Gulf Shores

It was supposed to be mostly sunny day today, so we decided to venture down to Gulf Shores and the beach area. Well, as it seems to always happen, we were 15 minutes into our drive and the sun went behind a cloud and it began to sprinkle! We persevered and decided to have fun with the drive anyway.

Fort Morgan is on a peninsula in Gulf Shores and we decided that would be fun to see. This fort was the site of the Civil War Battle at Mobile Bay. We thought we could wander the fort grounds without a fee, but of course, that wasn't the case. And, being too cheap to pay $5 each to do so, we turned around and took pictures from the road! I was somewhat disappointed, though. We probably didn't see a whole lot less than if we had gone in, although we were only able to see some of the perimeter of the grounds.

After Fort Morgan, we started back to the highway, taking our time to stop along the way to take pictures of the coves and the Gulf. Although it wasn't a beautiful day, I like the pictures we got.

We also stopped at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Jeff Friend Trail (JFT). This was the shortest trail in the refuge, so that's the one I picked!! Remember that Gulf Shores and the surrounding area was hit pretty hard by a couple of hurricanes in 2004, then got some of Katrina last year, and this trail still shows some of that damage. We didn't expect to see much wildlife given the time of year, but I wonder if the damage also chased them away. We could see where the park employees are working to restore the trail, but it's gotta be tough when you keep getting hammered! The refuge is found on both sides of the peninsula that Fort Morgan is also on.

As we were leaving the refuge, the rain started again. (It had stopped for a little bit - long enough to get some pictures.) We decided to come on home instead of going on to the beach as we had first thought we'd do. The beach in the rain is not much fun. And I had gotten some pictures of the gulf, so I was happy.

The weather is not supposed to be great this weekend - a cold front with rain is coming through. We'll not be doing much, I'm sure. We do want to go to Pensacola before we leave this area, though. There is an aviation museum there Randy wants to tour. The campground is organizing a dolphin trip for next Thursday and we have signed up to do that. Hope the weather clears for that! I am excited about that one.

Praying for you all at home and hoping you are enjoying life. Please write us and let us know what's going on in your world. We love you!!