Day of Birth

On the anniversary of the day of my birth, aka my birthday, Craig took me after a long day of work to buy me a new camera. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful black Nikon d5000. I have fallen in love with its manual zoom and focus, and quick shutter speed. I think the boyfriend has gotten a little jealous that my eyes are always behind the lens, but he understands.

For the weekend, he thoroughly spoiled me.

We took the causeway over the Mobile Bay and to the Easter Shore. The cities of Fairhope, Daphne, Point Clear and Gulf Shores make up this gorgeous, tree-filled area. The houses are well-maintained, and the residents take a lot of pride in their property. It's like going back in time when we travel through the area (we go antiquing in Fairhope on some weekends).

Craig booked a private boat tour of the Bay for the two of us. The captain was a lady named Cindy, a native of Mobile and avid boater. Very educated on the area, she informed us all kinds of insider information, including what kinds of fish are best caught and where.

I could totally get used to this

We cruised down the Fish River, where the wide width of the water allowed for boaters to tug skiers or tubers.We journeyed into an area called Magnolia Springs, where oak trees dripped Spanish moss into emerald waters. The boathouses, rather than the actual houses, had mailboxes! A lucky mailman, don't you think?

The terrible news is that at this point, my brand new Nikon malfunctioned. The display screen turned white and all my pictures viewed as white screens. I tried not to be distraught but I was highly upset. I had to remind myself that pictures are not everything, and to enjoy the moment that Craig had planned so carefully.  I said a little prayer and after a few minutes on the boat, I was much better. Plus, we had brought the old Nikon just incase.

(since then I have had the camera replaced, and even got $55 out of it! Apparently it went on sale the day after Craig bought it.)

We docked at a riverside restaurant called Big Daddy's where we ate fried crawfish tails and Gulf crab claws. Yummy. Actually, it wasn't that great - there was little seasoning and the crawfish was bland. But the atmosphere was great!

We finally finished our trip after about 5 hours. Craig took me our last and final stop for the night - The Grand Hotel.

Talk about luxury.

The Grand, as the locals call it, is a Marriott resort. Brick columns and dark green wood make up the exterior of the buildings, which wrap around a lagoon on one side and back up to the bay on the other. Our room overlooked a small marina where sailboats were docked. The breeze blew and the waves lapped against the boats while the ropes on the masts clinked in turns. It sounded so wonderful we slept with the french doors open.

We enjoyed dinner at the Captain's Dining Room, a small, private restaurant with a piano player and delicious food. I had a banana-crusted Hawaiian bass over veggie spring rolls, and table-side bananas foster (which wasnt as good as it was in New Orleans - the waiter didnt cook all of the alcohol out). Craig enjoyed the Dover sole. Yummy.

After dinner we took a walk down to the docks and sat on a wooden swing to relax.



This reminded me so much of one of my favorite books, The Great Gatsby; that symbolic

red light on the other side of the bay

The next day we drank mint juleps and pedicures! It was Craig's first pedi and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew he would. What I didn't know was that he liked canary yellow nail polish.

But, he resisted.

It was a wonderful trip and birthday present, and I'm very thankful to be with someone that cares so much to plan it out just to my liking :)

Plus, now he wants a boat, which I am happy to have helped pursuade him with that decision.