Gulf Shores 2017
- Krista Schweiss
- Jul 14, 2017
- 3 min read
Five families, 23 people, 1 house on the beach. An amazing adventure!
Five years ago, we headed down to Gulf Shores for the first time for a wedding. Upon departure, we promised we would all revisit in 5 years for the newly wed couples 5th Wedding Anniversary. Well, five years came super fast and before we knew it we were headed down to the beach. We grabbed our swimsuits (let's be honest, i grabbed more than a swimsuit) and drove 12 hours to Fort Morgan AL.
Gulf Shores is fun and I suppose the nightlife is awesome when you are without tiny people. Life is different now and Fort Morgan fit the bill with it's wonderfully private beaches, which is so much nicer when you are keeping track of adventurous children.
We really just didn't do much. That's not like us at all but it was so nice to do nothing. We swam in the pool, we played on the beach and we ate and drank and just had a merry ole time!
One family was smart enough to bring the highlight of the week. The Margaritaville Slushy maker made everything taste better :-) I have never seen so many grown men drinking Dreamsicle, Margarita and Pina Colada in my life. All we were missing was the little unbrellas. I highly recommend the Master of Mixes Dreamsicle... It was delicious!
We did do a few things. We went to the Hangout. It was an awesome place to play. The food was good, the gift shop was a kiddo trap and the drinks were expensive (but yummy). E loved the bungie jump and H enjoyed the foam party. There was a sand dune with a tunnel all the little kids loved and tons of other little games. E played this "hook-the-ring" game (available at Amazon) and she hooked it TWICE! Proud Mamma!!
We also went to the Original Oyster House for a date night and that was super fun. Delicious food and great company, celebrating Aaron's bday and our friend's anniversary.
I got the fried pickles, shrimp and the GRITS! OMG, the grits! I even got a side order to go. They were so delicious! I would go back just to have a taste of those
We visited the actual Fort Morgan one day and it was, well, an old fort. Of course, Aaron loved it and it truly was interesting to see where the canons used to be and how they lived in these bunkers. I find myself getting kind of depressed when I am in these type of historic places. Not a lot of good happened there. It's also very difficult to explain to your 5 year old what war is. As we are walking around the fort of the "loosing" side she kept asking if the bad people went away. I think of the people who were fighting in these kind of awful conditions and I can't explain to her that these WERE the "bad people." Viewing it from the eyes of a child, they were just people fighting for what they thought was right. Kind of shed some light on the everyday bickering in the world, but that's a philosophical conversation for another day, that will not be had here.
We went to the Track, an amazing fun town with Gokarts, Bumber Cars, Mini Golf and all kinds of little rides.
One night we all headed out for some traditional ghost crab hunting. It's crazy with all those little crabs running around. It was amazing watching all the kids run around chasing "ghosts" - had I only gotten a video. I had thought ahead thanks to some warning from friends and purchased a bunch of flashlights so all the kids could have one. IT WAS A HIT!!!! No arguing over flashlights and they remained a source of entertainment for the littles throughout the trip. Mommy win!
That about sums it up. We had a great time and i learned that if you are going to a beach you only need to pack a few outfits, not an entire wardrobe! A lesson that I will probably ignore next time we head to the shore!
