Mandeville, LA Fountainebleau State Park

It was time to leave Gulf Shores today and wouldn't you know it, the day was warm and beautiful.  We had an easy 190 mile trip to Mandeville, LA and are now in Fontainebleau State Park for the next three nights.

Fontainebleau SP is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and occupies 2,800 acres of woodland and shoreline.   It was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina and over 80,000 trees were torn down and it actually picked up their in ground swimming pool and ripped it out and destroyed it.  Whew!  Glad we weren't here at that time.  They closed the park down for 9 months before they were able to reopen it.

We did stop at a Mississippi rest stop and picked up two geocaches.  There were three there but one wasn't listed on on geocaching.com.  Unusual.  We want to find a cache in every state or at least as many as we can.  The count of caches is 667 and 19 states.  Only 31 to go and LA should be added on Tuesday.

FloraBama & Pensacola Air Museum

The cool weather we have been having the last few days continued on today, however it was sunny and clear with very little wind.  We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and hit the beach.  No, not swimming, just looking for shells.  We met a man who was part of the crew working on cleaning the beach and talked to him for a while about how bad it was.  No big deal was his assessment.  He said they worked 7 days a week cleaning but there wasn't a lot of oil to clean up.  Gerry found one or two tar balls on her walk on the beach & I saw one.  Lots of small sea shells for Gerry to add to her collection.

After the beach walk we were hungry so we headed to the FloraBama bar and grill for lunch.  The pictures we took the other day doesn't do this place justice.  It is one of the most ramshackle places we have seen in the US.  More like something you would find in Africa on the beach.  They look like they bought more lumber as they could save enough money and then look for something to build.  They had a couple dining areas but we chose the bar since you could see the Gulf and it was less crowded.  The food actually was pretty good and the beer was cold.  You can't get much better than that.  All in all it was a neat place and I bet it really rocks in the evenings in the summertime.

Since we were so close to the Pensacola Naval Air Station we decided to run up there and check it out.  We were there a couple years ago for the Blue Angels airshow and wanted to see what was going on.  The Blue Angels have their last show of the year on November 11 and we would love to stay for it but time is running out on getting to Tucson.  Fort Pickens is just across the bay from the NAS and it looks like it has been fixed up since the hurricane of a few years ago.  The NAS lighthouse is very nice and we hope to come back and tour the lighthouse and the great Naval Museum on NAS.  We saw the museum on a prior visit and loved it.  Must see when you are in the area.

That was our day down here on the Gulf.  We had a great time and were worn out after stopping for dinner at Jake's Grill where we had another great meal.  Not fish this time but prime rib which was excellent. 

Gulf State Park

The expected wind gusts of 40mph + did not materialize today much to our delight.  They were calling for 20-25 mph winds and that did not happen either.  The rains left us and we had clear day with temps in the mid 60's.  Beautiful.

We drove all over the campground and checked out the numerous areas where the campsites are.  It is very confusing at times since they don't label them as A, B, C or whatever, but across the road from such and such.  The pull through campsites are parallel to the road and I don't think are that desirable for long term use.  Great for overnight if you don't want to unhook the toad, but other than that there isn't any privacy.

They have a beautiful swimming pool with a separate area for the kids to walk in an area with fountains springing up all around you.  In the same area they have tennis courts, nature center, rec hall, campstore & laundry.  It just opened Labor Day weekend after being destroyed by hurricane Ivan in 2004.  It is a great facility and will be appreciated by campers for a long time.  That is, assuming another hurricane doesn't destroy it.

See url below for more information regarding the hurricane and damage in the area.

Gulf Shores hurricane Ivan damage

They have cabins for rent in another part of the park along with a golf course.  On the beach they have parking areas, a pavilion, and a  large fishing pier.  Needless to say, it is a great park and campground.

Gulf Shores in the rain

It rained most of the night and at times very hard.  It seemed like the rain came through in bands interspersed with clear skies.  The wind wasn't too bad so we were able to sleep fairly well.

We headed out in the rain today to look over the area and spent most of the time in the rain.  We managed to find two new caches in between the rain and added Alabama to our list of states where we have found caches.  The first one was an Earthcache where you find  a sign outlining natural features in the area with some facts.  There usually are 3-4 questions you have to answer and then email them to the owner of the cache to receive credit for the find.

We drove up to Florida on the Gulf coast and were amazed to see the large number of 10-25 story condos along the Gulf.  It is hard to imagine them being able to fill all those rooms but during the March-October time frame it is very busy down here.  We did run across the FloraBama restaurant on the border and took the following picture.  What a ramshackle looking place but I hear it is very popular.  

Flora Bama Link 

We heard that the sister of Jimmy Buffett owned a restaurant called Lulu's here in Gulf Shores so we decided to have dinner there this evening.  It is a very large open air place on a canal with live entertainment.  They say she serves 3,000 people a day and there is a 3 hour wait during busy times for dinner.  We walked right in and sat down this evening and had a very nice meal.  They have huge tables and chairs where you sit up very high and you can watch the boats going by during your meal.

Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, AL

Today was another easy 215 mile drive to Gulf Shores, AL where we will be staying for a week at Gulf State Park.  It appears to be quite a campground with free wifi, full hookups on a lake and large sites.  Quite a contrast from other state parks where they only provide electric and water hookups for the same price as here.  Maybe the other states should come down here and see how it is done.

We went to DeSoto's seafood house for dinner and enjoyed our meals quite a lot.  It's great getting fresh seafood and at reasonable prices.  

They are calling for thunderstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday in the afternoon so we will have to get an early start to look the place over.  They have 22 miles of bike trails and we plan on investigating some of them.  Maybe all if the weather holds out.