A Year Ago....

In a nostalgic mood, I thought it would be fun to see what Linda and I had been up to this time last year. I went back through my posts from October 2008 (they are under "older posts" in bottom right corner of the blog). We were staying in the campground in Coffeyville, working at Amazon. The Christmas season was gearing up but not at a fever pitch until after Thanksgiving. The weather was awesome which is more than I can say for this year's weather. It was in the 60's most days....we would have our door open during the day and sometimes our neighbor, Lindig would stop over and say Hi...we miss having her next door. We met so many great people at Amazon and many of the friends we made there are back there this year working. We heard from our friend Carolyn that our supervisors were asking about us and wondering if we were coming back this year. Sorry to say we're not returning but all of the folks at Amazon are in our thoughts. I actually went to Walmart in search of the insoles that I discovered in Coffeyville that helped with my aching feet as we tried to get acclimated to the 16 miles we walked everyday on our shift picking orders. Couldn't find them in the Walmart here.....might have to put in a special order with our friends out in Kansas to buy me some and ship them to me...Amazon style. Don't think it's something that Amazon stocks but maybe I should check....you never know what you'll find down the aisles at the world's greatest on-line store. I loved going in each week, as we got closer to Christmas and discovering what new items were on the shelves. Boxed sets of DVD's, cool cookbooks, nifty games, special edition movies, etc. One book that I picked several of last year....Where the Wild Things Are..has now been made into a movie and looks really cute. I think of Amazon when I see the movie trailer on TV. Another big deal last year....Harry Potter's last book was set to be released and there were top secret shifts to pack the leather bound copies to get them ready for shipping. Hmmm....in a sense it seems like a long time ago and in another it seems like yesterday. It's certainly a time that Linda and I cherish....the time that great bonds of friendship were formed that will last us a lifetime.

Fairhope, Alabama

This afternoon we drove towards the coast to the cute little town of Fairhope. It's an artsy town with neat shops and the Fairhope Historical Museum. We went into the museum and there were some interesting items on display. This picture shows the accomplishments that one of the early mayors passed during his term (I believe it was from 1912 - 1914). Click on the picture to enlarge it. Looks like a pretty aggressive agenda of accomplishments, don't you think ? More than our modern day congress accomplishes with its bi-partisan bickering.

It appears that there must be a wealthy clientele of folks that live in Fairhope. I've never been in a thrift store, as they had here, where there is an extensive selection of furs and stoles for sale. Hmmm....
Once we left town we drove down to the coast where the beach was and there was a very nice park.There was this huge fountain at the entrance to the waterfront park and this sign showing all the wintering birds that come to the area. We drove down the coast for a little ways, looking at the nice houses along the shore. We circled around and came back down rt 32 and stopped at Coastal Haven campground to check it out. I got a quick look at it as we went past it, on the way to Fairhope, and it looked nice and clean...with concrete sites so we wanted to check it out. We drove in and went to the end of one row and came around to the backside of the office. I noticed a woman walking along behind our truck but didn't pay much attention. When Linda and I got out of the truck to go in the office and get a brochure we heard someone holler to us. Turned around and that woman who had been following us was Linda from the Amazon campground in Coffeyville. Seems her and her husband have been staying there for a while. Right across the street from her is where Vickie and Bob are staying (unfortunately they weren't home)....we were so surprised to run into them there and got a chance to find out where Vicki and Bob are staying as we want to visit with them while we are in the area. Small world....Seems the last month or so has been like an Amazon Old Home Days...bumping into the folks we worked with in Coffeyville. What fun !