Tree, Tree, Everywhere a Tree

October 6, 2012

Jason and I have been married now for two years! This is our second anniversary together and we were able to get away for a vacation again to celebrate! Over the past year we've had even more to adjust to! Although I've adjusted to my job finally, Jason began working as a Linux Administrator and has moved away from Windows. It's his dream job and so far he's loving it! Along with this transition, we also moved again... this time into our own home! We bought a house! Here it is, our first home:

Other than these two main events, we also got Fred declawed, started taking yoga classes together, joined Habitat for Humanity, had to say goodbye to my brother (he moved to LA), and we had a close friend of ours moved back to Ga! We've been busy but it's been wonderful :^) To celebrate this past year of our married life, we left on the 6th of October for our vacation together!

Today was the day we left for Gulf Shores. We were actually headed to New Orleans, but we couldn't leave right away. My coworker hooked us up with a friend of hers who gets really amazing discounts on hotels. She reserved the Marriott in New Orleans on Canal St for only 59 a night! However, she couldn't get it for the exact days we wanted, so we decided to just leave when we wanted to and go to the beach.

Before leaving, we wanted to say goodbye to our cats. Freddy wouldn't stop meowing at us and peanuts refused to let us go near him, as if we wouldn't leave if we couldn't catch him. Luckily, he's a fat cat so we were able to get him and say goodbye. Once in the car we picked out what type of  music to listen to. Jason made CDs of good 90s music the night before. Our collection consisted of Matchbox 20, Outkast, Tupac, the guys who created the song "closing time," and the blues travelers. We also, of course, had Beirut. As we entered into Alabama "the beautiful," we noticed zero towns. For a while there we only saw trees and began to get a little worried we would never reach civilization.

After a few hours we found a place and were able to eat at a Panera, which we love! In fact, our first meal on our Honeymoon was at a Panera. We had potato soup and Jason was wise enough to get the pumpkin bagel as well. We ate at a small table next to the glass wall which overlooked the parking lot. A small group of children in boy scout uniforms began forming right outside the window as we were eating. Jason looked out the window just as a small boy scout began to press his forehead into the window to see what was inside. To his surprise Jason was staring directly at him! With Jason sitting and boy standing, they were directly across from each other's faces! The boy took a second, realized what just happened, and quickly turned and walked a way. Not long after two other kids did the same exact thing. Then, an adult man pressed his face into the window, unfortunately his face was a good three feet higher than the boys... Jason was unable to freak him out. It was really funny to us... we're weird.

After 6ish hours of driving, we made it to gulf shores! I hadn't been to Gulf Shores since I was a really small kid with my family  I remember walking into a store shaped like a giant whale, stopping at a specific store in Orange Beach to get sand shovels, and eating at restaurants on the beach. This time around there was no giant Whale, though. My dad said the store had been changed to a giant squid... we didn't see it though. That one store where we bought our beach supplies was still there though! Looked exactly the same! Also, all the good restaurants I remember we gone. However, we did find a place that my dad recommended called Tacky Jacks. Here's a picture!

Jason and I had a time trying to get to this place... you have to go to Orange Beach to find it. Apparently you have to pay a $3.50 toll fee to get to Orange beach. Costs 7 bucks just to see the Ocean... things like that should be free. Oh well! We made it to dinner and had a really fun time! We had a waitress who I think was British, but we had a hard time telling. Jason got these amazing fish tacos and I got a baked potato and a salad. It was right on the Ocean and very windy! After dinner we drove to the actual Ocean and got to walk around. It was right at sunset and lovely!

 This picture has a fun memory attached to it. A lady in a leopard print dress saw us trying to take a picture together and wanted to help. She was actually watching us from the top of a deck and decided to walk down to see us. We randomly heard "hey! Hey!" We turned around and discovered she was talking to us. She asked if she could take our picture for us! Jason and I both immediately went into East Point mode and began worrying she would take our camera. Haha. She didn't... she just took our picture and wished us a good time :^) Sometimes people are just awesome!

Jason and I walked along the beach for three hours and collected some shells to take home. This was the first time we had ever been to the beach together. We both have gone separately with our families, but never had we gone with each other. It was wonderful! After walking on the beach we went back to the hotel and relaxed. So far, it was the perfect way to start off our anniversary!