Gulf State Park - Gulf Shores, Alabama (November 2022)

Some places make you happy by just being there. Several Florida state parks we frequent fall into that category and so does this Alabama state park. Having said that, we were again confused about paying for our reservation when we arrived because we added on a military discount as we checked in and ended up owing more than the amount quoted on our reservation paperwork. I guess I’m glad that we only asked for one discount or we could have ended up owing more for our fees. 

Sign over the road at Gulf State Park

It was a snap backing into our site, which was paved with asphalt. That was welcomed after having trouble at our previous campground backing into a site with too much loose sand.

Walking our dog on a cold day in the South

We quickly set up Rosie so that we could enjoy riding our bicycles on the many trails in this park. As the weather turned colder, we were glad we had an opportunity to ride a few times on our bikes. 

Selfie while out riding our bikes

We noticed some campers in this campground looked different this time. They had what appeared to be storage sheds behind their RVs. We found out that the park started accepting longer term reservations for the winter on November 1st. It was easy to pick out the winter residents by their sheds, bird feeders and site decorations. 

It looked like an Airstream rally was taking place in the park. It was a coincidence that so many Airstream campers were there at the same time. Oddly two Streamline trailers, an Airstream competitor from the 1960s, were also in the park. 

A vintage StreamLine trailer in the campground

A classic Silver Streak in the same camping loop

It was too cold and windy to walk on the beach. Instead, we walked on the fishing pier. The surf was probably the highest we had seen in years. That combined with the cold wind was probably the reason we saw only a few people fishing during our visits to the pier. 

Entrance to the pier

On the pier

View from the start of the pier

The cold weather was probably the reason we didn’t see alligators in the park this time. There are two places we enjoy riding our bikes to that we typically see a gator or two. Since it was cold, the gators were probably hibernating in deep water. 

We could not find any wildlife this time

There were signs around the park inviting everyone to the activity center one Saturday for a free cup of soup. Our expectations were as low as the temperature as we headed over to the soup line. It turned out that the soup was good and welcomed on a cold day. 

Speaking of cold days, we noticed that a camper in a site near us was refilling his propane tanks on his new trailer. He asked how fast we burn through a tank in our trailer. We told him that we were using Rosie’s heat pump and hadn’t turned on the furnace yet. We saw the lightbulb moment as he said his trailer also had a heat pump and he could save a lot of money by turning it on. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Most sites could be classified as "full sun" as trees were few and far apart
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in this park. It was near the dumpsters and was unmarked 
• The trash dumpsters were at the entrance of the campground. We had to drive there with our trash
• There were multiple bathhouses in the campground 
• The park provided WiFi service. Our download speed was 40 mbs
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 4G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, Dabl, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Christmas decorations at Gulf State Park

A favorite place to ride our bikes to look for alligators 

The water tower at Gulf State Park

Gulf State Park - Gulf Shores, Alabama (September 2022)

When we think about memorable trips pulling Rosie, our Airstream trailer, the first thing that comes to mind is the beautiful scenery we have experienced along the way. RV'ers know that half of the enjoyment of camping is enjoying the views heading to the campground. Since our destinations are usually state or federal parks, we also enjoy the memorable sights there. 

Sign at entrance to the campground

This qualified as a memorable trip, but not for its scenic beauty. We were heading to a state park along the Gulf coast during the Fall. There were several storms in the Atlantic and we were concerned about one or more of them strengthening into a hurricane and forcing us to flee from the coast. We were streaming an all-news radio station out of New York hoping to hear the tropical weather forecast. Instead, we heard that the English royal family was being summoned to Queen Elizabeth's side because of her failing health then the station aired a commercial. During the ad, the Associated Press app on our iPhones broke the news that the Queen had died. Immediately after the commercial, the radio station ran a bulletin about the Queen's death then shortly thereafter aired a biography and tribute to the Queen. 

I’m sure some listeners were surprised at how fast that station started airing information about the Queen’s life. I wasn’t. I started thinking about when I served in the military at one of the key American Forces Network radio stations. AFN started creating obituaries and tributes of world leaders once they took office. 

My assignment while at AFN was to create and record a tribute to the then leader of Greece. In addition, I had to update and “freshen” his bio every year. I was relieved when my tour of duty was up and someone else took over that responsibility because I was certain I didn’t know how to pronounce many of the names and places in the script I recorded and I knew my scripts would be re-recorded by the new person responsible for that leader.

We listened to a growing number of stories about the Queen and royal family as we headed to the campground. 

As expected, there were several other RVs parked at the Gulf State Park campground registration office when we arrived. Someone told us to request either a military or senior discount as we checked in. The person at the counter said we qualified for a discount then totaled the bill. We were surprised that the discounted total was more than the one we were given when we made our reservations. We were told that the rates went up since we made our reservation. Needless to say, I was disappointed that reservations secured by a deposit failed to bind the State of Alabama to the agreed on charges. We decided that wasn’t going to spoil our camping adventure there, but the expensive new rates plus the added on resort fees and numerous taxes charged came up several times in our conversations. 

Walking in front of Rosie

Our experiences in this park were enhanced by riding our bikes on the many trails there. It was easy to ride 10 miles a day looking for alligators and new views. We saw at least three gators, a family of deer crossing a bike trail, multiple snakes  and a bunch of rabbits while on our rides.

The boardwalk to the shore

Maybe it will rain today

Selfie while out riding bikes

 

There was a fishing pier at the park. We enjoyed watching the people fishing from the pier. The people fishing there were not amused that sharks were trying to eat their catches. 

The overlook along Alligator Marsh 

The water tower as seen from a bike path

The temperatures were warm while there and we had to turn on the second air conditioner several times. As expected, it was nice and cozy inside Rosie. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops and 600 sites in this campground
• Our site was a back in
• Most sites could be classified as "full sun" as trees were few and far apart. We were glad our Airstream trailer had two air conditioners 
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie, our Airstream trailer. 
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpsters were at the entrance of the campground. We have mentioned before how strange it was to have only one trash collection point for this huge campground 
• There were multiple  bathhouses in the campground. The one nearest Rosie was clean, maintained and air conditioned
• The park provided WiFi service over our campsite. We measured our download speed at 40 mbs
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 4G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, Dabl, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

The beach in this park

People enjoying the beach

Gulf State Park - Gulf Shores, Alabama (April 2022)

Our trip to Gulf State Park last year only wetted our appetite to return. You would think that it would be easy to get reservations in a park with 496 sites. One of the new realities of camping is that it is harder than ever to find an opening in popular campgrounds. It took diligent and frequent checking to find what had to be a cancellation that allowed us to reserve a site on the water in this Alabama State Park. 

The trip from our previous campground in Pensacola to Gulf State Park took less than an hour. That meant we arrived before the park's official check-in time. We camped before in a park that rigidly enforced their check-in time. Fortunately, that didn't happen here. Our site was empty and we were ready to park Rosie, our Airstream trailer, when we arrived that morning. 

Gulf State Park

The campground at Gulf State Park

Our moods were brighter as soon as we turned onto our loop. There was grass between sites, the sites were large and our paved site with full hookups was on the water. After spending a week in our previous campground where everything around Rosie was dirt or mud after the rains, we were so excited over our site that we made an original mistake. We forgot to check for level before we unhitched Rosie from our truck. It was a good thing that our site was mostly level with only a slight side-to-side lean. 

Rosie's site was on the water

There are signs all over the park warning people to not aggravate the alligators. We were not tempted to bother the half-dozen gators we saw in the park, including the one we saw in the water right behind Rosie.

Alligator in water behind Rosie's site

 

Two alligators enjoying the sun

Another alligator in the park

Baby "gator" along a bike path

There are some great bike trails in this park. We enjoyed going on five to eight mile rides most mornings. I’m not sure I would have wanted to use our kayak in the lake behind Rosie after seeing a gator there. 

One of the bike trails

A bike trail

Bike trail

We were surprised to see several park trucks blocking one area of a bike path. It was easy to see the reason as we got closer to the trucks. A power pole cutout pole breaker was arcing and the park employees were there waiting for the power company truck to arrive and fix that problem. We assumed there were several power feeds into the park, but we didn't know if that power pole was feeding power to Rosie. We decided to quickly head back to Rosie to make sure our power surge protector wasn't being overloaded. It was clear to us when we arrived back at Rosie that our electrical service was coming from another feed into the park. 

Problems with the electrical feed into a section of the park

This campground is across the street from the Gulf coast. It is easy to bike there. 

We saw an unusual event along the beach while camping at this park. We were surprised to see a tent city camping on the beach area. We found out that the park sells camping spots on the beach twice a year as a fundraiser. We estimated that 100 tents were camping on the beach that night. That was a great idea for a fundraiser!

Some people were camping on the beach during a special event

We were surprised by the afternoon and evening winds while camping in Gulf State Park. We easily had 30-40 mph winds several days. That meant we spent more time than usual inside Rosie. We were grateful that we enjoy being inside Rosie. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Most sites could be classified as "full sun" 
• Our site was on the water
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and was level
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The only trash dumpsters in this campground with almost 500 sites were at the entrance of the campground. Most people had to drive to the dumpster.  Our site was was within walking distance of the dumpsters
• There were two bathhouses in our camping loop. One was closed for renovation 
• The park provided good WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were AntennaTV, Bounce, Charge, Circle, Comet, CourtTV, Cozi, Dabl, Escape, Get, Grit, ION, Justice, LAFF, ME-TV, Rewind, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Seen along a bike path

Kids loved playing on this tree in the campground

Gulf State Park - Gulf Shores, Alabama (September 2021)

One of the things that stood out in our minds about camping here last time was the heat. We camped in Alabama’s Gulf State Park during September eight years ago and Rosie’s air conditioner could not keep up. (Rosie is our Airstream trailer's name.)  It was hot in the park and hotter inside Rosie during our previous visit to this campground. 

Sign heading into the park

Pointing the way to the campground

Things were different this time in that we were in our new Rosie with dual air conditioners. We were confident we could deal with hot temperatures and having a second AC unit helped beat the heat. 

Rosie in the campground

We didn’t escape all of the weather woes this time. We simply traded heat for rain. There were a few breaks in the rain storms the first couple of days that allowed us to walk around the park or to ride our bikes. The rains thinned out by the third day and that allowed us to explore the park. 

Bike path in the park

While riding our bikes on one of the boardwalk trails, several other hikers or bikers started telling us about “Lefty.” We pieced together that Lefty was an alligator with up to three baby gators. 

We found that some people on the trails were very willing to share their “best guess” directions to Lefty’s favorite water hole. Most of these well meaning directions conflicted. Finally, we noticed a groups of about a dozen bicycles parked along a bridge. Yes, that crowd found Lefty and guided us to her. We saw Lefty and several baby gators!

Baby gator with "Lefty" keeping an eye on him

There are multiple trail boardwalks through marsh areas and spanning fingers of the lakes and creeks. We came across a raccoon while crossing a trail bridge across part of the lake. We backed away to give him plenty of room to escape. It was interesting to watch the raccoon run to flee us and our bicycles. 

Unusual road sign!

Another sign in the park

While riding our bikes on a trail, we noticed an eight foot gator floating in a creek beside the path keeping up with us. We decided not to stop to take a picture because gators move much faster than most people imagine. 

Something significant happened while we camped in Gulf State Park. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. We marked the day by looking at our wedding photos and eating a seafood dinner.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground. 
• Most sites could be classified as "full sun" probably the result of too many hurricanes hitting the area.  Only a few had shade.
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was paved with asphalt and was level
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpsters for all 490+ campsites in this campground were at the entrance to the park. It was too far to walk and that meant a nightly trip in the truck to the dumpsters 
• There were multiple bathhouses in the campground. Some were open while others were closed. There were several “porta-potties” in front of the closed bathhouses. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not check the conditions of the bathhouses nor the “porta-potties”
• The park provided good WiFi service. We measured the download speed as 32 mbs
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 4G voice and data service over our campsites 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Circle, Comet, Court, Cozi, Grit, LAFF and ME-TV
• There were restaurants and shopping near the campground 
• The park has a great swimming pool, tennis courts and multiple playgrounds 
• This was a pet friendly park 

Our impressions formed the first time we camped here were wrong. This is a great park to camp in and one you need to bring your bicycles to because the trails and boardwalks are great. 

Boardwalk to the beach

Selfie at the beach

Sunrise over Gulf State Park

One of the many boardwalks in this park

Selfie from the trail

Selfie on the beach

Selfie in the picnic area

Gulf Shores State Park

The Gulf Shores area of Alabama is very familiar to our family. For many years, my employer sent me to an annual convention in that area and the family always went along to enjoy the beach. While we knew about the area and the convention hotel down the street, we had never visited Gulf Shores State Park. This trip was a first for both us and Rosie, our Airstream trailer.

Gulf Shores, as you would expect, is along the Gulf of Mexico. While the Gulf shoreline has received lots of negative coverage during the BP oil spill disaster, the lingering effects of that event are no longer visible to the casual viewer.

The Gulf Shores State Park Beach

To put things into perspective, we show up the weekend of Labor Day and the park is quickly filling up with campers. Our assigned site was in one of the secondary loops. By that, I mean that we were not in the prime spots on the water.

I wasn't sure what to expect here because the park frequently falls victim to the Gulf's hurricanes. It seems to me that every time the State of Alabama repairs the most recent hurricane damage, another storm comes along and tears up the park. 

On our visit, we found that the park has a swimming pool and it was open. The park has a larger than normal camp store and it was open. The park has several playgrounds for children and they were open. The park has tennis courts and this area was also open. Thus, we didn't see any storm damage in these areas.

The boardwalk to the beach

That's not to say that the park didn't have any storm damage. The visible damage had to be the lack of trees in the park. I don't think many trees survived the storms. That is a shame because this park can use all of the shade it can get.

As soon as we arrived, we started scouting out better sites on the water. We ended up with a list of several water-front sites where the campers were pulling out before the end of the weekend.

The next morning, we started patrolling the sites we picked as ones we wanted to occupy as soon as the current campers left and discovered that one camper was packing up. We quickly hitched up Rosie then went to the camp headquarters to officially move our site. This was when things started going sour.

One of the volunteers working at the park's office decided that she couldn't help us because she was too busy with some unidentifiable task. After patiently waiting longer than a reasonable amount of time, Becky asked if the "workers" in the office were all volunteers or if a state employee was on duty. It turns out that a state employee was on duty, heard my wife's question and quickly changed our site to one with a beautiful water view.

Rosie's new site along the water

It seems that we always learn something from every Rosie adventure. We quickly learned after moving to consider more factors than view when choosing sites.

The view from Rosie's back window

I mentioned the lack of trees earlier in this posting. No trees translates into no shade and that means Rosie was baking in the hot sun during the day. Rosie has a good air conditioner, but it was unable to keep up with the direct September sun shining on her aluminum skin.

The solution was multiple trips to the store to purchase car window shades. We ended up putting shades in all of Rosie's windows, which blocked the view we moved to enjoy. After talking to our neighbors, we noticed that return campers tended to stay across the street from the water because there was a little shade there and first time visitors to the park took the view over the shade. When we return to this park, we will join our fellow park veterans and choose shade.

Rosie in the direct sun

There is lots to do in this park and we enjoyed riding our bicycles there. One of the interesting events at the park while we were there was a triathlon. We watched the bike element of the triathlon weave through the park that weekend.

Watercolor painted by Becky at Gulf Shores

Watercolor painted by Becky at Gulf Shores

Here are some specifics about the park:

• This park is huge. We think there are hundreds and hundreds of camping sites in this park.
• Sites have water and electric connections.
• Most sites have 20, 30 and 50 amp service.
• There were multiple dump stations along the park's main road.
• Bathhouses were adequate and clean. A camper warned us that the showers didn't have hot water. I discovered that the showers had plenty of hot water, but controls worked opposite of what you expected.
• We were able to watch TV signals from CBS, NBC and several religious TV stations. When the wind was right, we could see Fox. We missed some of the digital channels we enjoy while camping.
• Expect to find the Rockefeller family in the camp store squandering the family fortune. Keep in mind that there are other shopping opportunities just outside the park and you can afford to pay for the gas on what you save over camp store prices.
• The park has a large swimming pool and many visitors took advantage of this recreation facility.
• AT&T provided good 4G service throughout the park.
• We think the park had WiFi, but it wasn't working while we were there.

While the park is on the Gulf, the campsites are not. If you want to see the Gulf, you need to drive a little to get there.

If you are heading to Gulf Shores State Park in Alabama during the summer, we recommend that you think about finding a campsite with shade. This will help make your time in the park significantly more comfortable.