Gulf Shores, Alabama

I am writing this entry from southern Florida. We had an awesome Christmas with Shannon, Brian and Amelia. They came from Missouri to go to Disney World and stayed with us in Orlando. I will write all about our magical day in a coming entry, but let's go back a few weeks...

We left the Gulf Islands National Seashore on Friday, November 30. We went east through Mobile, Alabama and then south to Gulf Shores. We decided to bite the bullet and stay at Gulf State Park. I say it that way because although we have stayed here before, and it is a very nice park, it is very overpriced in my opinion. By the time you pay all of the fees and taxes, it is over $50 per night. I just don't like to pay more for something than it is worth. (wait until I write about Disney) Don't get me wrong, we like the park. The sites are large and you have access to the very nice beach. You do have to drive or ride a bike the 4 miles to the beach, but it is not far.

You may ask, why we would come here when it is overpriced and we have been here before, well it is all about seeing some very good friends. We were really looking forward to spending time with Bob and Rox, who have a condo in GS. This is the closest park to their condo.

We went through the check in process of this huge park. I think they have over 350 sites. They do offer monthly rates and RV storage, so many people leave their rig here and just drive down to stay for the winter months. The check in process is still very much like a large resort hotel. We got set up in site 91 in the Bobcat loop. That loop is the closest to the front of the park. It can take 10 minutes to drive from the back of the park to the front gate. We had plans to get together with Bob and Rox that evening, but we had time for a quick trip to the beach. It was about 70 degrees, but that was going to change in the next few days. A big storm would bring wind and rain over the next two days.

The surf was up because of the coming storm

Kim loves her beaches

Nice wave over my head

We took some of the shrimp that we had purchased off of a boat in Gulfport over to Bob and Rox's and they added some fish that Bob had caught on a recent charter trip. We had an awesome dinner. Here is a shot of Bob and I cleaning shrimp with their deveiner. I am still looking for one of my own.

The next day we went to look at marinas in the area. They pretended to be interested. We, of course, were gathering information for the future plans of cruising the coastal areas in a boat.  It was pretty rainy and I did not take any pictures.

Then on Sunday, I had an appointment to see a boat that was located on the Dog river on the other side of Mobile bay. We had a fun time looking at the boat. Bob and Rox decided to take their two wired hair Dachshunds along for the trip.

The "Girls" travel very well.

After looking at the boat, which was only mildly interesting to me, we drove out to Dauphin Island. The town there is quiet and very charming. We drove the island from end to end and then waited for the next ferry back over to the other side of the bay.

This was our lunch spot, the ferry is in the background.

We walked around the outer grounds of Fort Gaines. It costs only $8 per person to visit the fort, but we did not have the time to do a full tour.

The keel of an old ship that was found after a recent hurricane. 

We boarded the ferry and Kim was in her element. She loves to be on the water. We saw dolphins, but were unable to get any pictures of them. The wind was light, but we had a nice swell coming in from the gulf. We loved the ride.

Kim is up on deck ready for the ride across the mouth of Mobile Bay.

Everyone on Dolphin watch

A Coast Guard cutter passed to our stern

We had an awesome weekend in Gulf Shores. We can not thank Bob and Rox enough for the hospitality and tour guiding. We really love visiting friends while we are on the road.

We had been on the road for almost a month at this point and we were just getting back into our groove. Our next stop was at a Florida State Forest campground that sounded like our kind of place. Come back for my next entry and I will tell you if it was as good as advertised.