Gulf Shores, Part 2
Fairhope and Fort Morgan
Missed Part 1? Find it HERE
I have struggled to do a write up of Gulf Shores. There are so many things to do here! We also travelled back “home” quite a bit while were here - we saw the Pensacola airport every couple of weeks between us traveling and family traveling to us. If you are flying to this area, traveling in and out of Pensacola was very easy! Even during the busiest times for holiday travel. I also loved that they have emotional support dogs here. I only saw them once, but they were quite popular with everyone. Yes, this one rode on a skateboard through the airport!
We were rarely disappointed in any of the restaurants that we ate at. The ones that we were disappointed in, I’m not sure if they were just having a bad day that day (they had great reviews) or if it was just us. If seafood isn’t your thing, most places had plenty of options for seafood and non-seafood lovers. Since it was during the off season, a lot of the places that usually have live music, did not. Or they only had live music one of the weekend nights.
My last post gave an overall view of things that we did. This post is about two of the places that we visited and really enjoyed.
Fairhope, Alabama was one of my favorite places to explore while we were in Gulf Shores. It sits along the eastern side of Mobile Bay and is full of older buildings, narrow streets, and lots of traffic. Thankfully there always seemed to be plenty of options for parking. During the holidays there were lots of different Christmas decorations and it felt very festive, even if the temperatures were warm. There are so many things to do in this area, but I loved all of the eclectic shops here. They were all locally owned - some of them displayed work from local artists, a few sold only local and regional products, others were little boutiques full of products that I don’t see in most stores, and of course there were several cafes and places to grab a coffee or bakery type item. Every time I visited this area, it was packed with people. However, to me it always felt so peaceful, especially in the little areas away from the main street.
Another area that we found interesting was Fort Morgan. This is located next to Mobile Bay, at the very end of the peninsula that Gulf Shores sits on. It’s a historical landmark that was active during 4 wars, the earliest one being the Civil War. The tour of the fort was completely self guided, with several signs up explaining what the different areas were used for originally. The stairs between the upper and lower levels were steep! I can’t imagine going up and down those stairs several times a day. Exploring in some of the areas required a flash light - the light from our phones just wasn’t powerful enough. In other areas, there was plenty of outside light, but it was very much off of the main area. These areas were very quiet and almost had an eerie feeling to them. The views of Mobile Bay from the top of the fort were great, and I was surprised at the amount of oil/natural gas rigs that were in the bay. We were here on a nice, clear day and could see so much of the Bay area. We were able to see Dauphin Island, could watch the ferry that traveled between the fort area and Dauphin Island, and could see the bridge that connects the island to Mobile. A lot of times when we go exploring in these types of places, I don’t take my camera with me and only use my cell phone. I was disappointed that I didn’t have my nicer camera with me for this. If you’re a history buff and want to know more of the history of Fort Morgan, you can read about it HERE.
