video below:


What I find really crazy though it that Nicholas has probably also seen the video below of the time that Coyote was bitten by a Gila Monster yet he still wanted to catch one on his own!


This next guy looks scary but he is harmless to humans.  He is a Vinegaroon or Whip Scorpion.  He is an arachnid but he doesn't have fangs like a spider or a stinger like a scorpion.  He doesn't contain any venom at all.  However, when he gets scared he will spray a vinegar-like substances to scare away the threat.

There are lots of unique historical snake items throughout the museum like the old sewing machine that looks like a snake and these antique bottles of snake oil and snake liniment.

Nicholas loves catching lizards and this display of 14 species of horned lizards was interesting to all of us.  

The last room in the museum has a seating area and a movie about snakes.  It also has the most snakes on display.  Nicholas was quite happy here.

I loved that the displays were made to include information that adults would appreciate as well as information that was easy for children to read on their own.

At the bottom of the display there was a card with the common name of the snake and a simple description of it.  It was down low so that small children would be able to read it.

Then above the display was more detailed information for adults and a map of where they could be found.

Ok, back to the snakes.  Snakes are not aggressive unless they feel threatened.  If you don't get too close to it, it will likely just slither away from you.  

This is the Costa Rican Rattlesnake.  He is found in South America and Mexico on the grasslands and savanna.  He is a pit viper which means he has a pit near each nostril that he uses to sense slight temperature changes which helps him locate his prey.  He has a neurotoxic venom.  He typically grows to about 3-6 feet.

Rachel and I spent some time looking at this next snake, the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.  

The Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is a pit viper.  

It has a dark diamond pattern on his back and a triangular head.  There are black bands at the end of his body just before the rattle.  I didn't notice until Rachel pointed it out but you are actually looking at two snakes here.  Can you see the head of the second snake?

Most people think that a snake that is shaking its rattler is being aggressive.  However, in reality, the rattler is a sign that the snake is afraid and he is just trying to scare away whatever he feels is threatening him.  They can move their rattle up to 60 times per second!

The American International Rattlesnake Museum is located at 202 San Felipe Street NW in Albuquerque, NM, phone 505-242-6569.  Adults are $6.00 and children age 3-12 are $4.00.

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• Route 66: Cadillac Ranch {Texas}

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• Pimentel and Sons Guitar Makers - Albuquerque, New Mexico