Travel Day to Gulf Shores

Sorry I didn't post last night but I was so tired and stuffed from dinner. I just went to bed.

OK so not much happened yesterday. We left Biloxi and headed on East. We stopped at a rest stop just inside of Alabama to waste some time. It is only about a 2 hour drive to Gulf Shores and we can't get into our RV park before noon. There were lots of vegetable stands along the State Highway into Gulf Shores. I kept telling Tim to stop but he just kept on driving.

There is so much stuff to do around here. We past several go-kart/putt-putt areas and lots of the souvenir/junk shops. After arriving at our RV Park, we decided to go ahead and rent a car. It just makes it easier to get around and so we did. The kids and I went swimming while Tim secured the rental van. It took a while because the rental place was all the way in Foley. This is about a 15 minute drive.

When he got back we loaded up and went exploring. This area is very different from Biloxi. The whole beach front is hotel after hotel after condo after condo. Then you get down to the beach houses which look awesome. So Laura this is definitely an awesome place to vacation next year.

The kids kept wanting to go out and explore in the sand but Tim and I were hungry. We tried to go to LULU's a popular tourist place. This is Jimmy Buffet's sister's restaurant but it was so crowded you could not find a place to park. So we came back up by the beach and ate at an awesome place. It was called De Soto's Seafood Kitchen. OH MY GOSH!!!! It was so awesome. Even better than the French place last night.

We ordered fried sweet potato fries and alligator bites for appetizers. The kids loved the sweet potatoes. Jake and Jessi both tried the alligator. It was kind of tough but really did kind of taste like chicken. I finally bribed Jenni with a $10 bill to try it. She did. I thought for a couple seconds she was going to make herself throw up but she didn't. Josh was the hold out. The last piece on the plate and he bargained for a $10 too. He just made a funny face when he ate it but he thought it was like chicken too.

I had a Hawaiian steak tonight. (Sorry mom didn't mean to rub in the beef availability) It was so succulent and juicy. It was seasoned with pineapple, soy, and ginger. This is a recipe I'm going to try at home. I also had sweet potato pie and fried green tomatoes. Quite the southern dinner I think. It was all so delicious. Tim had some Cajun seafood platter with coconut shrimp. It looked really good too. Of course my ever adventurous kids stuck with grilled cheese and corn dogs.

After dinner we walked across the street to the beach. The sun had set but still had a little light. It was so beautiful. I gave the kids the speech about the undertow and how you could get pulled out to sea if you went in too far. Jake and Jenni wouldn't even come put their feet in. I felt bad but I'd rather them respect the ocean than drown. I finally got them both to come out and stand where the waves would roll up over their feet. To me there is nothing better than to stand on the beach with the sound of the rolling waves coming in. I could have stayed there all night.

Jessi and Josh on the other hand were running and laughing. They would try to find where the most water was coming on beach and stand in it. Josh crouched down one time and the wave actually knocked him over. I think it scared him at first but then he started laughing and we all started laughing. Then Jake decided he was going to get wet too. I made them strip out of their clothes before they got in the rental car. They weren't too happy about that but I didn't want sand in the van.

They are already planning their day at the beach tomorrow.