This is ALWAYS a stop for us!
These were incredible... Trust me, you HAVE to try this place!
Thank you Coffee Call... you never disappoint!
After our sugar rush of a breakfast, we loaded the car and continued to head EAST towards Florida with a very special pit-stop in mind... LAMBERT'S Café in Foley, AL. My family and I found Lambert's Café in Missouri back in the late 1990s. It was a such a great, family-friendly restaurant where they literally throw rolls at you. I remember vacations where we would go out of our way just to eat at Lambert's. I guess I was recreating those memories on this trip as Foley was not really "on the way". But I had told Chris about Lambert's the entire 16+ years of our marriage and since my parents have taken the kids to Lambert's in previous vacations as well... Chris said "enough. Let's just do it" and we were on our way.
We were not even an hour outside of Baton Rouge and these two were already acting silly!
As we traveled east I began to notice the car doing what it did the day before and rising about 210* and "dancing" between 210-250*. I told Chris and he said to watch it as I drove and then he would check the anti-freeze when we got to Foley. We made many stops for restrooms and then hit decent traffic in Mobile getting to the tunnel. The trip from Baton Rouge to Foley was about 3:50. While we were in the tunnel in Mobile, Chris noticed the car reading 250* and he knew there was a real issue.
Hello Mississippi... Two states down and TWO to go!
Sweet Home Alabama... This was a GREAT rest stop BTW!
One of ONLY TWO US Military Medical Ships... Parked in Mobile Bay!
Luke was SO excited when he spotted this!
We did not arrive in Foley until about 11:20am, just 20 minutes after Lambert's opened. I got in a line about 50-70 people deep and that was just to put our name on the waiting list. Let's just go ahead and say that Chris was already not impressed. We were quoted a 45 minute wait but that allowed Chris to go and get anti-freeze for the car. He checked the car and the anti-freeze was practically gone so we knew there was an issue but thought putting in more antifreeze would work.
Me and at least half of Alabama was in line... TO PUT OUR NAMES ON THE LIST!
Lambert's Menu is extensive and there is something for EVERYONE!
(We like to rate our food when we try new restaurants or locations. We base our entrée or meal on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the BEST we have ever had and 5 being something we could get at a local restaurant or made at home.)
Leave it up to Luke to get a $30 steak as big as this pan!
He ate "almost" all of it!
Natalie's Chicken and Dumplings was very fulfilling!
The chicken fried steak was PERFECTION... The potato salad and carrots left much to be desired!
Even with the wait time and sub-par service, Chris enjoyed this and would do it again he says! The other 3 of us LOVED IT!
Thank you Lambert's for fulfilling a 17 year dream of getting Chris here!
This was SO WORTH the 17 year wait!
Thank you Chris for going "out of our way" to make this happen!
I love you!
Never a dull moment with us... Man I miss cruising!
No worries, no stress... NO COOLANT!
We filled it up the fill line... Let's go!
Tell me you're in the south without telling me you're in the south.
DQ and Piggly Wiggly on the left and Winn-Dixie on the right!
The kids thought "Piggly Wiggly" name was hilarious!
We made it... WE FINALLY MADE IT!
Hello Sunshine State!
A view of Pinnacle Port from the west.
A perfectly situation condo complex with private beach access!
The view from our condo balcony was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous and we were already in love. Saturday at 4PM is check-in time for this condo complex so there were people everywhere and the elevator situation was sketchy. We had to make 2 trips to the car to get all of our stuff but the whole ordeal only lasted about 30 minutes. We were all unpacked and headed to the beach shortly after 5PM. We got the beach and enjoyed the water until about 7PM and then spent a bit in the HUGE pool before heading back upstairs.
A view of TOWER A where we were staying.
A view from our living room balcony.
The view was worth it's weight in gold (Or the cost of the week long rental)
Enough of this car mess... Let's hit the beach!
The rental included beach toys and the kids LOVED the boogie boards.
A view of actual Panama City Beach from our private beach access in Sunnyside!
The ocean waters were ABSOLUTELY perfect and calm. There was NO SEAWEED at this time and the water was the most gorgeous hue of teal green I have EVER SEEN!
Before going back upstairs, Chris decided to check the coolant level since the car had a chance to cool down. All of the coolant was GONE. We couldn't believe it. It was all there 2-3 hours ago. I backed the car up to see if there was a pool of anti-freeze under the car... NOPE! It was so weird and we didn't know what to think.
Ok seriously... Where did all the coolant go? It was there just 2 hours ago!
We did not have any food or dinner so we all changed and then went to the nearest Walmart about 8 miles from our condo on highway 98. As we made the trek to Walmart, we noticed the car rising up again towards near 250*. It started POURING down rain as we traveled east which made for this drive even more stressful. Something was seriously wrong with the car... But what?
It was here we realized we weren't even staying in PCB, but Sunnyside, FL instead!
Once we got inside Walmart it was a complete MADHOUSE! It looked like a hurricane was coming to the coast. There were people EVERYWHERE and reaching for EVERYTHING! Nearby Walmart was the Gulf Coast Jam concert going on and we wondered if people were taking shelter in Walmart from the rain because it was PACKED!
There was plenty of workers and they were working hard trying to refill the aisles of food and supplies. People were waiting for pallets to be opened as if a natural disaster had just happened. It was weird. We didn't have any issues getting food but we were stuck with "specialty" items like low-carb tortillas, oatmeal bread and milk. This did not bother us but just a heads up. When we reached the check-out lane, the cashier said this was completely normal for summer time as most condos are week-long and check in is on Saturday or Sunday.
Chris handed over $200 for our week groceries while I decided it was best to go get Subway sandwiches for dinner. It was not AT ALL what I had planned or had in mind for our first dinner in PCB but we were all just wanting to get back to the condo and completely forget about this stressful day. When we got back to the car from groceries, as soon as we started the car it was already at 245*. The parking lot was crazy with people so we turned off the car and ate our Subway in the car while we waited for it to cool down.
We finally got back to the condo around 10:30PM and unloaded our groceries and Chris put more anti-freeze in the car just to be safe. The kids ate a few late night snacks and then went to bed in their own room. TIP- This condo was a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom condo over 2 floors. It was PERFECT for our weeklong trip and I while we had issues throughout the week (more on that later), I would still recommend friends staying here.
We were all in bed before midnight.
The kids bedroom with twin bunks (full size) and a queen size bed, plus a TV and a FULL wall of windows overlooking the beautiful gulf.
The master bedroom with a King bed and an en-suite bathroom, plus a private balcony.
The Master bedroom balcony overlooking Lake Powell.
This was equipped with Rocking chairs as well.
The Master Bathroom with walk-in shower and large vanity.
The second bathroom upstairs with a stand-up shower and sink.
The living room and dining room in our Pinnacle Port condo!
This was a VERY stressful day and we were "batting 1.000" as far as issues but tomorrow was OPENING CEREMONIES for Luke's World Series and we were so excited for our World Series adventure to finally begin!
Up Next... Opening Ceremonies of the Ripken Experience and what would turn out to be a day from... Well, wait and see!
God is good... ALL THE TIME!
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