Cold Beaches

From Tupelo, I continued driving south for another four hours to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Just to the west of Pensacola Florida, this stretch of barrier islands on the Gulf of Mexico is called The Redneck Riviera.  There are sea shore homes, high-rises, hundreds of restaurants, souvenir shops and golf courses from 18 hole to mini golf.  I imagine similarity to how Miami Beach might have sort of been 80+ years ago.  Each year some older properties on the beach are torn down and new buildings, often multi-story, are being built.  The hurricane's periodically come thru and devastate the area. But then the builders come back and repair and build more.  

Redneck or Hillbilly Riviera

I've a friend from Wisconsin who was renting an individual house on the beach, looking down at the Gulf of Mexico. She and a girl friend were hanging out there for the month.  I'd promised to stop by.

Timing is everything and in this case it was, in terms of weather, less than perfect.  I arrived just as the temperatures were dropping into the 40s and the weather was fairly wild with very big waves and winds.  The first 36 hours I witnessed pounding surf on the beach.  Then the wind shifted and the temperatures dropped more.  We spend a lot of time indoors, looking at the cold beach.  When it was not raining, I looked out and saw people walking along the shore in stocking caps, gloves and scarfs.  Not really freezing weather, but with strong winds, it wasn't, to say the least, tropical!

Cold Waves

Never-the-less, I was grateful for the hospitality and good company and lingered in Alabama for three days while waiting for the weather to moderate.

On the third day of my visit, while the weather was still cold and windy but the clouds were clearing out, we drove 25 miles west to the end of the barrier island and visited Fort Morgan. This is another Civil War location. During that war, the Confederates held the fort and used it to block the Union forces entry into Mobile Bay.  It was also a site of battles in the War of 1812 between the Americans and the British.  A very strategic spot.

Fort Morgan, a Star-Shaped Fort

I read that the star-shaped bastion was constructed in the mid to late 1820s. Several thousands of slaves were involved in the building project.  During the Civil War it was bombarded and the interior buildings were mostly destroyed.  

Damage from Bombardment 1864-1865

That evening the Gulf had quieted down almost to a calm.  The winds were still cool out of the north but they were subsiding as well.  The beaches had been churned up considerably and there were mounds of sand where the surf had piled it up.

Quiet and Pretty Beach

It looked like the weather was about to improve, but it was time for me to go.  My philosophy is that Guests, like Fish, Begin to Smell After Three Days.  I was grateful for the hospitality from my friend.  But I guessed it was a good time to Get Out of Dodge.