A friend of mine I used to work with, Mark retired in 2015, about 5 years before I did.  Not long after that he and his wife Linda started 'Snowbirding' in Navarre, Florida.  Their daughter and son-in-law live there, Dave and Barbara.  I used to work with Dave too.  About two years ago another friend Dave and his wife Jan started 'Snowbirding' at the same place Mark did.  Then last year another friend Paul and his wife Kris started staying at the same place.  Kim and I see Mark and Linda once in a while and he'd been hinting we ought to try Florida during the winter, so this year we decided to go.  We were just staying about five days.

     We left on Friday, February 20, and drove to Hammond, Louisiana, about an hour and a half from New Orleans.  We wanted to spend the day in New Orleans since we'd never been.  The next day we got up early and made it into New Orleans around 9:00AM.  We had scoped out a few things we wanted to see, and first on the list was a tour of St. Louis Cemetery established in 1789.  It's a famous historical cemetery which features above ground burials, a Voodoo Queen's tomb, and Nicolas Cage's future resting place.  We really enjoyed the tour, even though it was a little macabre. 

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     From there we walked about 5 blocks to Bourbon Street.  It was an interesting place.  Even around lunch time a few places had some 'Blues bands' playing.  Kim and I purchased a frozen Hurricane to quench our thirst as we walked the length of Bourbon Street.  I really liked the old buildings, and there were some interesting people to be seen too.  Kim had a guy wearing an orange skirt offer to take a picture with her for $20.  Sadly, she declined.  Like I said I liked the old buildings, they reminded me a lot of downtown Old St. Charles.  I would imagine they are close to the same age.  Mardi Gras had just finished a couple of days before we arrived, and I'd heard that Shia LaBeouf had been arrested.  I thought I might try and bail him out, but he posted bond rather quickly, so he didn't require my assistance.  Supposedly he was out and about while we were there, but we didn't see him.

 

     After leaving Bourbon Street we thought we might see the World War II museum.  We went in, and it looked pretty backed up.  We found out that tours could take 5 to 7 hours, so we left.  A few blocks away we found a Civil War museum.  It was originally built by former Confederate soldiers after the war to preserve their history, and it also served on several occasions as an anniversary gathering place.  It was interesting and didn't require 5 hours to go through.  Before we left, we met a lady that volunteered at the museum and her husband.  They both were living in New Orleans when Katrina hit.  The lady's husband was a police officer there at the time, and shared several interesting stories, and showed us some pictures.  That was pretty interesting in itself. 

 

     It was getting to be late afternoon, so we got back on the road again and stopped for the night in Mobile, Alabama.  That left us with only an hour and a half drive to Navarre the next day, and our check in time wasn't until 4PM, so that would make for a leisurely travel day the next day.  That night we met a couple at the bar in our hotel and passed a fun evening with them.  They were a young couple, who'd left their kids with the Grandparents so they could have a kid free weekend.  The bar tender was an interesting guy too.  He had retired from teaching, been a truck driver for a while, was bar tending, and doing a little teaching on the side at a local junior college. 

 

     The next morning, we slept a little later and got on the road arriving in Navarre about 11AM.  We were a little early but luckily, we'd received an e-mail saying we could check in early.  We had a cabin with a kitchen, washer and dryer, and 3 bedrooms.  It was nothing fancy, but it was comfortable.  We brought our stuff in and then went to the local Winn-Dixie to pick up a few groceries.  When we got back Mark informed us that two other retired drivers from QT would be there by Tuesday.  Alan from Wichita, KS, and Steve from North Carolina.  So, in all counting me, 7 retired guys from QT were going to be in Navarre on Tuesday.  That night as we got ready for bed Kim pulled out the coffee pot she'd found in a cabinet to get it ready for her caffeine fix the next morning.  She was a bit agitated to find that the pot was kaput.  The next day I got up early and went to McDonald's to get Kim a large coffee.  I texted the office of where we were staying an informed them of the defective appliance.  We went for lunch that day, and six of the seven drivers were present.  While there the resort manager texted and said they would leave a new coffee pot inside of the deck box on our cabin's porch.  When we got back, I fished out the new coffee pot and handed it off to Kim, while I headed to the bathroom.  When I came back Kim was laughing.  As she'd walked into the kitchen with the new coffee pot she saw another coffee pot straight ahead of her on a different counter.  Neither one of us had seen it.  The one in the cabinet was the broken one.  Now we had two working coffee pots, Kim was in good shape.

 

     Later that afternoon we went out to take a walk on the beach.  Navarre has fine white sand beaches, and turquoise water.  The only problem was it was barely 50 degrees, and it was very windy.  Almost too cold to be walking on the beach.  We also drove down to Pensacola and came back.  The next day we met a couple from our church who had been in Destin for the last 3 weeks.

 

     Wednesday was the first real nice day, and Kim and I took full advantage of it.  We drove to Destin and walked a couple of miles up and down the beach there and then drove back to Navarre and walked out on a 1,500-foot-long pier right off of Navarre Beach.  It was beautiful that day.

 

     Thursday, we spent more time visiting with friends and topped off the evening with a BBQ behind our cabins at the communal Tiki Hut.  After saying goodnight to everyone, Kim and I gathered up our things because we were planning for an early departure in the morning.  We were driving the whole way back on Friday, because we needed to spring the dogs from doggie jail before noon on Saturday or have to pay for another day's boarding.  After laying out what we needed for the next morning, we put suitcases in the car to save time before we left. 

 

     The next morning, we got ready and I went out to finish putting things in the car and found the passenger side back seat window was smashed.  (See picture to right.)  I went in and told Kim, and we soon determined that the thief had stolen a bag we accidentally left on the back seat.  It contained Kim's laptop, her Ipad, a clothes steamer, and Kim's fanny pack with some ChapStick inside.  It was 5:30AM and realizing not much could be done, we finished up loading the car, texted the resort manager about the break in, locked up our cabin, and drove to a 24 hr. Walmart for trash bags and some duct tape.  Kim called the police, while I taped up the window.  After finishing that we got on the road for home.  We were only 10 miles down the road when Kim got a phone call from a woman who had found her Ipad discarded next to a road when she was walking her dog.  We turned around and retrieved it from the lady, thanking her we got back on the road again.  We surmised the thief threw out the Ipad because of the Findaphone feature, and after checking Kim found that he had googled that on her Ipad.  As we continued on our journey the resort manager texted an apology, asked some questions and then started checking their security camera's.  She found video of the miscreant shining a flashlight in our backseat around 3:30AM, and then coming back, breaking the window and stealing the bag.  (See video below.)  She forwarded the video to the police.  After arriving home the next day, Kim received a call from the detective assigned the case, she told Kim they had found her laptop.  He must have discarded it when he found that it was password protected.  The bad thing was he tossed it away opened up and it had gotten rained on that night.  So basically, he made off with a fanny pack, some ChapStick, and a clothes steamer.  Kim and I were comforted by the fact that our thief will have neatly pressed clothes, moist lips, and a handy accessory to carry tools of his trade in.  Kim ordered and has received a new laptop, and we took the car in to get an estimate and get the window fixed.  The only problem is it appears there is a shortage of the glass we need as a replacement.  Oh well, at least no one was hurt.  We don't think we will be in a hurry to go back to Navarre anytime soon though.