Went back to the entrance to let Marilou go shopping and I did the Nature Viewing trail. She got scared by the snake warning sign. You were supposed to see birds and snakes. Didn't see many of those, but the water was shallower on the hot water channel side so you could get a better picture of the whole of the manatees.

After the hike we headed back to our Casita at the Caliente Resort where we had a glass of wine on the back porch before dinner.

Thursday, Jan 27^th:

We left Caliente Resort and headed to Miramar Beach: Club Wyndham at Majestic Sun. It is located on the beach, but a little confusing on finding the entrance way. The weather was extremely nice for the drive. We checked in around 3:30, found our room, and rested for awhile. Then we walked along the beach watching the sunset. Marilou was enthralled by the Plovers and I tried to get a picture of them. Most didn't work, I needed my real camera.

Friday, Jan 28^th:

When I registered yesterday I was talked in to doing a "1 hour" presentation of changes to Wyndham at 9 that actually lasted until 10:45. They are still trying to convince we to spend a lot of money to complicate my life. It didn't work again. Not sure why I continue to fall for that pitch, what a waste of time.

We went to the Airforce Armament Museum, where we saw some of the older ordinance that was developed for World War II. The training on bombing was done in the Destin area. Marilou wasn't interested in the bombs and stuff, but I was. The surrounding yard contained many of the older class of aircraft.

From there we looked up several oriental stores, where Marilou shopped for her promised cooking of Dinner later in the week. We ate a very good buffet lunch at the Phillipine Market and Cafe. Didn't find the Chinese Parsley there, so tried a couple other places. I think she ended up changing her mind on making her Mom's style of lumpia and settled for egg rolls.

Afterwards we ate at a philippine buffet and market. Food was good but she didn't find the chinese celery for what she was hoping to make. searched several other asian markets but didnt find it. Finally went to wallmart for some other ingredients before meeting my new grand nieces. Ate take out and played UNO and Go Fish.

Saturday, Jan 29^th:

We met at the morning at Dominic's House and did a few views of their place.

We then left to do a tour of Dominick's base. Dom's office and facility were amazing. We took several pictures by his plane after he closed several open panels since photos are not allowed when control panels are open. We spent a little time in their lounge where several pop-corn lovers marvelled in the jalpino popcorn even though it was a little stale.
On the way out to Laura's base we stopped at the Khobar Tower's memorial to the sercice men who died in the terrorist attack on a housing center used by US servicemen in Saudi Arabia. The sword in the center has a gas flame that kept getting blown out by the wind and then re-ignited. I tried to get picture with it lit, but it only stayed lit for instants.

So before going to Laura's base we stopped for lunch at Stewby's Seafood Shanty in Fort Walton Beach. Mailou had the shrimp ceviche while I had a fish sandwich. We both were stisfied with our choices. From there we went to Laura's base where we saw the plane that transported Ben Laden's body, Laura flew that plane, but not that flight. Again we saw a lot of obsolete planes on display. The girls visited the playground while we viewed the planes.

When we got back, Marilou made a fabulous dinner of egg rolls and noodles.

Sunday, Jan 30^th:

We went to Mass at 10:30 at Corpus Christi Church. From there we went to Laura's place to have lunch and meet with family.

Monday, Jan 31^st:

Met John and Debbie at Laura's house. Apparently plans had changed or I mis-understood. The family went to Destin and we left Destin to go to Niceville. So we went to the Rocky Bayou State Park. So first John and I walked the Sand Pine Trail while Debbie and Marilou got better acquainted with each other. We talked with a park employee who was breaking up a beaver pluggage of the channel that the park service was intending to use to drain the fishing pond the military had established for it's officers. Their intent is to restore the area to how it was before the military came there.

We visited with Debby and Marilou near the camp grounds for awhile before walking the Rocky Bayou Trail. It was amuch shorter trail. We stayed there awhile trying to resolve Marilou's broken phone issues before leaving there to go to Walmart to see if they could transfer her data to a new replacement phone. They couldn't help. Recommended we go to Best Buy who they thought could transfer the information on her chip, but they couldn't either.

Tuesday, Feb 1^st:

After breakfast we headed to LJ Schooners Docks where we boarded where we met captain Rob of L4K Charters. John, Jefferey and Pat joined Marilou and me for a 3 hour tour. It was supposed to be nice weather for fishing, but it soon turned nasty. The winds that were supposed to show up in the evening were ahead of schedule. It turned cold and the waters soon got too rough to fish so we returned empty handed.

Marilou had promised to show Debbie how to cook whole fish, but we didn't bring any home. So after we warmed up a bit, Marilou and I went to the Byrd Seafood Market a couple of miles away and bought 3 Whole Yellowtail Snapper for her to cook for the Chinese New Year dinner. After dinner we socialized for awhile, took some pictures and turned in for the evening.

Wednesday, Feb 2^nd:

Ate breakfast and went to Laura's house hoping to see Mary and Jeffery off, but apparently his flight was later than we were told and they were all having breakfast at a nearby restaurant. We attempted to walk along the beach there, but access was closed due to some road work. So instead we went to Wallmart for some bread and eggs, and gassed up for tomorrows trip. Saw Jeffery and Mary off. Ate more of the snapper for lunch, then went back to Wyndham for a nap and a walk on the beach. We tried getting a new phone at Best Buy, but they said they couldn't trasfer data for her carrier, so she would have to go home without a phone.

Packed up all our stuff so we could leave early in the morning, then headed to see the white sand again. It was really windy ad cold. Ran into John checking out where we were staying. He had checked out Pompano Joe's Seafood House where we planned to meet the rest of the family that night for dinner. They had a height limit for the entrance to the parking lot so I picked up John and Debby at that time share.

Marilou got the lobster and I got the scallops. They were good, they even overcooked the vegetables for me.

Thursday, Feb 3^rd:

Left early for home. I had made reservation at the Comfort Inn in Brussard, LA with intent of splitting the drive into two days and visiting Lucy on the way. She said her whole household had Covid, so I cancelled that stop. We found an Arby's in Waveland, MS so Marilou could try the roast beef sandwich. She wasn't impressed.

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