Alabama/Florida June 2012

We have two long-weekend trips planned this Summer -- one in June and one in July.  We just enjoyed our June mini-vacation, and have some great pictures as proof.

Our dear friends, The Nelsons, spent a week in Destin the end of June, and invited us to come and visit them for part of it.  Becky's parents and siblings were there as well, and Sam was hesitant to crash the family vacation.  But I convinced him that it was totally worth it -- we were determined to see our friends regardless.  Sam planned the route, that of course included site-seeing on the both the way down and way home.  And we were all set.

We left Thursday morning early, and our first stop was Montgomery, Alabama.  Our first stop was the home of Jefferson Davis during the Civil War.  Sam the kids checked out the inside while I nursed Cal in the front yard.

Then we headed to the capitol building for our Alabama State Capitol picture.

Then it was off on the road to Selma.  Selma is about 54 miles away from Montgomery, and the highway between the two cities is the road where the march for voting rights for Blacks took place in 1964.  Halfway to Selma there was a great interpretive center in honor of the march.  It was very nice, and the film that was shown was very modern.  We all enjoyed the center.

Then we headed to Destin.  We checked into our hotel in Fort Walton Beach, and then continued on to the Miramar Beach area where the Nelsons were staying.  It was so fun to be reunited with them, and they fed us a delicious dinner Thursday night.

Friday we spent the day together at their house they rented and the beach right outside.  It was a beautiful day, and the beach there is so beautiful.  The water was so blue, and the sand was so white.  My kids had never been in salt water, so it took them a little while to get used to it.  But they had a wonderful day playing in the water and sand with their friends.

We hung out that evening till the bitter end and had one more dinner together before we went our separate ways.  It was wonderful being with the Nelsons again -- we sure love their family and miss them.  It was a reminder of how much we miss our Colorado friends.

Saturday morning we woke up and drove along the gulf coast of Florida, and ended up on St. George Island.  Sam had read somewhere that it is one of the top ten beaches in the country, and we had a very fun afternoon there.  We got lunch in a little restaurant on the island, and then headed out to the beach.  It was a windy day and I don't think this water was as pretty, but the kids found so many sea shells and loved boogie boarding, so they had a very fun afternoon.

We spent Saturday night in Tallahassee.  We woke up Sunday morning and did a little site-seeing before we went to a Sacrament meeting.  We went to the Florida State Capitol.  It is another strange, tall one, like North Dakota.

 Sam loves these trees -- they are very Southern but we aren't sure what they are called.  He just wanted a pic in front of one!

 There's the capitol -- so strange.  Leave it to Florida to be different.  

Then we did a little drive-by of the Florida State campus and got a picture of the kids and a Seminole.

After Sacrament Meeting with the Tallahassee 1st Ward, we drove home, via Andersonville.  Andersonville is the site of one of the largest (or maybe largest) POW camp during the Civil War.  It housed 20,000 Union soldiers, and about 13,000 died because of how atrocious the living conditions were.  We stopped in the visitors center and picked up an audio CD to listen to while we did a car tour. It was very informative, instructing us to stop our car and get out at important spots.  This was a record-breakingly hot day, though, so our stops were as quick as could be and then the kids ran back to the car to cool off.

 Then we made it home that evening.  Such a fun trip.  We loved the beach, and can't wait to go back.  People have told us that one of the great things about living in the South is the proximity to the beach.  I have to say we do see that as a good thing!