Gulf Shores, AL

Friday, April 12

Believe it or not, it was time to say good-bye to Destin. I woke up early to workout while Andi took a work call and the kids ate breakfast, and then we packed up the RV and drove two hours west along the coast to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We learned about this area from my cousin Tara who said this is one of her family’s favorite places to vacation. We were excited to check it out for ourselves.

Before we set off, we stopped at Shrimpers Seafood Market in Santa Rosa Beach for more shrimp. We can’t stop dreaming about the ones we ate a few days ago!

We were awestruck by the size of Gulf Shores State Park upon our arrival. There were three full lines of RV waiting to check-in to their sties. Later we learned this area suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and used the opportunity to add a swimming pool and splash pad, an interactive nature center, and a beach pavilion to the facilities. Our campsite was simple but nice, backing up to one of the park’s freshwater lakes.

Once we were setup in our site, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I walked around the campground together to explore and found a few geocaches along the way. The first geo was hidden in a coffee can inside a birdhouse, and contained all kids of toys & trinkets. We could tell this park was popular with kids. Tory and Aden exchanged a plastic gemstone they brought along for a McDonald’s Minion toy from the pile. The second geocache was harder to find. The clue said it was near the bathroom/shower building and was somewhere you could “walk or drive over.” We scoured the building and the small parking lot for almost an hour, but we couldn’t find the geocache. The four of us must’ve looked like idiots walking around that building searching every nook & cranny! That’s alright though. The kids have a blast discovering these treasures.

Eventually we gave up finding that one and walked back to our campsite. Andi grilled fish for dinner and Tory asked if we could make s’mores in the RV microwave since we didn’t have a fire ring at this site. She saw the. idea on one of the cooking shows she likes to watch. We tried it, but the s’mores weren’t as tasty as they are over a campfire.

Saturday, April 13

I found a long list of activities to do in the Gulf Shores, Alabama area including an Easter egg hunt at a nearby shopping center called The Wharf. The event was free and included face painting and jumping in bouncy houses (two of Tory and Aden’s favorite things!), so I knew they would be all about it.

I wasn’t sure how many people were expected at this event or what the parking situation would be like in a busy shopping area, so we left our campground early to allow plenty of time to park the RV. Surprisingly, it wasn’t busy at all when we arrived. We walked around the cute coastal-themed outdoor shopping area, and I bought a new pair of sunglasses and a travel cup for the RV. Just before 11:30am, we walked over to the egg hunt on the big outdoor lawn.

I didn’t give Tory and Aden much explanation about what we were doing today because I wasn’t sure what to expect myself. In parenting, it’s always better to under-promise / over-deliver! The organizer announced the start of the egg hunt just as we walked up to the event, so I threw two reusable shopping bags at the kids and said, “Go!” Tory took off through the crowd of kids in her age group, collecting plastic eggs while Aden, unsure what was happening, just stood there and watched the chaos. Local kids from the area, dressed to the nine’s in adorable Easter outfits, raced around the grassy lawn while our kids looked like they’d been living in a bus. It’s funny how special dates on the calendar have come and gone without much notice when we’ve been traveling. We don’t have monogrammed Easter baskets (or even Easter outfits!) this year, and honestly that’s totally fine. This trip has shown us that family experiences, more than things, are important to us.

After the hunt concluded, the four of us found a shady spot to sit under a tree and Tory and Aden counted their Easter eggs. “There’s candy in here!” Tory said. How funny is it that the two of them honestly didn’t know what to expect. We’ve only participated in backyard Easter egg hunts at our family celebrations.

After the egg hunt, the kids jumped in the bouncy house and got their faces painted. Tory picked a butterfly, as per usual, and Aden wanted to be Batman. Except, the face painting artist made his mask blue so he really didn’t look like Batman at all. Easy-going Aden didn’t seem bothered by it though.

There were lots of other activities at The Wharf like a ferris wheel and a train that loops around the complex, but we decided to drive to another place I’d heard about in town called The Gulf for lunch. Located right on the water, this restaurant described itself as seafood meets farm-to-table which sounded delicious to us.

What a cool vibe this restaurant had! Tory and Aden played on the beach with some kids while Andi and I sipped cocktails and waited for our food to be prepared. He ordered sea scallops and I had the tuna poke. It was windy, but warm and sunny.

There were so many fun activities at Gulf Shores State Park, we decided to go back to our campground to hang out there for the rest of the day. Andi rented bikes so we’d be able to get around the park without having to move our RV from the campsite. Tory can ride a bike but Aden still uses training wheels, so Andi thought it’d be easier and safer to pull them behind one of our bikes in a kid trailer.

After we put on our swimming suits, we rode bikes to the swimming pool / splash pad area. I wasn’t expecting much from a state park campground pool, so I was pleasantly surprised by how nice of a facility this was! The pool was packed with kids and families enjoying the water. Andi and I sat on the side while Tory and Aden tried to make some few friends without much success. That’s been a hard part of traveling; there aren’t as many kids in campgrounds as I expected and when there are kids, they aren’t always interested in making new friends. It’s a difficult part of parenting to watch your child initiate conversation/play only to be rejected, but that’s life I suppose.

Tory and Aden swam in the pool for a while and then we decided to ride our bikes down to the fishing pier. The park’s bike trails was paved and well maintained, but our rented bikes were not. Five minutes into our bike ride, the chain fell off my bike. We pulled over on the side of the trail, Andi fixed it, and we continued on. Five minutes later, the same thing happened. Andi fixed the chain and we continued on. And, REPEAT, for the entire length of our bike ride. The wind was really whipping now as rain clouds moved in, so in addition to be broken down on the side of the road we were also shivering!

Andi’s hands were covered in grease by the time we got back to our campsite. He was frustrated, but it was still fun to get outdoors and explore a new area together. I imagine the Gulf Shores’ beach and fishing pier are beautiful when the sun is shining and the weather is warm.

For dinner, Andi grilled shrimp & veggies. The kids played a matching game after dinner together, and we hung outside inside the RV for the rest of the night. With the rain, temperatures were forecasted to drop into the 40’s tonight, so we plugged in a space heater to keep us warm and cozy all night long.

Sunday, April 14

The air was cool this morning, but the sun was shining brightly. It rained most of the night, but today looked to be a nice day.

After breakfast, we walked over to the Education Building for a campground devotion service. The gathering was simple and up-lifting. The pastor’s message was about finding joy in life’s trials. It made me think about yesterday’s bike ride and how easy it was to get frustrated when things didn’t go as planned. But really, we are in a beautiful new-to-us place making memories as a family. It’s difficult to be frustrated when you look at things from that perspective.

We’d planned to visit the Orange Beach Zoo today until the pastor mentioned a strawberry festival taking place about an hour away. Without even discussing it, we hopped in the RV after the service and headed toward Loxley, Alabama — Andi and I love a good festival!

We enjoyed driving through several small Alabama towns on our way to Loxley. The greatest thing about RV’ing across the country is that we’re able to see & experience so many places that we normally wouldn’t be able to visit because we have the time and mode of transportation.

In Loxley, we parked our RV for $10 in someone’s drive-way and walked a few blocks to the town’s municipal park. We saw signs for the festival’s famous strawberry shortcake, lots of carnival rides and a few rows of vendors selling everything from homemade fudge to handmade hair bows and everything Alabama football. Andi ordered a bowl of strawberry shortcake to share with the kids and then we walked through the vendor fair.

Zoos and amusement parks are fun, but if you really want a taste of local culture — a town festival is the place to go! The Loxley Strawberry Festival felt exactly like being at our favorite summer festivals back home, except the handmade signs had different words (lots of y’alls and ‘best granddaddy ever’), everything (and I mean everything) was monogrammed, and t-shirts & hats celebrated “gulf life” instead of “lake life.” Love it!

We promised Tory and Aden they could go the carnival after we toured the vendor section, so we walked over there next. They were each able to pick three rides. Aden picked a classic carousel-type ride with jet skis going around and around in a circle. They both rode down the big slide once, and then Tory decided to use one of her tickets to ride it again. When it was time to leave, Aden threw a tantrum because he wanted to ride more rides. More hard parenting moments! Of course we’d love to buy him endless rides at the carnival, but we had to stick to the original plan — they each got to pick three rides. Luckily, Aden is easily distracted and got over his disappointment as soon as we saw the park’s playground. We stopped there last to let the kids play on the slides and swings.

On the way back to Gulf Shores, Andi stopped the RV at Burres Farm Market in Loxley. Open-air produce markets like this one are everywhere in Costa Rica, but not as common in the U.S. The comforting smell of freshly baked goods pulled us right into the shop. We bought banana blueberry bread and a piece of lemon cake, as well as all the produce we needed for the next two days. That way, we wouldn’t have to stop at the grocery store on our way back to the campground.

Our RV refrigerator was acting up again. We’ve had issues with it working since the day we bought this RV and have had it repaired four different times within the past year. I spend the next 30 minutes unloading all our food and packing it in coolers when we got back to Gulf Shores State Park. Then we grilled chicken and veggies for dinner.

After dinner, the four of us went for a walk around the campground and tried to find more geocaches. We found one called “Swap & Spit” that was pretty neat — it was a long pipe that required you to blow on one end forcing the geo container to shoot out the other side. The kids thought it was so funny! I tried not to think about how many people had put their mouth on that tube before us.

Just before bedtime, the refrigerator started working again. We’re crossing our fingers it fixed itself, and thinking of Plan B for the next few weeks of our trip if it doesn’t.