The Soldier and the Boy

Now that Christmas is over, I'm excited to get back to sharing out some non-Christmas-y things.    Back to the theme of sharing some of my favorite shots from the year..

In January, 2011 I visited the U.S.S Alabama for a really productive photo walk.   On the way back, driving down the causeway, I decided to stop at this abandoned hotel, the old Ramada Inn on the Mobile Bay causeway.

During the summer of 1993 my family experienced a house fire.  Our home in Indiana went up in the most curious and as it turns out: illegal, way.  We were on vacation in the area when the fire occurred and ended up staying in Foley for a few weeks.   My Dad found work in Mobile, AL - working in the used tire business with an acquaintance from the past. 

It turns out their meeting in Mobile wasn't quite so happenstance.

A months later, an insurance investigation led to the conclusion the house fire was the cause of arson.

I'll write more on that, another time. :)

So, homeless and transplanted to the beautiful Gulf Coast, we moved into the Ramada Inn in Mobile, Alabama - just down from the battleship.   My parents chose this location because it allowed pets (o, lord did mom ever have pets) and it was close enough for Dad's commute to Mobile.  

On the day of my Battleship photo walk, I wanted to explain all of this to the nice Spanish Fort Police Officers who stopped to question why I was trespassing.   I decided to just go the route of looking official and claiming myself to be a "photo blogger, reporting on the economic situation of tourism on the Gulf Coast". 

They bought it and I got this really cool exposure of some Banksy-esque tag work by a tag-artist called 'Priest'.

Oh yeah and to make this official... blah blah blah, "economy", blah blah blah, "Gulf Coast".  See, officer, I wasn't lying.  :)