Back from the Gulf

October 27, 2008 -- Two Harbors, MN

Returning home from the Gulf Coast on Friday was quite a trip. Thinking about the time and distances involved, I am amazed that it is all so easy. Still, it was a long day. We left the hotel about 7 a.m., drove through the Gulf Shores area to Pensacola, returned the rental van, and made it to the airport for my 9 o'clock conference call, only a few minutes late. Then is was a wait in the airport for our 11:30 departure. We boarded on time but sat on the plane for a good 40 minutes before takeoff. We landed in Memphis with 10 min. to make our connecting flight. Sprinted through the airport wearing my laptop backpack. Then waited another 30 minutes before that plane was ready to go. Arrived in Minneapolis/St. Paul airport at around 4:00 p.m. thanks to an unusual tailwind. Picked up the car from the ramp and drove back to Duluth. Made it home by 8:00 p.m.

Thursday was the last day of the CSO meeting and the group approved (in concept) a draft of a bill for reauthorizing the Coastal Zone Management Act. We'll have to wait and see how far and how fast that goes given the political and economic climates, but it seemed important to try to be proactive on suggesting changes that could make for better coastal management in the future.

In the afternoon, after the meeting let out, my boss and I hopped in the rental and went to check out Gulf Shores, Fort Morgan and the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.

First we stopped for lunch at Big O's Seafood Grill (for fried flounder, beet greens and steamed cabbage) before heading out to the shore. It was pouring rain and very windy so we didn't get a chance to get out and explore much. I was glad that were appeared to be visiting in the off season. Not too much activity going on right now but it sure looks like the place would be a crazy, people-packed circus during the busy season. The number of condos for rent and 10 to 20-story hotel/condo complexes right smack on the beach was amazing.

We also made a return visit to the Weeks Bay National Estuary Research Reserve. After a couple minutes on the boardwalk from their visitors center we were soaked and gave up the idea of walking and headed back to the hotel.

We ended up at Old Bay Steamer restaurant for dinner where the Thursday special was a pound of shrimp (Royal red shrimp) and a pitcher of beer for $16. Couldn't beat that. I also had a bowl of gumbo. Good stuff.