OBA 12: Day 7

Day 7. The last day. It could even be called Mobile, Day 1. But the problem with that is that the action began in Orange Beach. Drew was my little helper packing up the car. We had put the suitcases in and only had the little stuff left. We got a cart from the lobby to take upstairs with us to help gather up the rest. We pushed the button and waited on the elevator. It came and Drew jumped on. I had trouble turning the cart and it got between me and the door. All of the sudden the doors to the elevator started to close. Instead of pushing the cart aside and sacrificing my arm in the elevator doors I continued to try to push the cart inside, but it was too late. I told Drew to hit the number to go to our floor and go knock on the door. I could hear him screaming my name and beginning to cry on the way up. At first I thought he would be fine. Then I started to panic too. I had pushed the button to call the elevator back. Looking back I should have tried to run up the five flights of stairs and perhaps made it in time to meet him at the top. By the time the elevator came back for me it felt like it had been forever. Drew was not on it anymore. I went to our floor and didn't see him their either. I went all the way to the other end of the hall to our room and found him and Katie standing there. He had done the right thing and gone to our room and knocked on the door. I may have scarred him for life though- he's still a little scared of elevators now. So that we didn't lose anything else we felt it was time to get out of Orange Beach. We did have to stop at the Oakley outlet in Foley to replace the sunglasses I lost in the Gulf the day prior.

On the way back home we did something I've always wanted to do every trip down there. We stopped in Mobile Bay to see the USS Alabama Battleship. It was awesome! Drew and I took a tour around the deck and several of the floor inside and outside. It was amazing to think that we were standing on a piece of American history, to think of everywhere that ship had been and all that it had been through, and the men who had been on it. There were guns everywhere on it. Most of the manned guns seem to have little protection from enemy fire. They had some of the missiles that the large guns shot, which could be shot accurately up to 21 miles. I'm not sure how far up the tower they let you go, but Drew and I stopped after about the third floor because most of the stairs were straight up after that point. It was incredible to know that we were on a ship that had fought in the war that my grandfather and Drew's great-grandfather's had fought in 70 years ago. The also had a submarine, the USS Drum. Drew had a blast climbing through the portals, manning the wheel, and seeing what tiny confines they had on this underwater ship. They also had some airplanes, tanks, and other vehicles that we looked at too. Drew got a captain's hat in the gift shop on the way out that he wore the whole way home. We made it home without any incidents in Mississippi this time.

We had a wonderful and memorable trip for many reasons. My lost and found wedding ring, fighter jets, battleships, family, the beach, elevator adventures, rough waves, and many more experiences. Despite all of those things some of my lasting memories will be the picture of Allie that was in the last post, that sweet little face sitting in her highchair, babbling, blowing kisses, and saying Dada. It will also be of Drew and I hanging on to each other for dear life as we went up and down that lighthouse step by step, and of all the fun times we had in the sand and ocean. There will be memories of crazy times with the family. Last but not least, I always love laying on those beach chairs, listening to the music and the waves with Katie sitting next to me. I can't wait to go back again soon!