The Gulf State Park DISMeet 2017 Thread (aka "The Sequel")

[FtW Mike]

Some random musings on yesterday's updates
Bert and Kris congrats to both of you on your finishing the race Good thing some of the more rowdy members of the group didn't see Kris take off on the bike or I am sure some would have chimed in " I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!"
That Mudbug boil makes me hungry every time i look at the pics
Jim congrats on arriving safe now comes the hard part staying that way
Randy after Thur. night following Michael's lead ??????????? Oh and BTW that Tee Shirt is GREAT I love it
Michael those are not Potato bombs but MICKEYS You can't over cook them the longer you give them the better. That breakfast looks fantastic as well. How much did the Alibi's cost you?

 

[Flametamr]

Bert, you are welcome to come paddle around some in my kayak. It will be sitting behind my camper if we're gone and the launch is right behind the trees. That or drag it 100 feet to the boat dock.

 

[bama_ed]

Glo and Arnold,

I am glad to hear you are booked for Gulf next year. #3 is right behind me and gets the lake breeze that blows throu my site. There is a family on it now with 2 tents and an EZ Up but when they leave i will get some pix for you.

Brisket, huh? That will defintely help your chances with the Membership Committee. Tell you what, i will put in a good word for you and hopefully the Executive Council will approve your membership application at tonight's meeting. HINT: more sea creatures on the menu for dinner.

The holiday parade out of town has started. Checkout times at most condos is 11am (camground 2pm) so traffic is headed north (The Trail of Tears).

Rained last night and cleared about 830. Sunny and hot now. I am going to bike to the beach and fly my kite. UV index is a 10 so i might not last long.

Bama Ed

 

[PaHunter]

Glo and Arnold,

I am glad to hear you are booked for Gulf next year. #3 is right behind me and gets the lake breeze that blows throu my site. There is a family on it now with 2 tents and an EZ Up but when they leave i will get some pix for you.

Brisket, huh? That will defintely help your chances with the Membership Committee. Tell you what, i will put in a good word for you and hopefully the Executive Committee will approve your membership application at tonight's meeting. HINT: more sea creatures on the menu for dinner.

The holiday parade out of town has started. Checkout times at most condos is 11am (camground 2pm) so traffic is headed north (The Trail of Tears).

Rained last night and cleared about 830. Sunny and hot now. I am going to bike to the beach and fly my kite. UV index is a 10 so i might not last long.

Bama Ed

If you happen to wander down far enough to get a picture of site 24 we would really appreciate it. Been following along and well sounds like a great time was going on there. Glad we booked for next year and can't wait to meet all fellow Diser's. We got some rain up here in PA overnight, pop up showers possible today, but I am off to work and nephews are headed home after a busy and fun weekend.

 

[tiggerdad]

Okay, so this morning I cooked breakfast and bid farewell to my friend and his family who were visiting. They were thankful to everyone for the hospitality and food.

I rode over to a physician's house. She used to work with me but now lives in Orange Beach. Her house is located on one of the bays along the Intercoastal.


Across from them is Barbers Marina which was actually part of last night's conversation around the table.


One of the interesting decorations in the marina


After our visit we were looking for lunch and have settled at Bubba's Seafood.

I'll update on the food later.

Oh, and today I think I discovered the most ignorant thing in traffic management I think I've ever seen. In Orange Beach there is access to the Baldwin Beach Express on hwy 161. If you are going Eastin Orange Beach you normally (like any other intersection) take a left to access it. Nope. These idiots now forbid you to take a left turn and instead make you go down to the next light and then make you make a U-turn and come back up a block then turn right.

If you are pulling a camper this is a disaster. Absolutely stupid. No wonder the idiots in Orange Beach have a traffic problem. These fools wanted to use access through GSP to solve their traffic problem.

I bring this up in case anyone pulling a camper out of GSP decides to go through Orang Beach to get back to the Baldwin Beach Express. I highly encourage you to reconsider as that U-turn is a mess.

 

[friendofeeyore]

did U big 2? nice rig, not too nice price tag. Good luck shopping

 

[bama_ed]

tiggerdad, that traffic plan is their answer to their traffic problems. I'll look back and see if I can find the plan or article on it.

PaHunter, I will mosey down there and snap pix after this update. That's down in Randy and Nic's neighborhood this year.

So this morning after the rain stopped and the sun came out, I worked on my puzzle some. It's coming along.



I realized this morning that I have come to the beach for a vacation and hadn't seen the beach yet - so it was time. As I said, I took my kite along. There is a bicycle stand across the Beach Highway from the Campground Road so with the new trails it's really easy to pedal down to the beach. Or walk.



Nice conditions today. Yellow flag? I'd swim in that.



Helmet tap to our poster jets70/steve - here is the panoramic view of the beach.



Looking east towards the state park pavilion and the condos of Orange Beach beyond.



Looking west towards the state park fishing pier.



3-2-1-Liftoff!



Waves weren't too big and the surf was warm.



Based on what I saw at the beach today, I have only two words to share with the people there: aloe vera.



Bama Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

At Bubba's I got the hamburger steak. It's the beach I know, but it has brown gravy!




Food was "okay" for a lunch.

Just sat a spell with Ed here in the screen room and fixing to head over to his site for some puzzle action.

Y'all come.

 

[bama_ed]

Today was a good day.

This afternoon I set up the puzzle up at the front of my campsite up by the road and began working on it again. Two reasons for this position: one is that's where the shade is in the afternoon and two is that it encourages folks walking by to speak when I say hello to them.

Anyway, tiggerdad dropped by to work on it and he threw his namesake's part of the puzzle, Tigger, in no time flat. Then mrs. tiggerdad came by and helped with the Eeyore section, then Michael's oldest DD filled in the flowers in the left lower corner, Kris (garneska) walked by with Mallory and placed many pieces, and then Jim (Teamubr) walked over. We had SIX of us working around the table. I stepped out to take a quick photo:



We got a lot done today.



For Chris/PaHunter, 24 was empty this afternoon so I did take several pictures of it for you.

Here it is straight on from across the street.



A closer up.



The utility/driver's side.



Looking out the front.



A view along the back so you know how much you can overhang the pavement.



Plenty of room for those driver's side slideouts.



If you need to, your truck can go over on the dirt/grass. They aren't as fussy about staying on the pavement as the Fort is.



About 530pm the cooking started in earnest for dinner.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

For dinner we had real fresh shrimp from Bayou la Batre (no, Tom Hanks/Forrest Gump did not catch them). But as his best friend Bubba said, they's lots of way to cook shrimp but we only did it two ways - grilled and fried.

For the grilled, they were seasoned, skewered, and wrapped in bacon. Tiggerdad fired up his grill and they were laid in when it was hot. Our cook was Nic again. I'd eat stones if they were wrapped in bacon and grilled.



More seasoned shrimp was rolled in spicy mix and deep fried outside the trailer.



Here are more shrimp patiently waiting their turn in the fryer.



Of course what's a seafood dinner without some hush puppies also deep fried?



We also had hot fresh french fries. Here some fried shrimp ready to put on your plate.



Teamubr brought some St Louis treats of toasted ravioli (is that right?) and pork steaks in bbq sauce.



So for Nic and his friend Patrick who prepared the shrimp, hush puppies, and fries, and for tiggerdad who again played the gracious host .

Nice conversation after dinner plus the weather stayed clear and the reflections off the lake of the condos across the way sure were pretty.



Finally, during the business portion of the evening, the Executive Council did approve grumpyaggie's and friendofeyeore's application for the DISmeet next year which gives them all the rights of full membership. They also approved a renewal of tiggerdad's probationary membership for another 12 months. (hey Randy told me to say that ).

Good night all!

Bama Ed

 

[PaHunter]

BamaEd,
Thank you for the pictures, they are great. Looks like I may need another sewer hose. For not only there but other places as well. Tough when they put the utilities up front and one has a very tiny trailer....
Other than that site looks very nice. Again, thank you very much for taking the time to do that, it is greatly appreciated.
Only concern I have will be that tree and my living room slide. But looks like if I stay to the other side I should be ok with our 42 ft beast.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

(hey Randy told me to say that ).

Thanks Ed,

 

[tiggerdad]

Probationary!?

Cool! I'm moving up! Must of been approved because of my wife's banana pudding or the addition of the mosquito netting. Either way, I'll do my best with it.

For all involved, the ladies up at the check-in office were very thankful for the food tonight. I told them it came from all of us.

If anyone left this evening hungry it was their own fault.

I was glad that we were able to pass legislation allowing in next year's Disers at the GSP branch. I'm interested in seeing what kinds of food they bring from their "neck of the woods".

Gotta get some sleep. Got puzzle duty in the morning and then taking the family to the beach.

Night y'all

 

[tiggerdad]

Hey, everybody remember that 10x10 awning with mosquito netting Tiggerdad had?

Well, that leading gust of wind in front of that storm just wrapped it around, under, and over his truck! It was great. The fortunate thing was it hit my truck and not the fellas car directly across the road.

Nobody hurt though, that's the main thing. Had to take the canopy apart in about 4 separate sections to get it off the truck. I'm heading back to the shower and then to bed.

Night y'all

 

[FtW Mike]

Michael sorry to hear about your screened tent That has to hurt

 

[Flametamr]

Oh not the screen tent. Sorry that happened. No more bug free story sessions in the evenings. I guess my camper and the trees blocked the wind on my site. My awning was still anchored to the pic mic table just fine this morning. I was up late enough that I heard it rolling in and secured everything before it hit.

 

[tiggerdad]

After puzzle duty this morning I "rebuilt" the campsite and laid the awning to rest. I used You Tube to play Taps in the background.

It's cloudy today but the destination was the beach.

 

[JETS70]

Hey Tiggerdad. ...hate to hear about your awning. I guess GSP is a lot like Disney with those pop up storms. Hope your truck didn't sustain to much damage. Looks like everyone is having a great time and definitely eating well.

 

[tiggerdad]

Truck only had minor scratches, should be able to buff those out.

Had it been a Chevy it probably would of been totalled.

The locals are always hopeful for a snack

 

[bama_ed]

The funny thing was, that awning made a beeline for that Ford truck. Which saved the people on the downwind side.

The Aliner did shake, though, like it never had from the wind that struck suddenly and with force right around midnight.

The tent campers behind me in site 3 had their EZ Up destroyed too. It had been staked and tied down but the vehicle was unscathed.



There was an extended puzzle session this morning. Me, Teamubr, tiggerdad, and Teamubr's family all showed up at some point to help with the puzzle. We worked past 10am on it before we broke off for the day. It's nearly done - good thing I brought some backup puzzles.



Before lunch today I headed out for a haircut at a local barber shop. They charge a whole $9 for a cut which was just fine so I tipped well. The bonus was I caught up on a lot of local/Gulf Shores type gossip.

Lots of folks cleared out yesterday so it's not empty but it's not full either today.

Bama Ed