Exploring Mobile, Alabama

Once we knew we would be leaving Alabama & moving to Florida, we decided to explore Mobile.  We went low-key, starting at the tourist information place and Fort Conde.  Jake & Genna were completely fascinated with the battle display, studying it forever. Then we took the free shuttle & stopped off at Panini Pete's for lunch. We discovered the Fairhope location was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives. It's definitely worth a stop. The sandwiches we had were good, and the beignets were awesome! Everyone enjoyed themselves!

Panini Pete's

The beignets were incredible

No need to go all the way to New Orleans

After lunch, we walked to the park nearby on Dauphin Street, & Jake & Genna tried their hand at catching squirrels & birds. They never succeeded, but they were convinced that was only because we left too soon! As we wandered down the street, we stopped for coffee. It seems that the coffee-loving gene has been successfully passed to most of our children. ;) As we continued our walk, Steve spontaneously popped into the Renaissance hotel. After a fun ride up the escalator, we relaxed and cooled off in the upstairs conference area. The littles thought it was a super cool playground. We managed to leave on our own before being asked to leave by security :)

Since it was free, we stopped at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which was beautiful & reminiscent of European cathedrals. It was delightfully cool and quiet, at least until we arrived & Katie discovered that any small noise she made sounded very loud. As we left, Alyssa asked about the confession booths, which inspired some interesting discussions about the Catholic church & the practice of confession.

Inside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

We cooled off in the lobby of a fancy hotel

Although both Katie & Jake were asleep, we stopped at the Botanical Gardens. The offices were closed, so the bathrooms were, too. Although it was a pleasant stop, it's not worth the price of admission, in my opinion. We left quickly in search of bathrooms & found them at a nearby playground. Although it was ridiculously hot & humid, the kids had a great time playing. I was sitting in the pavilion feeding Katie in the shade, so it was heartwarming to see another dad help Jake down from some of the playground equipment. And, we also saw a little boy give Alyssa a very sincere hug. Apparently, he asked her if she would be his friend, and when she told him we were about to leave, he told her goodbye and hugged her. :) It was definitely one of those, "we're not in Utah anymore" experiences.

The gardens were nothing special so we didn't stay long

On our way back home, we stopped at a Farmer's Market and a Seafood market to gather some good, local food for dinner. It was a "grill dinner," as Jake would say--grilled corn, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, shrimp, and a first for me, grilled peaches for dessert! Yummy! A great ending to a great day together as a family.