Gulf Shores, AL

Gulf Shores, AL
March 24th - 31st, 2017

Friday
This year we decided to do a little more relaxing spring break trip. Plane tickets were pricey so we decided to pack up our SUV and road trip it South. Google maps estimated 16 hours to make it to the sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, AL. We left Friday at 5 PM. Matt did today's driving. Dinner consisted of Arby's for the kids & Matt and Chipotle for me. We hoped to drive as far as we could. That only got us to central Illinois, Mount Vernon. We stopped at a Hampton Inn for the night. I discovered Noelle is a blanket hog and Greta doesn't so do well sleeping on the floor. Poor dad spent much of the night with her on the floor.

Saturday
This morning we all woke up around seven. I went for an out and back run, Matt showered and the kids ate the hotel continental breakfast. Our hotel seemed to be the popular place for many road tripers heading south with their families for spring break. We hit the road at 8:30 AM. Greta was a trooper. She watched her videos all 16 hours. James played Xbox and played on his phone. Noelle read her book, drew tattoos on everyone's legs and arms, asked dad trivia crack, and got the tired sillies with the never-ending Noelle laugh. When I took a turn driving dad spent hours researching our next purchase (an RV) in between micromanaging our finances. I on other hand, while in the passenger seat browsed Pinterest food art. Our lunch stop was a fun one. We stopped in downtown Nashville at a cute restaurant . Much of our day was driving through thunderstorms. Didn't stop us. We averaged 80 miles an hour and barely stopped other than a restroom break or gas. We rolled into Gulf Shores about 8:30 PM.

Our final hour before arriving was probably the best of the 16. We talked a lot about what the kids want to do after they graduate. Noelle says she wants to be a weather woman or a realtor and James maybe a pediatrician and possibly going into the military?? Noelle wants to live into in a medium size town semi out in the country. James wants to live in Green Bay, out in the country. Greta wants to be a veterinarian.

Our condo is really nice. It is on the 18th floor. We did have a little dispute between James and Noelle about who's going to sleep where. I think they have it figured out. They're alternating the bedroom. Lucky Greta gets the loft bunk beds. We all went to bed rather early it was a long day.

Sunday
I knew the family would want to do waffle house right away. I was able to fit in a 5 mile run along the beach before we walked to our waffle house breakfast. Waffle house certainly has character. James loves the local feel. Hey says he wants to open up his own little diner in a small town. Next we headed to Walmart to get our weeks worth of groceries. Once back to our condo we got on our suits and headed down to the beach for some boogie boarding and wave jumping. After a couple hours in the sun we were ready for lunch in the room. Next we got on our walking shoes and went for a walk towards some souvenir shopping stores. James and dad found swim trunks, Noelle got a swimsuit and a shirt, I found a pair of shorts to sleep in, and Greta of course got a stuffed animal & dress. Our trip is not complete without getting grandma Carol magnet! Next we made our way to get some ice cream. We walked walk by a lagoon that had a crocodile in it. James teased Greta saying he was going to throw in. The walk back to the condo we decided to go along the beach. Much more entertaining with all the people watching. Greta enjoyed picking up shells and getting very wet and sandy. This evening Noelle and Greta are in charge of dinner. They did an awesome job. We ate out on the patio. Noelle made crescent rolls stuffed with cheese and a fruit platter with Nutella dip. The evening was approaching and it was feeling a bit cool so we all put on our suits & went for a dip in the hot tub. Now back in the room James and dad are watching their favorite program on TV and I'm counting down the minutes till I can crash.

Monday
I awoke early....like 3:30 AM for a midnight snack. Unfortunately I didn't sleep much after that. Come to find out Greta and Matt didn't sleep much either. Greta got a flu bug. This morning Matt joined me running. We did an out and back along the beach. Afterwards we all put on our suits and did wave jumping and boogie boarding...this time Jill got to do it too! James & I discovered the sauna afterwards and decided we want one of our own. Next we headed up to the condo to shower up and went to lunch at Lulu's. I'm not sure what was more amazing, the my blackened mahi-mahi-mahi or the kids wonderland this place had to offer. Had Greta been feeling better we probably wouldn't have been able to leave. The had a ropes course, sand castle making, and volleyball sand courts. The setting was just as nice...next to a Marina with million dollar yachts to gauck at. We weren't quite ready to go back to the condo so we scoped out "The Wharf", a luxury shopping and dinning experience with a large Farris Wheel. We did some window shopping and then made our way to S&S seafood. What a dive....didn't look fresh like we had hoped. We skipped that idea of making seafood at the condo and made a comfort food dinner instead, you know bread for James, fruit for Greta, vegetables for Jill, meat for Matt, and ice cream for Noelle....just joking....only kind of. Before our comfort food dinner, we went for a drive along the coast to look at property. We couldn't believe our eyes what properties go for!!!! Expensive!! Next Noelle, Matt and I went for a stroll on long the beach. We took off our shoes and "hid" them before going. Unfortunately we didn't hide them well enough. Noelle's birkenstocks were stollen!! Matt took her to a solvineer shop to find replacements...no such luck. He instead ordered a pair on Zappos. Our comfort dinner was out on the porch. Noelle wanted to play a game so we played battle of the sexes....that was fun! Boy do I suck at trivia! And my brain is on vacation mode! As the lighting struck we came in and turned on CSI on net flicks.....Greta and I crashed.

Tuesday
This morning James joined Matt & I on our run down the beach. They went 3 miles, I went five miles. We ended our run with wave jumping and boogie boarding. As we were walking back to the sauna we discovered Noelle's lost Birkenstock! Someone had a guilty conscience and returned them 12 hours later! Makes us wonder who enjoyed them for those 12 hours? Weird! Our sauna wasn't preheating so we only spent a short while in there before heading to the room. Noelle and Greta were chillin and ready to go. We split up today. The girls went to get their hair cut at a local unique salon with a real friendly beautician. Next we hit Arby's for lunch for lunch had pedicures. Greta was a still A little under the weather and ending up lying down in her pedicure chair. Once back to our condo we hit the beach and the pool. This time I got to boogie board with Noelle. Greta swim like a fish. We all had our fill on the sun so we went up to the condo for showers and chill time. Now we are having pizza and popcorn. The day wasn't complete without ice cream. Better yet, "Matt's ice cream." On our way back to the condo we hit another solvineer shop. Noelle got another swim suit as did Greta. James purchased hot sauce with intentions on a mean trick on dad. Once back to our condo we watched a few episodes of "Friends" and hit the sack.

Wednesday
This morning James played a trick on dad. He put hot sauce in his coffee...and got it on video!! Was that a hoot!! This morning after my morning run on the beach we went to KITTY's Kafe for breakfast. The restaurant walls were covered in morals of flying pigs, dogs, and cats. Afterwards we headed to Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge to hike on pine beach trail. The kids weren't too interested. We finally got them to join in with trail mix power ups to look forward to and a $5 bribe to the person who finished the hike first. The trail meandered through swampy areas. We were lucky to spot a gator. Matt decided to throw a rock his direction....his aim was dead on...poor gator was hit in the back. He still barely moved. Once to the observation tower....we decided swimming wasn't a smart idea. Gator lake is called gator lake for a reason. Instead we played some lacrosse, ate our trail mix and headed back. Once back we blasted the air conditioning in the SUV and made our way back to the condo for lunch followed by swimming. We all took turns wave jumping, boogie boarding, and watching Greta swim. After a couple hours we headed to our condo to shower up. Matt and I went to a Walmart for dinner fixings and more snacks. Tonight we cooked hamburgers. Afterwards we went out for a family hike along the beach. Amazing how many jelly fish are washed up on shore. We went back up to the room for a bit to watch a couple episodes of "Friends" and them after sunset, Matt, James, and I went back out to hike the beach in the dark. We saw a different crowd at that hour!! Lots of college aged kids were jamming...doing Noelle's dance. Others were digging in the sand for crabs. Once back to our room we crashed.

Thursday
This morning I wasn't feeling so hot. After going for a run I went a little better. We all had our beach time this morning. We wanted to fit it in before the rain. Greta found a 5 year old friend from Indianapolis. They swam together for a hour or so. James and dad boogie boarded and wave jumped. Noelle slept in this morning and opted to stay dry. After pizza lunch in the condo we decided to drive to Pensacola, FL to go the Naval base museum. We did a couple of rides, 3D and 4D blue angel flight stimulation. Afterwards we hit a ice cream shop while it poured. We lucked out in that this was the only afternoon it rained. Initially the forecast had predicted rain everyday. The average temperature here was 78 degrees. Can't beat that! Once back to our condo we cooked up a comfort dinner, turkey sausages, salads, ramen, and crescent rolls. Now the kids are playing cards and I'm watching an HDTV program called "flip or flop" (house renovation projects lead by a well off family). We packed up our stuff tonight...final night. The kids want to leave early tomorrow so we are all hitting the sack early.

Friday
We awoke at 5am to do the final cleaning up. We made it to Waffle House by 7am. Great way to start and end a trip. This time I enjoyed the cheesy grits and eggs. I skipped my run today. Still feeling a bit under the weather. We hit the road at 8am. The kids wanted to get home today so we limited our stops to Subway for lunch and Wendy's for dinner...both while getting gas. We made it back home by 12:30AM. The older two did much better this time...Greta too. I think Greta must have every episode of Dora memorized. I was pretty impressed with Noelle...she read two books that she downloaded on her phone on this leg of the trip.

All and all our trip was a success. If there is a repeat trip here we plan to drive in one day starting 7am. Also... we may try the nicer condo in the gaited community that had a private beach, tennis courts, golf cart, pool etc. I would say the beaches in golf shores are pretty spectacular...I would definitely go back.


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