Let's Go "Gulfing"!
About
an hour southeast of Mobile, Alabama is the beach town of Gulf
Shores. Gulf Shores is actually between Pensacola, FL and Mobile, AL.
The whole Gulf area was affected by Hurricane Katrina and the economy is significantly
depressed—the upside is that it makes a family vacation to the area financially
reasonable. 
We visited in June with three generations of our family, and as expected,
the weather was hot in town, but the beach had a nice breeze every day. The
beach was clean and had beautiful white sand. The afternoons did get hot,
but the evenings were perfect as the sun was setting and the water was still
warm.
We were able to stay a few days in a lovely condo right on the beach. There
were plenty of shopping opportunities and some fun restaurants (plenty of
great seafood). We found groceries in town to cook our own food at the condo,
which makes travelling with small children so much easier. We had a great
time building sand castles, swimming and hunting for sea shells. The jelly
fish were unusually bad the days we were there—but they didn't keep people
out of the water.
| (FT NOTE: Jellyfish in the water? Bring along a bottle of vinegar to soak for 15+ minutes. For more treatment information, click here) |
Each
condo area had its own pools and hot tubs for use when you stay there.
There are many area attractions to see besides the beach—the USS Alabama battleship
is nearby as are dolphin cruises. There is also kayaking, parasailing and
diving outfits. Nature trails, fishing, golfing, etc...
A great family beach vacation at a reasonable price!