Looking forward to a weekend away, we took off around lunch time on Friday and headed to Mobile. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Saraland and found dinner at
P.S. Taco. The service, food and drinks were really good.
Saturday's forecast promised to bring lots of rain and so we decided to spend the day checking out a few museums. We started at the
USS Alabama where the fog gave it quite the mysterious look!
Before we could even get on the ship, I was drawn to all the spider webs that had caught the day's raindrops.
USS Alabama is a large battleship that was used in both the Atlantic and Pacific fronts of WW II. She is 680 feet in length, 45,000 tons, carries about 2,500 crew, and has a maximum speed of 28 knots.
 |
| Pelicans flock this fishing boat |
 |
| Engine Room |
 |
| Engine Room |
 |
| These appear to control the various guns on the ship - there were several walls of these dials. |
 |
| Bakery - imagine the Christmas cookies you could make in that mixer! |
 |
| Bakery |
 |
| Workshop |
 |
| Crew food hall |
 |
| Photography shop - dark room |
Here are a couple vehicles that were on display in a building next to the battleship.
We then toured the USS Drum, a submarine on the same property as the USS Alabama.
 |
| Torpedo Room |
 |
| One of a series of small doors (hatches) you have to simultaneously step over and duck |
 |
| torpedo |
Before leaving the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, we explored a boardwalk and checked out a fishing pier to look for birds. Rain encouraged us to not linger too long.
 |
| We counted at least 7 Northern Cardinals enjoying these bushes. |
 |
| Boat-tailed Grackle (female) |
 |
| Double-crested Cormorants |
 |
| Great Blue Heron |
After the Battleship Memorial Park, we headed to downtown Mobile with plans to visit a couple museums and wander the city. We started with the
Conde-Charlotte Museum. On the site of Mobile's first jail and courthouse, this house was built in the mid-1800s by Jonathan Kirkbride. The museum is set up to showcase the furnishings and antiques from Mobile's history under five flags (French, English, Spanish, American, and Confederate). It was a quiet day and so we got a personal tour of the property.
After that tour, we took a few minutes to rest and get some lunch at Jimmy Johns before continuing on to the
Mobile Carnival Museum. Depending on who you talk to some claim New Orleans celebrated the first American Mardis Gras whereas others claim it was actually Mobile. Regardless, both cities have quite the Mardis Gras celebration each year.
Here are a few of the gowns and outfits worn by the king and queen of Mardis Gras.
Here are a few photos I took as we walked through downtown Mobile.
Before heading back to the hotel, we made two last stops in hopes of finding a few birds. The first stop was at a pull off across the street from the Chocolatta Bay Boat Launch. Unfortunately, the rain picked up and the water was quiet rough and so not many birds were in sight aside form this juvenile Herring Gull (the larger gull) and a Ring-billed Gull.
The last stop was at William Brooks Park. This park has a neat boardwalk that I barely got to explore because once again it started pouring rain. The rain was also keeping the birds in hiding.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the hotel. The rain has been quite steady and heavy at times. We are hoping the storms pass through overnight so that tomorrow is a dry day. Our plan is to explore Dauphin Island and see what birds we can find there.
