Sweet Home Alabama

I have been excited to get to Alabama the whole trip. I didn’t really have any specific reason but I wanted to see it because of how I picture the south in my head. Oh it was better than what I thought in my mind. We stayed out on country roads surrounded by thick trees, green fields and the cutest homes with front porches and yards. The folks were all so friendly and had great “accents” and respond respectfully yes sir and yes ma’am’s. The food, well it’s fried, extra sweet and not colorful; but we did learn about conecuh sausage that is really good.

Mobile- We went and explored the USS Alabama Destroyer War Ship and The Drum Submarine. We learned a lot and got to walk around the whole ship.

Blakeley- state park that is a civil war battlefield. We learned about the war and Confederate and Union sides. What the way was about. We also got to run around and pretend what it would have been like as we hid in trenches, saw sharp tree spike guard fences and the pits and walls where soldiers were. Walked on the ground that men lost their lives for us for our freedom. It was powerful and impactful for us all.

Fairhope-

We boondocked at Big Daddy’s Grill. Great spot. Fun for kids to play at sand pit while parents have a beer or eat. On the river with a dock to go out on. We met some great friends that we connected with very quickly. Can’t wait to hang out again. We even had them all over to our house for dinner. It was a great time.

  • Good  Coffee: Refuge
  • Good Breweries: Fairhope Brewing
  • Good Libraries: Fairhope= AMAZING Could spend all day every day there. Kids have their own area and can be normal, roam, use computers, great story times. LOVE IT!.

Gulf Shore= big hotels and beach house rows. Eat at Flip Flop Deli. Watch out for sand gnats- noseeums- they itch bad. We like Fort Morgan beach area. It was less tourist hangout and commercialized

Pictures that speak for themselves.

By far one of our TOP favorite places.

Louisiana and Mississippi

Alright I don’t know what happened but every time I update this and add more content and pictures it doesn’t save. So I give up. I will add some pictures and call it good. Not very detailed and we did a lot more in these two states then I wrote about.

Louisiana

We felt like we have entered into a new planet. We have never been in an environment like this. The ground is swampy then there are thick palms then there are huge trees and vines grounding and hanging from them. Also there are huge bare trees with Spanish moss growing on them. They look all spooky like from a dark movie, especially in the areas the mist is rolling in.

We experienced a lot of firsts here such as

  • First alligators
  • First time eating crawfish
  • First armadillos
  • First bayous
  • First beignets
  • We drove over the Mississippi River
  • We drove through Baton Rouge at 5 miles an hour,on the interstate
  • We learned to avoid I-10, it’s so rough

We also drove past the church Scott came down to help rebuild with a mission trip in 2005. The church had since been rebuilt on stilts. We were shocked at the amount of damage and the amount of vacant places there are now. A Sheriff told us that we would probably not see more then 10 folks on the road over our next 2 hour stretch. He was right. It’s a odd feeling driving a coastal highway that is empty and properties that are just stilts or foundations instead of homes.

Mississippi

We learned that in the south the states all have a welcome center right when you enter the state. That’s helpful. We enjoyed the welcome center and even got a lot of info about the up coming Mardi Gras. We didn’t know we were in Mardi Gras week. We went to 2 parades and learned that they are not what we northerners have heard or believe them to be. Well at least not all of them. They are full of joy, culture, traditions and history. We have never had that much fun at a parade before. We also came home with pounds and pounds of beads. We met a lot of folks that were so friendly and kind. It was nice. Also as a northerner, did anyone else not realize there is so much coast line in Mississippi? (and later we learn the same in Alabama). The Gulf Coast here has miles of beaches, bike trails and even an island of the coast that we hear has amazing blue water on the other side.