Perdido Key birthday weekend

Over Memorial Day weekend we went down to Perdido Key, Florida (near Pensacola) to celebrate David's brother-in-law's 40th birthday. We rented a condo on the beach, and Christina stayed with her in-laws about a 5 min drive away at their townhouse. Over the course of the trip we hit up a couple small amusement parks for Paul to get coaster credits, hung out at the beach and generally just relaxed. It was a nice change of pace from our more hectic trips!

Below are some of the highlights in picture form. No more narrative to go with this beach vacation!

Of course Paul found a new coaster to ride!

Solo ride!

It's Memorial Day weekend, and there are a LOT of people enjoying the water on this sandbar.

View from our AirBnB. We saw quite a few dolphins over the few days we were here.

Cute beachy living room.

Across the street from our AirBnB. Pretty decent on both fronts.

Sunrise from the balcony.

We found a little fire truck (?) that said Kalamazoo!

Paul and toddler David on the a carousel.

Getting some good spins on the Tilt a Whirl!

Yes, Paul borrowed our friend's kids to ride this tiny coaster. :)

Cousins!

Right next to Paul's Pizza we had David's Sno-Balls. They were decent, and would put some ice cream in the middle if you wanted.

Matteo's first trip to the beach. He's only almost 5 months old in this pic.

Uncle David and nephew David building a sandcastle.

Christina cuddling with Matteo.

This kid honestly gives zero f*cks about anything. Look how relaxed he looks!

Doritos and the beach.

When he's a teenager, he'll love this pic of his first combover!

And of course Paul found another little coaster credit.

A quick beer at Big Beach Brewing.

Cousins at the pier for some fishing!

Sunset from the pier.

We had fun and caught a few fish.

Even Paul caught a little fish!

Coffee truck near our AirBnB. Decent and popular.

If you squint you can see a dolphin.

Pensacola is apparently the home base for the blue angels. They flew around a lot.

More blue angels shenanigans. 

Heading to the beach at Johnson Beach National Seashore.

I've never seen this anywhere else, but it's very common for people to just leave their shoes/sandals near the pier they walked onto the beach from. Sometimes there were dozens of shoes.

All set up on Johnson Beach.

We saw this guy eat a huge fish and you could see it stuck in it's throat for like 10 minutes.

More sandcastle fun. Little David was afraid of the water the first few days.

Justin caught a fish from the beach.

Little David somehow smiling on command for Paul. He normally doesn't care about photos!

Found some hermit crabs.

Time to go!

Drinks at CoastAL for David E's 40th Birthday.

D'Onofrio's at CoastAL.

Happy Birthday David! You don't look a day over 39. ;)

This cinnamon bun place was all the rave. It was only open the day we were leaving. They open at 8 and she was sold out by 8:30. We got the last bun. =D

We stopped at the cutest little bbq place in rural Alabama on the way home.

Gulf Coast Weekend

There's a place in the US that the locals lovingly refer to as "LA." No, not Los Angeles. A place in the South. No, not Louisiana. It's "Lower Alabama," the part of Alabama stretching from Mobile to the border with Georgia. Maybe not the most exciting of destinations, but we set out with the goal to visit the brand new Park at Owa so Paul could ride their three roller coasters. In a quick weekend trip we managed to squeeze in some history, culture, coasters, food, and even some beach time! We started in Mobile, and walked around the city a bit at night.

The lobby of our hotel was beautiful.

Peach cobbler for dessert at the Noble South.

A fountain in Bienville Square.

Dauphin street is pretty lively.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The very odd "Temple" in downtown Mobile. Formerly a Scottish Rite building, now an events space.

Street art in Mobile.

Downtown at night...

...and in the morning

We drove by the cathedral again on our way out of town.

Mobile is surprising. It's quite sleepy and a bit rundown in spots, but it has a lot of historic buildings and a lot of potential. It's a bit like a cross between New Orleans and Savannah, but not on the same level as those places. On Saturday morning we drove an hour Southeast of Mobile to Owa, the new amusement park, and spent about an hour there. It's a nice little park. We hit a few other kiddie coasters in the area before heading to Gulf Shores for lunch, a little time on the beach, and a visit to an old Mobile Bay Fort.

We arrived bright and early - and crossed our fingers for no rain.

Paul with a new credit!

Rollin' Thunder, the big coaster at the park.

We stopped by a nearby go-kart place for another little credit. Wheee!

Sadly, this one was closed. :(

Lunch in Gulfport at Bill's by the Beach. David has a fish po-boy and Paul has shrimp and grits!

Yay, shrimp and grits!

The beach in Gulfport is really nice.

We drove out to Fort Morgan, on the end of a peninsula at the entrance to Mobile Bay.

Fort Morgan was completed in 1834, and was captured by the confederacy in 1861.

Some re-enactors. Really hoping they're not supposed to be confederate soldiers....

The beaches near Fort Morgan are marred by the ugly oil rigs that dot the bay.

To wrap up our time in Alabama, we made a stop at the very popular beach on Perdido Key, then drove on to Pensacola, Florida. Pensacola has a really nice downtown with a lot of restaurants and shops. There's also a historic area with some old houses and an old church. We were pleasantly surprised.

Perdido Key where the Perdido River hits the Gulf near the Florida border.

Sand dunes on Perdido Key.

We drove past "Flora-bama," a crazy tourist trap that was causing a traffic jam.

Pensacola's walkable downtown.

A beautiful old building in downtown Pensacola.

Another nice street.

Of course we stopped at a brewery! Pensacola Bay Brewery.

Beers on the patio across from Old Christ Church (built in 1832).

Some historic houses near Seville Square.

Sunset across Pensacola Bay.

Old Christ Church at night.

On our way back to Atlanta on Sunday we took the scenic route through Alabama, and stumbled upon the highest point in Florida before stopping for lunch in Troy, Alabama.

It's not every day you visit the highest point in a state!

The log book at the high point was interesting.

A neat building in downtown Troy.

Southern lunch in Troy at B.Graves was delicious.

A confederate monument (SIGH) in downtown Troy.

Overall it was a quick, fun weekend in Alabama and Florida. We'll be back eventually to ride that closed roller coaster. :)