A Relaxing Week

June 25, 2007. Moody, Alabama --- I had a very relaxing week. An elderly couple friend of mine gave me an advanced birthday gift --- a 5-day stay at their beachfront condominium unit in Orange Beach. But in spite on the abundance of the sun and the fun, something was missing in my life--- no Internet! I brought with me my laptop with a roaming capability. But when I got there, there was no WiFi  in the vicinity and I wondered how come all those people who were there were only interested in swimming and water surfing and sunbathing.

 I did not know that Alabama has beautiful beaches down there along the Gulf of Mexico. I initially thought that Alabama is a landlock state. But a simple peruse of the map would show that it has a very short strip of shoreline squeezed between Florida and Mississippi. And that short strip happens to be a very beautiful shoreline. I had to see it to believe it. And the sand, oh my! It was as white as the sands in Boracay.

 It was also my first time to dip in the blue-green waters of the Atlantic. The first time that I stepped on the shores of the  Gulf of Mexico was way back in 1992 when we had a 5-week tour in South Texas, courtesy of Rotary International. The high point of that tour was our one-week R & R at the resort island of South Padre. The first thing that I noticed then was that the color of the water in Atlantic was greenish while Pacific Ocean is pure blue. Maybe it has something to do with the kind of algae and other microorganisms that thrive in each ocean.

 Six years ago this week, I was at the opposite end of the US mainland. Together with Shinar, Manang Vi, Shinar’s sister Pilar and Shinar’s nephew Svend, we drove for about 12 hours from Shinar’s place in Missouri before we reached the northernmost tip of Michigan where you can see four of the five great lakes stretched out in different directions. Canada was just a bridge apart. I wrote about that experience and  posted it in My Notes titled “At The GreatLakes On The First Day of Summer 20001. ”

 Time passed by so swiftly. All I did was riding the waves if not backstroking in the swimming pool and it was time to go home. I did not even find time to use my fishing gear. Seashells were very abundant and we have gathered quiet a large collection. By Thursday, we left the place for another 5 hour drive back to our home in Birmingham.