Sunday, April 29, 2007

Day by the Sea


Yesterday saw us at Gulf Shores, Alabama, for the first time in several years. We used to go there freqently, as it's only about 3 hours from our house. It's something I highly recommend. We had a wonderfully lazy day in the Sun.

I took along some reading material, and I read an article about the railroad from inland China to Lhasa, Tibet. The train is controversial for political reasons, but the engineering is brilliant. It was ironic, I suppose, to sit on a warm beach and read about a train that runs across permafrost at an altitude of up to 16,000 ft. Also ironic in the article itself--China's ongoing effort to settle more Han Chinese in Tibet has resulted in Tibetan Buddhism becoming cool in other parts of China. I also got to the midway point of Doris Kearns Goodwins' Lincoln biography, which I hope to finish in the coming week. I'll write up a review of this excellent book when I'm done with it.

Oh, yeah, the beach. With middle age has come the wisdom to recognize that I'm a very white guy. Heavens, I'm pasty. I've resorted to using my kids' Water Babies sunscreen. My skin turns only one color in the Sun, and it ain't tan. Also, I have a mess of freckles on my back and upper arms--more than I used to--which gets DW a little concerned about my Sun exposure.

There are a few things that mid-40s, overweight men really should know better than to do. Posing on the beach appears to be one of them. But then, I am a Poser, after all.

7 comments:

Ann said...

I had been thinking about doing this myself, yesterday, though my destination of choice was Perdido Key. Where do you go in Gulf Shores? We have been a couple of times to the Florida state park at Perdido key, and it's been awesome and very uncrowded both times.

Now I'm all jealous. Maybe next weekend I'll be able to get out of bed in a timely manner to hit the beach.

Randy said...

We went to the Gulf Shores Public Beach, at the end of Alabama Hwy. 59. It has a bathroom pavilion with rudimentary showers. We used to go to the Alabama state park, but its pavilion is long gone.

It would have been fun to hit the Florabama. It was the weekend of the Mullet Toss.

minijonb said...

i'm eagerly awaiting Memorial Day weekend... so i can go to Lake Michigan and get my "one day of the year on the beach" out of the way. i don't just burn in the sun... i'm on fire!

=:-)

looks like you had a great time out there. cheers.

Maddy said...

You go guy! Best therapy in the world [sea and sand that is to say]
Cheers

Sideon said...

It's raining here today, so I have to live vicariously through splendid pictures of another life in another state.

Call me prude/shy/insecure, but I wouldn't dare post a pic of myself in a swim suit right now. I need another 3 months at the gym.

h2oetry said...

I absolutely love Gulf Shores! My favorite restaurant, Lamberts Cafe is on the way, and so as missionaries we went there as often as we could...

Great pictures, and thanks for sparking the jealousy

Randy said...

You know, h2oetry, we've never been to Lambert's. We went to Orange Beach the last few times we were over there, bypassing Gulf Shores altogether. I'm sure you never went to the Florabama bar as a missionary. What a fabulous dive that place is! My wife and I went there once and had nothing stronger than diet cokes to drink. It was all good, and the music was funky too.