Gulf State Park, Alabama

Back in December when I was making reservations for our trip along the Gulf Coast this winter, I tried to get a site at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. I had read many wonderful reviews about the place on blogs and forums, but they were booked solid for the time we would be coming through. So, I booked six nights at another campground in the area. As the time got closer, we just didn’t think the other park sounded all that good, so I started looking for an alternative.

As I was searching, I came across Gulf State Park again. I gave them a call and got very lucky to get the only site they had open for five nights. I jumped on it, and made plans for the extra night at a Passport America park nearby. I’m so glad we got in. Gulf State Park is an amazing place!! They have almost 500 sites a few blocks from the shore. All of the sites are much larger than in any private RV park we’ve stayed. The roads and sites are all paved with patios, a picnic table a grill and full hookups. Quite a few of the sites are on a lake. There is a nature center, activity building, camp store, tennis courts, seasonal swimming pool, lots of paved bike trails and much more. They even have free wi-fi although with the park being completely full it has been hit and miss. During the winter months they allow booking for a month or more. No wonder the place is full. We’ve seen many people from the Midwest and Canada. This place is just awesome!

Here’s our site which is much bigger than it looks in the picture. There’s quite a bit more room on the left of the photo. The view out of our back window is the lake.

We arrived on a beautiful Monday afternoon. While setting up, I spotted a pretty blue bird on the grill at our site. I snapped a quick picture through the window. It’s a bit blurry, but I have to share it as it’s a new bird for me. An Eastern Bluebird.

Temps on Tuesday were in the low 70s. We road our bikes a little over ten miles on the trails in the park. Along the side of one of the paths we saw some people looking into the brush. An alligator was sunning itself. There are supposed to be some babies in the area as well, but we didn’t see them.

Then we road to the beach and walked on the amazing white sands for about an hour.  A lady walking in front of us from the parking lot stooped down when she got to the water and came up with a starfish in her hands. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I looked and looked and never saw a single one. I did find some very pretty shells that I just had to take with me. There were also lots of broken sand dollars.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week wasn’t very good, so after we rode our bikes back home.  I jumped in the truck with my book and a chair and drove back to the beach. I spent another enjoyable two hours sitting on the beach enjoying the sun and the surf. Kevin’s not that much of a beach lover so he stayed home.

Yesterday it rained pretty much all day. Those of you up north have once again been generous enough to share your polar vortex weather with us. We did some shopping and stopped at Billy’s Seafood where we bought three pounds of fresh shrimp. We had some for dinner. I’ve never cooked fresh shrimp before; and I think I overcooked them a little, but they were still good!

Today the sun is once again shining and temps are supposed to get into the mid 50s. A great day for bike riding!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!