After Christmas I took Mom and Dad and we headed down to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores Alabama. I had wanted to start out around 5 AM that morning, but I got a nail in my tire so I had to get that fixed before we could get on the road. We finally left around 9 AM. It took us 9 hours, and it was dark by the time we got there. We got all set up and sleep like a log.
Gulf State Park is built around an inland lake that is .2 mi from the beach. We woke up early and I took this picture of Mom as she was looking at the lake. The state park Pavilion on the Gulf is right across the water from us.
It was a very nice day. We went walking on the beach and then drove the beach road to look at houses that we could rent next time we come down. We went down to the beach by the outlet of the lake we were staying on and it was beautiful. I brought a couple a chairs for Mom and Dad to relax in while I took pictures. Looks like they were having a good time!
We went to the store and bought some fresh scallops to cook on the grill for supper. But before I could cook the sun started going down. So we went back to the beach and got some sunset shots. The pelicans were out, the winds were blowing and the sunset was spectacular and the grilled scallops were pretty good too!
We had a really stormy night, but we didn't blow away (I think we had at least 40 mph winds). After breakfast we went to the beach for a short time, but it was threatening rain, so Mom and I decided to go to the outlets mall while Dad stayed at the trailer and relaxed (read that...slept...). It really stormed at the mall, but we had a good time shopping. We ate lunch at Lambert's...the home of the "throwed" roll. It was pretty good "down home" cooking. Mom and I were really full and Dad ate our leftovers for his supper. The storm was finally over by sunset and we had another nice sunset.
We got up early the last day and drove down to a bird sanctuary. It was really cold that day, so there were not really very many birds out. But I got a good picture of Dad on top of the observation tower... I took it with my cell phone!
After we left there we drove on in to Santa Rosa Island. We found a place to eat called "Flounders". Mom had crabcakes that she said were as good as the ones that she had in NC, Dad had a hamburger (he doesn't like seafood), and I had shrimp. That was definitely a go again place!
Then we took a walk on the beach. ...got a picture of Mom and Dad walking down the walkway.
After that we drove on back to Gulf Shores to pack up and head home the next morning.
I think that Mom and Dad enjoyed themselves. I think it makes them nostalgic when they get around the water and the waves. I really liked this picture of both of them just looking at the water...
If you want to see more pictures from the trip you can click here to go to my
webshots album. I think I got some good ones of Mom and Dad. And here is the picture that I took right before we got on the road to come home.
Love to all... Cathy
