Blogs from Gulf Shores, Alabama, United States, North America

Saint Patrick's Day! Today is our last full day in Gulf Shores. Saint Patrick’s Day. We woke up to a beautiful day today. Sunny and warm. After an early morning walk on the beach with Leo we had a pancake breakfast made by Pedro. We had honey for our pancakes. After breakfast we headed to town to explore. We found a second dog park in town at the state park. We had tried to find this one earlier in the week, but Sriracha’s phone did not have the proper directions. This park was mainly a tourist park. The other one in town is where the locals seemed to go. The state park dog park was on the river. There was a sign posted warning the humans of possible alligators, but fortunately dogs don’t read. There were ... read more

We woke up to some really nice storms this morning. Wind and some lightning and thunder. Leo got his walk during a short break in the weather. Pete made some pancakes for breakfast with some Irish bacon. He crisped up some corned beef to go with the pancakes. After breakfast we headed towards the Flora-Bama area. We stopped and picked up some seafood. Then it was off to another dog park. Leo got to learn how to do the teeter totter obstacle. Still needs some practice, but he did manage to go over it several times with a bit of assist. Lunch was at a bistro barbeque spot. Small little place, but really good food. We headed back to Gulf Shores as the sun started to come out. We finally got some nice weather with temperatures ... read more

Today I woke up to fog, and not just any fog, dense fog. The window screens and sill were wet, the balcony was wet and I could just barely see the dunes out my window. This put a slight hitch in my plans as the ferry was not running at all, visibility for driving was poor and I couldn't decide what to do. In the end, I decided I should not plan anything and should just go wherever I felt like. After laying around the room, I finally got moving and drove into Gulf Shores and further along the coast to Orange Beach. This time of year the traffic is pretty light so it was a nice easy drive. The fog was all along the coast and I couldn't see much so I turned around. I ... read more

When you start to get overwhelmed at work and need a break, you start looking for where you can go quickly and cheaply. For me, that ended up being the Gulf Coast so I could finally cross some more states off my list. As far as the basics, I got a cheap $75 round trip flight on Spirit from O'Hare to New Orleans and found a condo right on the Alabama coast for $56 a night. You can't really get a better deal than that! Every time I fly Spirit I say I won't fly it again and then I do. The advantage on a short trip like this is I did not need to bring a bag bigger than my backpack so it was worth it. This time the flight left on time, arrived on ... read more

Christmas week still finds us in Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL. We have had some of the nicest weather ever during this month. Most days are sunny and warm enough for us - high 60's and low 70's. The park has a great Backcountry Bike Trail that has a complex of 6 trails totaling 11 paved miles. We can bike it, in combination with the bike trail on the main road, to get to restaurants and shopping and the beach. We've put on a lot of miles going to Wal-Mart, Publix and the Pancake House. While we travel Ron is always on the lookout for nurseries that sell trees to make into bonsai . He found a nice Japanese Cedar called a 'Black Dragon' that he has shaped and wired into our Christmas tree. ... read more