From New Orleans we head towards another state; Florida and our next stop, which will be Pensacola. Not such a long trip this
time, a mere 200 odd miles.
Before I start to describe our day, let us just stop and have a
few words about some more of the characters on the coach. We know a bit about
Miss Daisy, her of the eyebrows, (more from her in Orlando).
We know Suzanne and Ernie, so who else were on board the coach?
In my experience of these coach tours, you get similar groups or
types of people. You have the “lone travellers”. You have the “girls together”,
now this can be the young single girls, on holiday together. Or the older girls
who have ditched their husbands and ran off to America with the credit cards.
You have the older couples who do this thing regularly.
The young couples who maybe on their first holiday together.
Then there’s the family of three (that’s us!)
So, I’ll pick on a “girls together” pairing.
These were older girls (ladies). Jenny and Jan. Now it was never
made clear if Jan was Jenny’s carer or not!
Jenny walked with a stick when she arrived at the first hotel.
Jenny liked to talk. Jan was quiet.
Jenny liked to complain. Jan kept quiet.
To be fair, Jenny was really quite nice at the start, chatty and
enthusiastic. However, we did notice that the stick went after a few days.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! It’s a miracle! Or maybe she thought
fraudulent claims for disability were undetectable whilst in America. (I must
write to the DSS).
Did I say Jenny liked to complain? Oh yes. She would have a go at
Ernie to say that the coach was too cold with the air conditioning on. She
would also say if it was too warm when it was off.
She would scoot up and down the aisle of the coach quite quickly
for one with “ailments”. And if she wanted to get off the bus first, she would
make a dash for the door, whether you wanted to get up or not.
Time has clouded my memory somewhat, so I cannot remember any
specific funny moments, apart from one. And that was on the last day of the
holiday, but as we haven’t got to that point, you’ll have to wait!!
Talking of our fellow passengers, there was another couple on the
coach. They were a French couple; I never heard them say a word.
Anyway, back to the tour. On the way to Pensacola we stopped off
at Bellingrath Gardens, a beautiful home and gardens that belonged to
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bellingrath.
Walter Bellingrath made
his fortune by bottling Coca Cola and having the sole franchise for this, in
the Mobile area. (Bellingrath Gardens being situated in Mobile, Alabama). It is
an absolutely stunning garden, with many different features and styles.
Certainly one of my highlights of the holiday. Check out their website and take a look. We just about
managed to squeeze in a good look around most of the garden and look around the
house, which is lovely also, decorated in 1930’s style.
We had to wolf down some
lunch, as time was pressing (isn’t it always?) and we had to get back on the
coach, which was a real shame, we really could have done with another couple of
hours there.
Anyway, everyone back on
the coach. When we set off, Suzanne gets on the microphone and announces that
after every tour of Bellingrath, they are given a souvenir book to raffle off
amongst the passengers. So a bag came round full of bits of paper with numbers
on and we dutifully take one and pass the bag on.
Suzanne then announces the
number she had written down at random, at the start and lo and behold, it’s me!
I win the raffle!! I never win anything; this is a big deal for me, so shush!
Suzanne also announces that primarily the Bellingrath stop is for
the ladies, so just to appease the men of the coach, she has arranged another
quick stop, of just 30 minutes at the Battleship Park at Mobile Bay! We only
got to look around the parking lot, but there are tanks and aeroplanes parked
all around and you can see the USS Alabama moored on the dockside. It was a
really great stop and standing underneath the wings of a B52 bomber was
awesome.
From Mobile Bay we travel off towards Pensacola, where we head to
the hotel, before being driven down to the beach for a dip in the Gulf of
Mexico!
Pensacola Beach is stunning. Bright white sand, lapped by the crystal
clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We had two choices, one coach would pick up
at 6pm and the other would pick up at 8pm, after that you’re on your own. As it
was around 4:30pm, we thought an hour and a half on the beach wouldn’t do it
justice. So, we plumped for the late departure.
We spread out our towels (stolen from the hotel) and enjoyed the
sunshine.
Jenny was with us and was straight out into the healing waters,
almost skipping gaily, without her stick. Bless her.
I watched the bags, I know my place. Anyway, I’m not a fan of sea
swimming. Having said that, the lure of that cool water after the heat of the
sun was too much of a temptation, so I did dive in! When I say dive, I
obviously mean stroll, with trouser legs rolled up, string vest on and knotted
hankie upon my balding bonce. I am British after all.
After a couple of hours on the beach, we gathered up our things
and decided to grab a bite to eat and take a stroll around, before jumping on
the coach. Now the journey back to the hotel was a right laugh, thanks to
Ernie! He put the radio on and was
skipping through the channels, trying to find songs to sing along to. The Dutch
contingent, who were normally on the second coach had joined us for the late
return to the hotel and were singing Dutch songs, that were really funny, if
you were Dutch. Ernie would find a song he liked and turn the radio up and
start singing along, flashing the interior lights of the coach, like some cheap
disco.
Such are the larks of the coach holiday.
We wake in our Pensacola hotel and jostle for the complimentary
breakfast, almost playing musical chairs to find somewhere to sit. There are
never enough tables. Still the breakfast is free, so eat up!
We depart Pensacola and head deeper into Florida, our
destination; the International Palms Resort and Conference Center, Orlando.
Sounds grand doesn’t it?
The journey from Pensacola to Orlando is another long old haul, 450 miles, 8 hours of
driving and a different time zone. (Central Daylight Time back to Eastern Daylight
Time).
Lunch was provided by Sonny’s
Real Pit Bar-B-Q in Lake City. More awesome food. Totally delicious and as
always great service.
We arrive in Orlando at 5:30pm, but there’s no time to rest, we need
to be out again at 7pm, to catch the coach, for the Arabian Nights show!
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