Tourists in Mobile

We arrived at Turner Marine (Mobile, AL) on the Gulf, Saturday, November 15th and are enjoying seeing the local area.  Turner Marine is a great place to stay with reasonable rates and good services.

The marina is on the Dog River; the bridge that crosses over Dog River to Dauphin Island.

Grant and Cindy from As the Crow Flies, John and Karen from Last Mango, Pierre and Jennifer from Wild Raven and King and I enjoyed being tourists.  We spent a cold morning visiting the Battleship USS Alabama Memorial Park.  The USS Alabama measures 680 feet, steel side armor a foot thick, and armed with nine, 16-inch guns and 20, 5-inch guns, and could fire shells as heavy as a small car accurately for a distance of more than 20 miles.  The USS Alabama saw 37 months of active duty during WWII.  

The USS Drum is a WWII submarine, also at the Memorial Park.  The Drum is credited with sinking 15 ships and the Drum was donated to the Memorial Park in 1969.  The Drum is the oldest American sub on display in the world.  

There were also ships and planes displaying conflicts since WWII.  A Christmas Sock Tree made by U.S. POW's held by the Viet Cong. 

After the tour we visited the historic, narrow winding streets of downtown Mobile, which reminded us of New Orleans.  We had a southern lunch of chicken and dumplings, collards and black eyed peas. 

We visited the Peanut Shop where peanuts were being roasted.  Wish we could share the smell. Yum! 

On Wednesday night, we had Mexican food in the town of Bayou de Batre complete with local karaoke.

Enjoying a dance at the restaurant.

Friday we drove about an hour east to Pensacola, to the National Naval Aviation Museum - the largest naval aviation museum in the world.  We saw over 150 completely restored aircraft representing Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corp aviation.  

Cubi Club

The cafe's decor duplicates the bar area of the Cubi Point Officers' Club which was a major source of enjoyment for Navy and Marine Corps squadrons as they passed into the Western Pacific during WWII until 1992.  When the original officers' club was closed in 1992 the thousands of plaques that were on the walls of the club were shipped to the museum.  The food here was great, too.

One of my favorite exhibits is a recreation of the home front during WWII.  The town begins with the entrance to Pensacola's Isis Theater and leads to a settled street where a soldier is home on leave. The street recreates a wartime household and general store, restaurant and hotel.

We saw biplanes of WWI, Blue Angels and over 150 restored planes.  This is a wonderful museum with much to see and learn.  

On our way back to the boat we stopped at the seacoast town of Fairhope, AL.  The town was beautifully lit with white Christmas lights and carolers singing.

We stopped at a local restaurant, where Pierre & Jennifer had great hamburgers, King had steamed shrimp and oysters plus some wings and I had shrimp. The food was great.  We noticed a setup in the band area and were not disappointed.  A fun Friday evening.

Pierre enjoying his hamburger. 

We have had very cold weather while here and are glad that we are at a marina with access to electricity and our boat heater (like central heat in a house). We will stay here and have a Thanksgiving Potluck on Wednesday and then if the weather is favorable we plan to move the boat to Pensacola on Thursday.