rvingwithapurpose

Antarctica Adventure: Have You Ever Heard Of Ushuaia?

February 1, 2025

Wow! Didn’t realize it would be so long when we posted our last entry. So… let’s catch up. On January 1st we began our drive back to South Carolina with an overnight stop in Shorter, AL. It was great to be back with Randy and Debra for a while. We spent the next week visiting and packing and repacking suitcases. We hadn’t tackled this chore since our trip on the polar bear photography expedition in 2022. This next trip would be considerably further and require considerably more cold weather clothing. We decided it was much easier just to travel in Fred and take all our stuff with us. However, this next trip was not possible in Fred. Decisions, Decisions on what to pack. Next destination: ANTARCTICA via Alabama.

We departed SC on January 9, arriving in Oneonta, AL in time to purchase our auto tags. Crazy as it sounds, there was a winter storm predicted for Blount County, so Barry, Donna and the two of us decided to stay at a hotel closer to the Birmingham Airport for a couple nights. After all the planning we did NOT want to miss our Sunday morning flight. Pine Mountain is notorious for ice after a storm. There was snow and ice by Friday morning. We were able to return to Barry and Donna’s house for Saturday night even though there was still some ice on the roads. Sunday, January 12th, we flew out of Birmingham, of course to Atlanta, and then a nonstop flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Our Atlanta flight was delayed about 2-3 hours due to all the weather issues, but, otherwise, was uneventful. Next was an airport change, 45 min Uber from the international airport to the domestic airport, and then a flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, Argentina, also known as the End of the World or Fin del Mundo. We left Barry and Donna’s house about 9:00 am Sunday and did not arrive at our Airbnb in Ushuaia until Monday evening, January 13, about 32 hours later.

What we woke up to at the motel on Friday morning

Finally at the Birmingham airport

In Buenos Aires, instead of walking out a ramp to the airplane door, we took a bus to the tarmac …

… then get out and walked up the steps to board the plane.

We were near the very southern tip of South America. The view from the rooftop of our Airbnb was nice, with a view of the harbor where our ship would be docked. We could relax because now we would certainly be able to make the ship embarkation on time. Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, and South Atlantic Islands. Exploration would have wait until after some sleep. We did walk to a restaurant to try our first Argentinian meal. Between our little knowledge of Spanish and our waiter’s little knowledge of English, we managed to order some wonderful empanadas. Next – sleep.

As we checked into our Airbnb, we looked out and saw this rainbow over Ushuaia.

Donna had been reading about Ushuaia and found that one of the popular foods here is empanadas. So we immediately went walking to find them.

Last Week of 2024 at Gulf State Park

Thursday, January 9, 2025

We spent our last week for this winter at Gulf State Park doing more of the things we love to do there – hiking, biking, walking on the beach, meeting new folks (including two really nice couples from Canada), and watching the eagles. We also worked a couple more puzzles in the evenings.

Hawk we saw near Gopher Tortoise Trail while we were watching the eagles

We ended our visit on January 1st with a park sponsored First Day Hike, then headed back northward to prepare for our next big adventure – without an RV. Stay tuned, but it may be a while before we are able to post again.

2025 First Day Hike at Gulf State Park

Merry Christmas – 2024

December 25, 2024

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO All!!!

We hope you and your family have had a wonderful Christmas season. We pray that in the middle of all the hustle and bustle you have taken time to remember what is really important. And it’s not just that it’s Jesus’ birthday. We are celebrating the Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace coming to earth. It’s the beginning of The Story, the fulfillment of prophecy. If you have been too busy, this evening would be a great time to sit down, take a deep breath and maybe pick up your Bible and read the Christmas story again.

We have spent our “vacation time” resting, reading, catching up on some work, working puzzles and watching Christmas movies. There have been lots of beach walks, and bike rides, eagle sightings and lots of good food. Most importantly God has blessed us by allowing us to spend this time listening to Advent devotions and enjoying the beauty He created here.

Our campsite this year

This heron has been a daily visitor to our campsite

We have taken several walks on the beach even though some days have been quite cool.

For most of last week the purple flags were out at the beach meaning that venomous sea life was present. They really weren’t needed because it was too cold to get in the water.

The pier is open again so we can walk on it any time. Since we are staying in the park, we don’t have to pay to walk it.

We see sharks every time we walk on the pier.

We attended a park presentation on raptors and got to see Archimedes the screech owl.

Of course, we have made several trips to the eagle nests. Yesterday we finally caught both of them on the nest at the same time.

On one of our hikes we stopped to watch this osprey eating a fish.

These grilled steaks fed us for a couple of days.

One day we took the afternoon to make Aunt Inez’s Tea Cake cookies.

We made them bite-sized this time because they are easier to eat on travel days. They probably will not survive another whole week to our next travel day.

Believe it or not, we actually worked our Advent puzzle the way it was intended – one small section at a time. We have really enjoyed it.

We tried a new recipe for for breakfast today – cinnamon rolls baked with eggnog.

Our traditional Christmas dinner of snow crab legs

As we have the last few years we took the time to watch our favorite Christmas movie again.

Back to Gulf State Park

Sunday, December 8, 2024

After a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in South Carolina, we drove to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama to spend the month of December. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you will have a wonderful Christmas. Cherish your family. Take time to share your love with family, friends, and people you don’t even know. We continue to ask for your prayers for our family members who are fighting serious health problems. We learned Friday of another cousin with possible cancer. That makes four. We know God is still healing and He is in control.

We really enjoyed this year’s Thanksgiving with family. And the smoked turkey.

December is a good time to be here. The weather is usually really nice although we have had a few cold (by our standards) days. And there are fewer people here than in the other winter months.

One of the first things we do when we get to the park is go pick up a pound or so of steamed shrimp and eat it immediately.

So far we have made it to the beach all but one day.

Since we arrived we have seen the Blue Angels practicing, the bald eagles, many other birds and this one gator who decided to brave the cool weather today.

The park has many miles of trails for us to hike and bike.

Earlier this year we bought a 1000 piece Advent puzzle. Inside the box are 24 small boxes, each containing a few pieces. We are supposed to only work one section of the puzzle for each day in Advent. So far we have held to that.