We went to Orange Beach, Alabama on vacation for 4 days and it was amazing. We went with another couple and their 2 kids (8 so far) and her 3 nieces (yes that is 11 total people).
We came back as friends.
We will go on vacation by ourselves next time.
Not because we don't still like them, but because we just think it will be easier that way.
Day 1: after many, many hours in the van, we made it! We stopped in Gulf Shores and ate lunch. I had a soft shell crab po' boy sandwich and it was delicious!!!
We then went on to Orange Beach, found our condo, and immediately unpacked and went to the beach. Our condo was on the beach, so it was fantastic. To round out the evening, we ate sandwiches for supper and went to find ice cream. Found it, ate it and went back to the same place 2 more times before we left 4 days later.
Day 2: It was a day of shopping, naps, beach time and a Dolphin Cruise. I highly recommend this experience! We had a great time, saw several dolphins and enjoyed watching the sunset from on the ocean. BEAUTIFUL!!!
Day 3: Alligators. Everywhere. over 200 of them. This was much more fun than we had expected it to be (the other family really wanted to go, so we tagged along). . The big boys took the little boys to play putt-putt and the big girls took all of the little girls and L to the beach.
Day 4: We traveled about 12 miles to the West and landed in Pensecola at 7:45 AM to watch the Blue Angels. Best show ever! It was worth getting 11 cranky people out of bed and fed at 6:00 AM to go see. Then while on the Naval Base, we went to the National Aviation Museum. It was very educational and as a lover of educational places to visit; I give it 5 stars. You must go check it out when visiting.
And while on the beach collecting shells and looking for crabs (didn't find any crabs) the night before, a local informed us that Destin was only about 40 miles from Orange Beach and we should go check it out if we had time. She claimed it had the most beautiful beaches in the US. I DO NOT recommend this if you have a large number of people or if you are accustomed to traveling 40 miles in less than 2 hours. YIKES! It was 40 miles of moderate city traffic in the middle of no where. Basically! It was cloudy and storms moving in by the time we got there and the watr in the Gulf was so heavy, it was dangerous to be in. We crossed the highway and played in an inlet for a bit, but then turned around and spent 2 hours driving back to Orange Beach. We decided (in our humble hillbilly opinions) that it wasn't worth the drive.
We finished off our night with doing large amounts of laundry and packing.
Day 5: We were on the road again, headed for home. It took us only 14 hours to get home and that included a 1 1/2 hour stop for lunch and several pit stops (as you can imagine with 11 people in your party).
All in all we had a blast and can't wait for the next vacation!
Still the whitest Beach Bunny EVER,
MommyShelle C
