Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama

Mon. Feb. 7-Tue. Feb. 9: Monday we got up and took down the camper but left it at the site. We drove into nearby Mandeville for breakfast. We never managed to try “Louie and the Red Haired Lady” , which has been featured lately on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” and was only about 2 miles from the park. And we knew it was closed on Mondays. But we had heard about and driven by another place called “Liz’s Where Y’At?” and they are open 7 days a week for breakfast and lunch so we went there. It’s an eclectic, “hippy” place painted in vibrant colors with the walls hung with hand painted plaques with funny sayings. Several walls have long essays written on them, including one that tells all about the owner, Liz. She came over and introduced herself and checked to be sure everything was okay with us. We had a great (and BIG) breakfast of Eggs Benedict with creamed spinach and artichoke hearts. It was yummy and we were stuffed when we returned to hitch up the camper and head east. We only drove about 3 hours Monday to get to Gulf State Park. It was 49° and cloudy when we left La. but rose to 60° and became mostly sunny by the time we arrived here. But it’s really windy and the camper is being noisily buffeted. In the morning it was close to freezing as a cold front had gone through. We have a nice site on the edge of “Middle Lake” just about a quarter mile from the Gulf shore. There is no one to our left or across from us on a pull-through site. The state park is more like a resort, with a pool (closed for the season), tennis courts, trails, a Nature Center, and an activity center with things happening throughout the day. It’s all wired for Wi-Fi but they are having trouble getting it across private property or something so it’s not active yet. But we can go to the Activity Center with our computer to update the blog and send emails. We enjoyed a nice sunset because of just a few clouds right at the horizon as it went down. Because it was so clear it got down to about 30° overnight but the wind finally died down. The next morning, no one seemed to be able to connect to the Network so we decided to find a McDonald’s in town when we went out. It was perfectly clear and although the temperature was only in the mid forties, it was warm enough out of the wind by the camper that we decided to sit and read for half an hour or so before leaving for the day. That was when I got a text from Sarah telling us that, unfortunately, Analyn was back in the PICU. She had labored breathing last night and got a bit of a fever so they wanted her where they can monitor her more closely and give her VapoTherm therapy better. Sarah didn’t want to talk but said she would have Craig call when he got back from the boys’ Parent/Teacher Conferences at school, so we headed into town. By the time we got there, Craig called and updated us. She was doing better than earlier in the day but they did think she had a secondary bacterial infection that she picked up there. They didn’t know if the infection was in her lungs (probably) without getting some fluid from the lungs and they can only do that if she is on a ventilator, which they don’t want to do. The doctor came and told them that they needed to give her antibiotics and they didn’t want anything in her stomach while she had the VapoTherm and the drip so she could no longer nurse. We left it at that about noon and went to find a McDonald’s. We wanted to get online to check email, send out an update to family, check our finance information, and start to explore finding a flight for me to return to Indianapolis to help in any way I could. Everything was okay with our finances and I found that I could fly out on Friday from either Orlando or Tampa. For the time being there was nothing else we could do so we drove west on Hwy. 182 to the end of the peninsula on which we are camping. It was 22 miles to Fort Morgan and a ferry that takes one across the mouth of Mobile Bay to Dauphin Island, which was the “capital” of the Louisiana Territory for a while and has another Civil War era fort, Fort Gaines. We had intended to take the ferry and perhaps take our bikes over with us to explore the island a bit. But when we got to the dock the ferry was leaving in about 10 minutes. It was very windy there and it felt really cold. So we decided to explore Fort Morgan first and consider taking a later ferry. We went to Fort Morgan and ate our picnic lunch sitting in the warm sun inside the truck before entering the Visitors Center and learning the history of the fort. Opened in 1831, it was instrumental during the Civil War in defending the strategic Mobile Bay by the Confederates after they peacefully took it over in 1861 from the Federal presence. It was reclaimed by the Union in 1864 after the Battle of Mobile Bay, during which Admiral David Farragut reportedly uttered the immortal words, “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!” We explored the star-shaped fort, which is being renovated but allows visitors to climb up the walls and ramparts and see where the massive guns were mounted, overlooking the bay and the Gulf. We drove to two large batteries as well but didn’t get out as they are mostly closed off. By the time we left the fort we decided we didn’t want to brave the cold ferry ride to see the other fort. We headed back to town and bought groceries and dropped off some recycling. Returning to the State Park we parked near the shore and took their boardwalk to the beach. It was cool but not unbearable and we enjoyed having the whole thing entirely to ourselves to walk and pick up shells for the boys. This area is a nesting spot for loggerhead sea turtles so they ask that people stay off the dunes and only walk along the shore, which we did, even though the nesting period is from May to October. After a bit we returned to the camper and made hot dogs for dinner and then went to the Activity Center, both to see if the internet was working and to see the evening’s entertainment. There wasn’t an interesting sunset this evening because there were no clouds. It was about 48° and very clear as we walked over to the center. About 50 people gathered to hear the program of about an hour and a half. They opened with a sing-along of REAL oldies, half of which I have never heard before. The main act was the Off the Wall gang, a group made up of one guitar and 13 mountain dulcimers. They all are staying at the park and learn and play together. It was interesting to hear so many dulcimers at one time. They were followed by three other “acts”, very homespun, and not unlike a park talent show. It was fun to take part with them. Happily the internet connection was restored and so we could catch up on email and posting this blog before we went to bed. We will be moving further east and camping in the Florida panhandle tomorrow morning.