Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo

Our first full day was overcast and the flags were still red.  We decided to go to souvenir shops and hope the skies would clear.  The day became nice enough that we decided to go to the zoo for the morning.

 

We bought some zoo food to feed the animals as we made our way through this little, but nice zoo.

The had a good variety of animals.

Camden was nervous at first to feed the donkeys, goats, and sheep, but quickly got over it!

This bird was my favorite.  I loved his grey eyes and beautiful headdress.

They had just a few big cats.

With no real explanation, Camden REALLY wanted the snake as her souvenir from the zoo.  She wanted to take it everywhere the rest of the trip.  It did have a pretty face (for a snake).

Breakfast on the Balcony

Our Pool

Our little water girl could have lived in the pool the entire time we were there.  It was just the right size and only went from 3 feet to 5 feet.  It was also heated perfectly.  

 

There were usually other kids there and Camden was quick to make friends.  Some were more anxious to play and others not so much.  Camden likes to be in charge and organize the activities so there were lots of games of tag, hide and go seek, and dive for toys.

We were usually both poolside (or swimming) with her, but we also wanted to get a shot from our balcony.  It was so nice to be on the first floor and able to oversee everything.

 

 

 

 

We loved our relaxing and playful times at the pool.

 

First Dip in the Gulf

We arrived and didn't even unpack before heading to the beach.

 



Storms were in the area and expected to hit us that night and the following, so the water was dark and the flags were red (no swimming!). 

But we did wade in and play at water's edge before the rain came.

I took tons of pictures on the beach (many more to come) but these are some of my favorites because it shows the pure joy Camden experienced.

Our Condo

We made good time and got to our condo right on time at 4pm.  It is a smaller complex with 8 floors with 5 condos on each floor.  There was an even smaller complex on each side of us, then mainly bigger ones further down the beach.  This one was just perfect in our opinion.  Our unit was on the first floor, but since everything is elevate (for flooding) we could see directly off our balcony to the ocean.

 

Our complex from the beach.  Our unit is on the bottom row and directly in the middle.

 

We choose a one bedroom unit that had bunks in the hall and a pull-out sofa bed.  Camden slept one night on the bottom bunk, one night on the top bunk, and the rest of the week on the smaller sofa.

I thought the unit was nicely furnished and colorful without being gaudy.  There were pictures of the family who own it throughout and that was a little "off" for us, but not a big deal.

It also had a bath and 1/2, so the main bathroom was off the bedroom with a 1/2 bath in the hall across from the kitchen.  That was a nice layout for us.  I would definitely rent this unit if we go to Gulf Shores again.

 

Birmingham, Alabama

I really wanted to see some of the important civil rights stops as we drove through Alabama.  Unfortunately, that day was a Sunday and not as much was open.  We did stop at the 16th St. Baptist Church, where four girls were killed in a supremacist act of terrorism in 1963. 

 

Services were starting shortly after we arrived, so we took pictures outside and walked across the street to a park that had a "freedom walk" with several sculptures depicting scenes from the civil rights movement.

We talked a little bit to Camden about what the sculptures were depicting and what the civil rights were about.  She seemed to understand.

We also had a dialogue with a neighborhood resident about the bombing and the history of this park/neighborhood.

While we talked, Camden "played" with the 4 little girls.  The details in this piece are amazing.

Road Trip



We hit the road on Saturday, April 5th for our Spring Break trip to Gulf Shores, AL.  Kevin had to work that morning, so Camden and I used the day to pack bags, load the car, and drive to Avon to pick him up from CSX. 

 

Our car has DVD screens for Camden to watch and we've never taken the time to figure out how to use the headphones or remote.  I had looked previously at the owner's manual and thought a movie could play as well as the radio, but didn't look as to how.  We always just let the movie play through the radio system and put up with listening to the same movie over and over.  I decided this 12-hour trip was going to be different. 

 

Running short on time, I simply put batteries in the headphone and got underway.  If nothing else, once we got Kevin, I could read the manual a little bit and figure out how to program everything.  I asked her to turn on the headphones and viola!  The movie sound came through the headphones and I had the radio.  Really? That simple! We've gone a whole year and all we needed was batteries!

 

It sure made the trip more enjoyable for all of us.  Putting batteries in the remote was also all it took and then we could control the player too.  Geesh!

We drove about 1/2 way the first day and stopped when we got tired.  We usually priceline a hotel, but we didn't want to force us to stop sooner than we were ready or make us drive longer than we were feeling.  So we drove to the border of Alabama and found a hotel.  It was cheap and clean and would give us a nights rest before continuing the remaining 6 hours the next day.  The exit didn't have much besides the hotel, a restaurant/gas station and a few adult businesses.  The billboard outside our hotel room just cracked me up.  This industry is disgusting, but their business name is funny!