We picked the kids up from school on Friday afternoon and drove straight to Gulf Shores Beach. (Every kids dream, right!) We arrived at our condo that evening and we decided to take a quick dip in the condo's pool before heading out to dinner.
We snapped these pictures on the condo's balcony before dinner. That view, though!
The Original Oyster House is one of our family's favorite places to eat when we visit Gulf Shores. The food is great and we like window shopping while we wait.
The next morning, we woke up early for a JBQ competition in Mobile, about a one-hour drive from Gulf Shores. (Remember JBQ?) This was the reason for our random, weekend beach vacation. Our Achiever (Advanced) team was competing that day. Although Evan has recently joined the team, he sat at the table a few times during the rounds. The kids did great! Evangel placed 2nd in our division. We had three top quizzers and Chloe was top quizzer. We are excited about the great start to the competition season.
That afternoon, we drove back to the beach to resume our vacation.
That night, we ate dinner at Lulu's. This was our first time eating at Lulu's. I had read reviews that it was similar to The Hangout with fun activities and mediocre food. I thought the kids would enjoy it, and boy, did they. I wasn't too impressed with the food, but Chris said that his burger was delicious. He may have been extra hungry, though, since we didn't get seated until 8pm.
We've never really taken advantage of any attractions at the beach. Usually, we're beachin' it and looking for good spots to eat. I thought it might be a nice change of pace to let the kids drive go-karts, so we headed to The Track after dinner. My dare devil Chloe was super pumped, but my Evan was apprehensive. Chris and Chloe rode the Wild Woody!
Eventually, Chloe was able to convince Evan to ride on a tamer course. Chloe wanted to drive her own go-kart, so Chris drove Evan on a separate go-kart. I watched and attempted to take pictures. Here were a couple of decent shots that I got.
We called it a night and headed back to our condo. I was not looking forward to the early check-out the following morning.
After the car was loaded and we checked out, we headed to the public beach. Since it was a short vacation, we were determined to make the most of our time. I promised the kids that we could pick out a souvenir before leaving Gulf Shores, so we stopped by a souvenir store on the way. Would you believe that they chose hermit crabs? Hmmm:/
We brought the crabs to the beach because we didn't want them to bake in the car.
We enjoyed our last bit of beach time.
Remember this picture from a few years back?
Who goes on a 2 hour dolphin tour and doesn't see a single solitary dolphin? My crew!
Yep! According to the captain, in the 5,000 dolphin tours he's given, he's only been unsuccessful in finding dolphins once or twice before. We still enjoyed the "bay" tour, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.
It was a hot afternoon, so on our way out of town, we stopped by The Yard for milkshakes. They didn't disappoint!
There you have it, our short and fun-packed beach vacay! Until we meet again, beach!
