day 7 at Gulf Shores

Last night a huge storm came through but today was beautiful. Spent some time at the beach to cook for a couple of hours.

Ate dinner at "The Hangout". This is kind of a take-off of what we remember at Panama City's old Hangout. Pretty neat place especially for the kids. Check out the giant sand box (hill).

Live band outside and a dj inside to keep things lively. Lots of opportunity for them to snag your pocketbook:0

Tomorrow, off to Pensacola Naval Air Station Museum...

day 6 at Gulf Shores

We had quite a storm last night that came in from the gulf. News reports say that south winds are pushing the oil toward the coast around this area... hope it will change directions and protect this beach.. too pretty.

We finally checked out the local gator that hangs around the drainage ditch across the street from where we are camped. Cookie Mamma saw it yesterday and came back with stories of a near death experience - some jerk had grabbed the gator by the tail and aggravated it.

This morning I went over there and sure enough there was a gator about 6' long guarding the foot bridge over the ditch. He made lots of hissing and aggressive moves ... so I'll give this one to Cookie.

You'll notice that we decide to pose with a much tamer one at the corner store:)

day 5 at Gulf Shores

He I am looking very interested in leaving early this morn.

After an early morning bike trek through the lovely wood (school kids made and decorated these bird boxes throughout the trails) we decided to head back over to the beach. The state park owns a very large track of beach front. On either side of the park boundary you'll find high rise condos and hotels. The beach and water was VERY crowded in front of them but the park beachfront was amazingly void of crowds. Pretty neat.

The afternoon delivered a little excitement (posted on face book) in that some swimmers had ventured out a little too far and a few bull sharks were sighted. Fortunately for the swimmers they made it back into shore without an attack. Unfortunate for the gawkers cause they were looking for some blood in the water.

This pavilion at the pier is where we have to go to hit wifi.

Day 4 at Gulf Shores

Last night was peaceful and breezy on the beach but there weren't many good shells on the shoreline so we decided to hit the beach early this morning for breakfast and beach-combing. Early came and went - so we arrived at the pier about 8a.m. and ate a light breakfast. We then began our quest for perfect sea shells. Since they weren't available we picked up the ones that suited Juilana. Last I saw of her she had found some fishing line and was stringing the shells for a neckless.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We drove down the beach a while and found a plethora of beach houses that were empty. Wonder if they will fill up this weekend since it's the beginning of the season? We'll have to check out some of these on the net for pricing. So far we've noted that this place isn't a mecca for vacationers like the FL coast is. It might be worth while to give this beach a try if the price is right and if the crowds stay away.

Day 3 at Gulf Shores

Another beautiful day in Gulf Shores.

We spent early this a.m. biking on a really cool trail for a couple of hours. Very quiet, very secluded. Came up on a glass lake (1st pic below) and a nice picnic cabin in the middle of the woods (2nd pic below). Loved that heron (3rd pic) so he's here as well.

BUT- Pic #4 below is a real find. A GOPHER TORTOISE! Over the years I taken a few treks into the woods and I've NEVER seen a Gopher Tortoise. We not only found this one off of our trail, he let us take pictures!!

These animals are VERY shy. You can find their holes - burrows- all over the place, but they lead very secretive lives. So, our day began a real winner.

We later went to the beach which is spectacular. Very clean, white sand. And the water is just as clean and clear. Juliana and Brenda went wading while Cookie Mama and I baked on the shore line. I'll send pics of the bathing beauties tomorrow since I can't download them to the computer right now.

Day 2 at Gulf Shores

Grammy the Navigator maintained her normal layed back self which wrought havoc from the skies and brought on the rains in LA the likes of Ivan. She got us to Gulf Shores in one piece but her laxadaisical attitude has got to give:)

Day 2 in Gulf Shores was as nice as a piece of Lain's pound cake.

Navigator is now very relaxed behind the map.

Juilana mugging with the pirates.

After lunch, Pappy mugged with black bear at nature center. I was stuffed and so was he.

Gulf Shores State Park

Hello to all our blogger friends out there. It's been quite a respite since last posting. We have been camping since then but for some reason I couldn't muster the energy to post during our last trip which was to the Okeefenokee Park. There was this slight problem with the 5th Wheel and ... well lets just leave it at that.

Today is a new day and all is good.

We left out Monday afternoon with the idea of traveling to Anywhere Alabama so the full trip to Gulf Shores wouldn't be so exhaustive on my Navigator. We landed in Auburn at a small, quaint state park called Chewacla. It was constructed in 1941 by the CCC and retains it's original charm. The below pic is it's 28 acer lake with rustic dock and diving board. I haven't seen one of these since the 60's.

We only spent the night. (And it was better than a Wal-Mart parking lot)

The last pic is of the Navigator hard at work studying the map. (It may have helped if she had a crash course in Alabamees before we hit Montgomery.)

Cya in Gulf Shores,

Pappy