Back to the Snowball

After leaving Gulf Shores, on Wednesday, December 2nd, we had a short 1 hour drive Pensacola RV Park where we were meeting up with Chuck's uncle and aunt (Donald & Anna) and his brother and sister-in-law (Jerry & Pam).  We passed by Five Flags Speedway where the annual Snowball Derby was set to begin on Thursday.

We arrived a little after noon, Donald & Anna arrived a little after 2 pm and Jerry & Pam arrived around 4 pm.  Our sites were right next to each other.

Everyone got their campers all set up.  How do you like our new living room set up?

When we were in Nashville, Chuck made a steering wheel table cover with a 20" deep dish pizza pan. He also fixed the driver's seat where it can now turn facing towards the living room when we are parked.  We had always been able to turn the passenger seat but it looked kind of funny with only one seat turned around.  Now our living room looks more like a living room!

And at night, our little Christmas tree adds that holiday spirit!  :)

After everyone got all set up, the boys went over to the racetrack to buy their tickets for the Snowball Derby that began on Thursday.  After they returned, we went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner:  Sonny's Barbecue.  It was delicious like always. :)

Everyone came over to our camper after dinner for a game of SkipBo but we called it a night fairly early because they were fairly tired after a long day of driving from Nashville.

On Thursday, the boys went to the track during the day to watch practice for a while and then came back to the campground to play some cornhole.

Donald and Anna brought their Vandy boards but we used University of Tennessee bags to play with.  Something about this picture just doesn't look right.  These colors just don't go very well together.  :)

Anna and Jerry were partners, Chuck and Pam were partners, and Donald and I were partners.  After coming back from the loser's bracket, Donald and I won the cornhole tournament on Thursday.  :) Before the boys headed back to the track for Thursday's night races, we all went to dinner at the Shrimp Basket.  I had the fish tacos and Chuck had the "all you can eat" fish basket and both were delicious.  Much better than we had remembered from previous years.

On Friday, Jerry and Pam did a little sightseeing at the beach while Chuck and Donald went back to the track to watch some more practicing.  For dinner, we decided to try a new restaurant and went to Wayne's Diner which was right down the road.  The food was tasty and their homemade sweet potato fries that were almost as good as Burger Burger's.  For dessert, Chuck and I split a milkshake.  :)

The guys headed back to the track Friday night for more races while the girls played two games of 5 Crowns at our camper with Anna winning both games.  Pam and I quickly discovered that Anna is very good at 5 Crowns.  And she just learned how to play!!!

Saturday was filled with more races, some rain, another trip to the Shrimp Basket, for an even better dinner of deliciously and lightly breaded large fried shrimp.  We all agree that they seem to be giving you a lot more shrimp than they used to.  :)  When the races got rained out for a few hours, the guys came back to the camper and we played a couple of games of Wits 'n Wagers and 5 Crowns at Jerry and Pam's camper and enjoyed some of Pam's preacher's cake and Italian cream cake (like we needed any more food).  :)  Anna won 5 Crowns again!

About 9:30 pm, the guys headed back to the track to watch the races that had been rain delayed.  And boy were they delayed.  They didn't get back home until almost 4:30 am!!!!  

On Sunday after church, we decided we would try something different for lunch and Anna suggested mexican.  She found a restaurant that had 4 out of 5 stars review on Google but when we arrived at Taco Rock, we found it was closed and began to wonder about those reviews!  :)

What-A-Burger was just up the road.  

Since I had never eaten at What-A-Burger, we decided to go there for lunch instead.  It was pretty good.  We really liked their orange and white colors.  :)

The big race, the 300-lap Snowball, was on Sunday afternoon....

...and not only did the boys go...

but Pam did too!

The race was very good with Joe Nemechek's 17 year old son, John Hunter Nemechek, taking the checkered flag.  After they all got back from the races, we celebrated with one more dinner at the Shrimp Basket.  :)  After dinner, we played just one game of 5 Crowns at Jerry and Pam's Sunday night because the guys had been up so late at the races the night before.  Who won 5 Crowns this time?  Anna...again!  

On Monday morning, everyone slept in not getting up until after 9 or so.  The weather was nice again today.  We played a few more cornhole games...

...and started getting ready for leaving tomorrow. 

For dinner, we enjoyed a delicious home-cooked "pot-luck" meal of white beans, chili, mexican cornbread, kielbasa, grilled cheese, and salad.  We played one final game of 5 Crowns at Jerry and Pam's with Chuck being the winner tonight.

Racing, food, laughter and fun with family!  What a great time we have had together!  And we're looking forward to being all together for Speed Week at Daytona in February.