Gulf Shores Stay: 8.13.22 - 9.8.22

Our Story

Long story short, we sold almost all of our possessions including our home, dropped our youngest off at college, and are now wandering the country. We're staying at Airbnb's about a month at a time while working remotely. Turns out, there is a significant discount when you book Airbnbs for a month or more!

See our first post for more details. If you have any questions, post them in the comments or contact us directly and we'll be happy to answer them,

Why Gulf Shores?

Our daughter Caroline is attending the University of West Florida in Pensacola. We had heard of Gulf Shores as a fun vacation spot and it's about an hour away from Pensacola. So, it seemed like a great choice to kick off our journey. We could be at a fun vacation spot and close enough to Caroline to help her get settled for her first year of college.

Turned out to be an excellent choice--Caroline broke her ankle and had to have surgery a couple of weeks before starting college. So, the little darling needed much more help than we thought.

The Airbnb

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We really liked this one! Both of us were surprised at how quickly it felt like home ... like within a day! We were concerned it might be a bit small, but even with Caroline with us for about a week there was more than enough room.

Great location. Quiet. Enough room for us to work.

Just like a home, there will never be a perfect Airbnb. As long as our non-negotiables are met, we'll book it.

Our Non-Negotiables

• Room for Kim to be able to get away from Dave
• Within budget
• Room for our kids to visit/live with us
• Good reviews
• Safe area, verified in reviews
• Reliable WiFi
• Areas for us to work
• Washer & Dryer
• Functional kitchen
  
  

How'd we like Gulf Shores?

Loved it! While we did spend a lot of time in Pensacola helping Caroline, we were able to find time to enjoy Gulf Shores. The "Redneck Riviera" is beautiful. It's a quiet, slow, laid-back place. The kind of place where you feel relaxed just being there. (The exception was Labor Day weekend when it was noticeably more crowded.)

The speed limit along the main drag is 35 and you don't mind. Driving at that speed was calming and peaceful there. It has beautiful beaches, parks, and stunning views.

The drive along 182 from Perdido Beach to Gulf Shores is not touristy at all. Highway 182 runs right along the gulf and it's not jammed with run-down condos or ticky-tacky stores along this 12 mile stretch. We only saw one store that could be considered a touristy with a bunch of $0.99 t-shirts, sun-block, and grumpy lobster-red families. But it looked nice on the outside.

There are a LOT of fairly big spaces between condos where you can see natural Florida with large sand dunes and lots of sea oats. The longest stretch is along Gulf State Park, and it's beautiful on both sides. Calming ... serene ... looks like what we imagine old Florida looked like.

And then there are the views from the causeways along Highway 182. Breathtaking! And that's coming from two people who grew up on Florida coasts, used to beautiful views while driving over causeways. The Gulf of Mexico opens up in front of you when you reach the top of a couple of the causeways, and it's spectacular. You can also see bays, inlets, canals, wetlands, etc.

Lots of great restaurants and bars along the strip. We would have liked to have gone to more, but time didn't allow.

Gulf Shores Stay Top 10-ish

Time with Team Lykins

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If you've ever wondered what's it like to spend time with royalty, head to Pensacola and hang out with the King and Queen of Pensacola. Seriously. Look at Dave's face ... he's in awe of the treatment these two get around downtown ... along the street and in restaurants and other businesses.

Walked into the Bavaria German restaurant that was jam-packed with a long wait. No problem--John knows the manager. So no long wait for our group. Oh ... and the food was outstanding there! Beer, schnitzel, spaetzle, sauerkraut, wursts, giant pretzel with german beer cheese, and the "I Don't Give a Schnitzel" cocktail. Yep ... that's a thing. 

John ordered, and particularly enjoyed the sausage sampler. Then the manager comes by to give John a shot with a pickle juice chaser--apparently it's the latest trend. Pickle juice ... chaser ... uhm ... nope!

Then on to the Intermission bar ... more like a saloon really ... John and Laura are greeted by the owner behind the bar like family. And the folks sitting at the bar know them as well, of course. 

Most impressive ... the owner grabs a bottle of whiskey from the bar and hands it to John. It's freaking John's own homemade whiskey! And then drinks all around at a highly discounted rate.

Gulf State Park Pier

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This was our favorite spot in Gulf Shores. Aside from the views, the best part is the Bywater Beachside Bar & Grill. It's open air so the views are fabulous. Even on a hot day, the breeze off the Gulf cools the Bar & Grill down so it's very comfortable.

One day we were on the pier watching the fishermen do their thing. Several were catching fish at the same time, and then we started seeing what we thought were large fish jumping out of the water and spinning. SPINNING! Like really spinning!

Come to find out there's such a thing as Spinner Sharks. Yes. Sharks that jump out of the water. And spin!! Awesome and terrifying at the same time. Couldn't get any decent pics so google it. And be afraid.

Who knew Sharknado wasn't fiction.

Gulf State Park

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There are over 6 miles of trails throughout the park. We checked out bikes a couple times and rode along the trails and boardwalks. It's such a beautiful park and we would love to have enjoyed it more, but it was freaking HOT while we were there.

Gulf Shores Beach

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Really nice beaches in Gulf Shores. Here we're at the Gulf State Park Pier beach where you can sit under the pier when you're pasty-white and it's godawful hot.

UWF

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Caroline hit the jackpot with her roommate Jordyn. A sweetheart. While Caroline still had to use her knee scooter, Jordyn drove her wherever she needed to go.

And yep ... Caroline's cat Luna is attending UWF as well. Luna has a triple major: aloofness, superiority, and indifference.

Coffee Shops and Restaurants

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A close second to working in your underwear is being able to work at coffee shops, diners, and the occasional brewery (Friday afternoons only, of course.) We love doing this and found a couple good ones in Gulf Shores.

We also got to hang out at some fun bars and restaurants. During our journey, we're trying to avoid chain restaurants/pubs and hit non-touristy local ones.

Miscellaneous Nonsense

• Miles driven from Winter Garden, FL to Gulf Shores, AL: 496.3
  
  
• Total time of travel: 8 hours 23 minutes
  
  
• Least expensive gas price seen: $2.99
  
  
• Somewhat interesting business names seen are listed below. Please note that we did not visit either of them.
  * Sweet Cone Alabama Ice Cream
  * Emerald Fantaseas Adult Store
  
  
• Best unintentionally overheard phone conversation fragment:
  
  "What's she taking credit for that sh** for? That's my sh**! Who the f*** does she think she is trying to steal my promotion?"
  
  A fun reminder of life in the corporate world. We're guessing things got ugly at work the next day.
  
  
• For Fletch fans only ... our Gulf Shores neighbor saw Dave wearing this t-shirt and asked if he was a pilot.
  
  Dave then informed him that he was a supervisor from Ajax ... an expert on aircraft fetzer valves ... and that it's best to check out fetzer valves from a birds-eye view, repairing them using 30-weight ball bearings, gauze pads, and 10 quarts of Prestone antifreeze. No, make that Quaker State. Dave then suggested that our neighbor needed a refresher course. Our neighbor took a pass.
  
  
• During the 12 mile drive from Perdido Beach to Gulf Shores, there are:
  * 3 Waffle Houses
  * 3 Alvin's Island Stores
  * 6 Surf Style stores
  * 0 McDonalds (or any other fast food restaurant).
  
  
• Dave decided to rent a bike for a week to keep at the Airbnb so he could ride around and explore a bit every day. Number of days this happened: 2.
  
  
• Different microwaves cook differently. It's true. There may or may not have been several cooked microwave popcorn bags immediately removed from the Airbnb.
  
  
• Narrow spiral staircases are not intended to be used by 6' 4" uncoordinated, "slightly" overweight, accident prone, 55-year old males with size 14 shoes.
  
  
• All of our worldly possessions before and after packing the car. We've since consolidated and gotten rid of a few more things to minimize what we have to bring along.
  
  

Tentative Itinerary

You never know what life is going to throw your way, but this is what we have planned for now. Our goal is to head west in 2023 and eventually make it up to Alaska.

• Pensacola, FL 9.8 - 10.8
• Silver Springs, MD (Outside D.C.) 10.8 - 11.11
• Fletcher, NC (Outside Asheville) 11.11 - 11.22
• Winter Park, FL 11.24 - 1.7
• San Marcos, TX (between Austin & San Antonio) 1.9 - 2.11

Hope to see you along the way!

-D&K