Fort Gaines

One morning we decided to go visit historic Fort Gaines on the island.

 It was really hot and muggy as you can see.

We found out that the blacksmith wasn't around that day but would be in the following day.  We really enjoy him so we decided to wait until the following day.  Before heading back, we went to see the bay by the parking lot.



The ferry you can take to the mainland.

The following day the humidity was not as high and it was not as hot.

A good day to tour the fort.

Here is an areal view.

Established in 1821, Fort Gaines is one of the key sites in the famous Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War where Admiral Farragut shouted his now-famous order, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” The fort has original cannons, a blacksmith shop, kitchens, a museum, gift shop, and tunnels. 

 Piece of ship from civil war days.

Track to help cannons pivot.

  Toilets for the soldiers.

The tide washes the waste out to the bay.

It was a little scary going down into the dark tunnels!

Took a little convincing for some of the little ones.

As we were walking around the fort, I could hear a mockingbird.

And as I swung the camera toward him, he took notice.

 

When we came last time, it was off season.  Hardly anyone there.  We had brought Hannah, and this guy

made Hannah and myself keepsakes to take home with us.  This day, there were too many people watching for him to do that.

 We ran into a family from Springdale (they were wearing Arkansas t-shirts so we struck up a conversation). They knew some friends of Josh and Staci's who goes to their church.  Wherever you go, it is a small world.

We let each of the children pick out souvenirs at the end of the adventure at the fort.

Rain, rain, go away

Back to our Dauphin Island vacation.....the predicted weather showed rain EVERY day!  Luckily, the rains came mostly during the night.   It never was a totally washed out day.  We had a morning or two that it rained just a little and play was contained in the house.

Incidently, these are words that Claire uses.

Lots of screen time.

 

Then Mindy took the kids out on the deck and they played red light, green light.

 Sun come out!  We want to swim!

The rodeo

We got to the rodeo and Aunt Gayle had tickets for us!

Thank you, Gayle!

The sky continued to clear and the sunset was very bright!!

 

 Our niece, Bailey, and a friend of hers sang the national anthem.  It was beautiful!!  Well done!

After watching a lot of bucking broncos, the girls were ready for a little break.

They wanted some funnel cake and to see about riding ponies.

 Al's brother, Sid was grilling up hamburgers.
                         "Hey, Gayle!" - not sure what Gayle was doing, but we surprised her!

The pony rides were not operating any more.  Next year we will need to come earlier to the rodeo.  But we did find rock climbing to do!

Go girls!

We went back to watch the rodeo and to share our funnel cake with Papa.

There was sheep riding for the little children.  Most of them fell off right at the gates.

 I think we all agreed that the wild bulls were our favorite, especially when they chased the clowns!

It was 11:30 pm when we finally got home and went to bed!  What a fun date with our granddaughters!