New Orleans/Orange Beach Trip Report: Day 6

Day 6: Thursday, April 30, 2015

What a difference a curtain makes. Unlike at the Drury, there were no blackout shades here. I was wide awake by 7, to the sun shining in the room. I could see the ocean from bed, which was so cool.

Eventually I got up and sat out on the balcony for a bit to admire the view while sleepy head continued his snorechestra inside. Clearly the lack of blackout shades was not impacting his sleep.

Nick woke up a bit later, and we got ready and went down to breakfast. The breakfast area was by far the best I’ve seen in the (many) Hampton Inns I’ve stayed in. Big floor to ceiling windows that looked out at the ocean. But the breakfast was by far the most limited of any Hampton Inn I’ve stayed at recently. They did have a really good juice that was a lot like the juice at Kona Cafe in WDW, but, breakfast was pretty boring, even by hotel standards.

Once we’d finished eating, we got ready for the day, and headed out. The forecast was for the afternoon to be in the 80s, but the morning was going to be in the 60s. Might as well go be tourists until it’s beach weather. Plus, I can’t sit on a beach all day. So, we drove over to Pensacola, FL.

Orange Beach is only about 10 minutes from the Florida border. A lot of people here (in NH) didn’t even realize that Alabama had beaches (I’m still getting “Why Alabama” questions when I say where I went over April vacation), but they do, and they’re basically the same as the Florida panhandle beaches, just less crowded, because not as many people know about them. I really didn’t until I started googling. So it was an easy drive over to Pensacola, where we found the National Naval Aviation Museum, on the naval air base, across the street from the Pensacola Lighthouse. 

Because the museum is on an active military base, we had to answer a bunch of questions before being directed to the museum. That being said, Nick sells to some military bases, and he said it was the loosest screening he’s ever seen.

We found the museum, and got ready to explore. This is the home of the Blue Angels, but unfortunately, we were not in the area on one of their practice days. Our visit was truly to just see the museum. We signed up for one of the trolley tours to the “flight line”, and started playing tourist. This museum is a “donation suggested” museum, and is FULL of aircraft. It consists of two buildings filled with aircraft, plus the “flightline”, which is an outdoor area for all the aircraft they don’t yet have building space for. We were here for almost 3 hours. It was VERY well done.

Once we were done at the museum, we headed back to Orange Beach. First stop? Lunch at Moe’s Original BBQ. This was a little place, essentially across the street from our hotel. I think Nick had some sort of meat platter again. I had a sandwich (smoked turkey maybe?). The food was pretty good.

Once lunch was over, we decided to make a stop at CVS (next door) for some bottled water. This is where we proved that the whole shifting knob in this car was a terrible idea. As we drove through the parking lot, I decided I needed to increase the power behind the air conditioner. That knob was located above the shifting knob. Unfortunately, because I was focused on you know...driving...I reached for the wrong knob, and ended up putting the car into neutral, rather than adjusting the A/C. Good thing we were in a parking lot?

Once the car was back in drive, I found a parking spot and we went inside to stock up on bottled water, unique soda, and some post cards from the area.

Purchases in hand, we headed for the hotel. It was beach time. Well, for me at least. Nick hung out in the shade on the balcony while I went down to the beach to wade in the (78*!) ocean water and walk on the beach. It felt so good to be out in the sun after this year’s winter! I collected a few small shells and just enjoyed the sunshine. And I discovered that I'm not good at taking selfies. 

Once I’d gotten my temporary fill of sun and sand, I went back upstairs, and joined Nick on the balcony for awhile. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Eventually we decided to head to The Wharf. The Wharf is an area full of stores and restaurants, plus a giant ferris wheel. It’s described as a boardwalk. Seemed like a good spot to spend some of our evening time.

When we got to The Wharf, we were, once again, stunned by how low the crowds were. And by that I mean we wondered if they were even open, because there were so few people around. And this was supposed to be a “sunset celebration” night. They were indeed open; it just really is in-between seasons. The Wharf didn’t really look much like a boardwalk to me, but it had all the shops and restaurants promised, so, no big deal.

We weren’t quite ready for dinner, and we were not at all concerned about lines, so we started with some shopping. The first store? One with a whole wall of Reef flip flops! Living in the north, I have to buy my Reefs online, because I’m lucky if I can find more than one row of them in most stores. To say I was excited to find a whole wall of them would be an understatement.

Needless to say, I ended up buying two pairs of flip flops. I love my Reef flip flops. They’re so comfortable! My wallet hates it (because obviously I need more than one pair so that I can have different colors), but my feet love them! While I was in flip flop heaven, Nick was exploring the multiple connecting stores. One of them carried Columbia products, and he managed to find the Omni-Heat gloves he’s been looking for at home for awhile.

A couple years ago, a Columbia outlet opened near us. Shortly after it opened, the Omni-Heat line really took off. For those who don’t need extra warm clothing, and therefore don’t know what I’m talking about, the Omni-Heat line of clothes and outerwear is lined with a foil type product that reflects your own body heat. It’s very similar to the concept of marathon blankets, only it lines clothing. Nick and I are obsessed with it. In roughly a year and a half, I’ve accumulated a winter hat, many pairs of gloves, snow boots, base layer pants, a fleece pull-over, a (not-so) puffy vest, and a parka, all from the Omni-Heat line (and all at a ridiculous discount, thanks to the outlet). I can’t tell you what a difference it’s made in recess duty. Made a big difference when we had “winter carnival” this year in negative 20 windchills too. Seriously, this stuff WORKS! And I’m someone that runs cold. Just make sure you put the clothes on when you’re still inside, and not when you (or the clothes) have gotten cold. Then they’ll reflect the cold. Not that I learned that lesson the hard way or anything!

So, because of this ridiculously cold winter we had, it became very difficult for Nick to find the gloves he wanted. Low and behold, they still existed in Alabama. We had a good laugh about that. They were on clearance so even with that awful 10% sales tax (no sales tax in NH!), they were still really inexpensive. Needless to say, he bought them, and is now ready for next winter (which we hope will NOT start before Thanksgiving this year…).

Once we had finished buying our seasonal gear, we moved on to some other stores. One of those was a sunglasses store (Nick used to sell sunglasses), where we were once again reminded how friendly people are in the south. We chatted for a good ten minutes with the owner, who jokingly told us not to tell our friends about what a gem the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area is, but also, like the people of New Orleans, thanked us for visiting.

Our last shopping stop was the Tervis store, because you can always use more of those. We were able to bring home big Tervis tumblers that were beach themed, said Orange Beach on one and Gulf Shores on the other, and would be perfect for when Nick figures out how to recreate the hurricane.

Once our shopping was done, it was time for dinner. Since we don’t have one near us, and I’m a huge country music fan, we decided to go to Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar & Grill. The place was, like the rest of The Wharf, nearly empty. The atmosphere fit for the name of the place, but that was about the end. There was pop music playing?

I think I had a burger. It was pretty good. Nick had some creole pasta dish (I don’t really know why either). He was unimpressed. Service was pretty average. And exactly one country song played the entire time we were there. I was scratching my head about that one.

Once dinner was done, we walked around a bit. Although there was one area that was kind of a marina of sorts, I still could not figure out why they called this place a “boardwalk”.

Once we were done exploring, it was time for dessert. Thanks to tripadvisor (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE that website?), I’d read about a place called Hope’s Cheesecake. We like cheesecake almost as much as we like ice cream. It was a no-brainer.

Turns out Hope’s Cheesecake was less than 5 minutes from The Wharf. Perfect! We found it easily, and the decision making began. I think there were about 40 different choices. Pretty much every flavor you can imagine. I think I finally ended up deciding on a slice of Snickers cheesecake. I can’t remember what Nick got. Since the cheesecake is sold in individual, packaged portions, we got some plastic forks from the cashier and took the cheesecake back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, we went for another walk on the beach. The sun was starting to go down, and it was another gorgeous night.

After our walk, we stopped by the bar for a drink, and then headed back to the room to enjoy the cheesecake and drink on our balcony. We stayed out there until long after it got dark, listening to the waves rolling it. It was hard to believe we had just one full day left of vacation.

New Orleans/Orange Beach Trip Report Day 5

Day 5: Wednesday April 29, 2015

Moving day. We woke up knowing without a doubt that our trip was more than half over. We managed to get up a bit earlier this morning, although, I’m really not sure how. We did breakfast downstairs again and finished packing.

Once the packing was done, I called down to valet to get the car brought to the entrance. As someone who stays at mid-level (and in Disney, value) hotels, this just seemed so different to me. But valet seems to be the only way to park at a hotel in New Orleans.

We grabbed our pile of luggage (HOW did it grow so much in 4 days?!) and headed downstairs. The receipt had been emailed to me about 2 am, so all I had to do to check out was hand over the keys. Needless to say, I’m not sure that the wheels on the suitcase even stopped moving before I was moving again, and headed outside. Just as we opened the door to the outside world, our car emerged from the parking garage. Perfect timing.

We packed the car, fired up the phone GPS, and we were on our way to Alabama. The hotel was not far from the highway, so within minutes we had joined the crazies on I-10. Side note, I’ve driven in a few places known for its crazy drivers, Boston and Texas included. I’ve decided that the Masshole population has nothing on New Orleans. Good grief! But we made it out of the city and crossed Lake Pontchartrain, which was a cool drive. I kind of wished I-10 was the highway with the really long causeway over the lake. As it is, I-10 crosses it for a pretty significant length. Nick, the king of sleeping about as soon as he sits down in the passenger seat, slept.

Before I knew it, we had crossed into Mississippi. I have a goal to go to all 50 states before I turn 50, and I do count driving through, so this was another new state crossed off the list. That being said, I did stop at the Welcome Center to do an official “check-in” on facebook, and also to gather tourist manuals just in case we end up back in the area again. It was a very cool rest area in terms of architecture, so a few pictures got taken. Plus we wanted to document that I had crossed another state off the list.

Once the brochure gathering was done, it was back on to I-10. Next stop? Lunch! Nick and I are big fans of the show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The website (flavortownusa.com) that lists every place Guy has been to is bookmarked, and any time we are traveling, we check it to see if there are any restaurants to go to that he’s been to in that area. Through this website, I had discovered a barbecue place called The Shed. It just happened to have a location in Ocean Springs, MS that was roughly 2 minutes off the highway. We like BBQ, and timing was perfect for lunch. It was a no-brainer.

We knew this was going to be a winner when we pulled into the parking lot.

Once we’d finished admiring(?) the outside, we headed inside to order. I got a pulled pork sandwich. Nick got a combo platter that involved brisket, pulled pork, corn and mac and cheese. We found a place to sit while we waited for our food. The interior of The Shed is a crushed stone floor, and the seating area is long picnic tables. The table set-up was very much like a BBQ place we went to in Texas.

Our food arrived a few minutes later and we dug in. So GOOD! If you’re ever passing through MS on I-10 at a time even remotely close to meal time, you need to go to The Shed. It’s great! 

Once we finished lunch, we walked back to the car, where we realized that we’d been so busy taking in the outside of The Shed that we’d totally missed the bayou along the edge of the parking lot. So pretty. 

Once the picture taking was done, we hopped back in the car, and continued driving. If you factor out stops, it’s supposed to be a 3 hour trip from NOLA to Gulf Shores. Very reasonable, and a very easy and very pretty drive. Nick fell asleep again. We stopped at the first tourist center when we arrived in Alabama, and then continued deeper into the state.

I got a little nervous driving through Mobile. The pictures I’d seen of Orange Beach were gorgeous, but the water in Mobile Bay was anything but. It was very similar to the water in Lake Pontchartrain. Not a pretty color.

When we arrived in Gulf Shores, our first stop was, what else? The welcome center. We got our tourist manuals (and coupons), and then we headed across the street to The Track. Time to really be tourists.

Growing up, I never went go-karting. It just wasn’t something my family did. Nick’s family apparently went go-karting on every vacation. Like it was a requirement that there be a go-kart place at their destination. His family introduced me to go-karts last summer, and it was fun. So when I found The Track advertised online, I knew we had to go there.

Once we had purchased our points, we headed for the first go-kart track. This was our warm up. It was pretty good. But the real reason we came here was around the corner, and we still hadn’t seen it in person yet. I’d seen pictures online, but when I told Nick about it, he decided he didn’t want to see it until he was there in person. And we know everything looks different in person anyway.

So once we finished on the Super Track, we headed around the corner to the Wild Woody, a three story, spiraling, wooden go-kart track. It looked even cooler in person than it had online. 

This is where we realized just how low-crowds this area was. There were a handful of people at The Track, but Nick and I ended up being the only two people racing on both tracks. We had a blast. And that 3-story wooden track was just as fun to go-kart on as it looked. If only they had that in NH.

Once our points were gone, we hopped in the car, and finished the trip to the hotel. Our home for the next few days was the Hampton Inn, Orange Beach. It was ON the beach. It looked kinda beachy too.

Check-in was easier than I had expected, given that this night had been reserved on Hilton Honors points, and the rest of the stay was cash. Pretty soon we were on our way up to our room on the 6th floor. While I was glad to see that they honored my permanently stored preference of “high floor”, I was a little disappointed to see that our room was right across from the elevator. My account also says “away from elevator”. Oh well, can’t win them all.

The room was a typical Hampton Inn room, with a very beachy color scheme. Perfect. And the view was fantastic! My concern as we drove over Mobile Bay wasn’t necessary. This beach was gorgeous.

Once I’d finished admiring the view, it was time to start the nightly challenge of figuring out where to eat. Eventually we decided on Bahama Bob’s, so we hopped in the car and drove over there. Bahama Bob’s is right next to the ocean, and specializes in seafood. Since it was cool (you know...a chilly 75* haha), they had the plastic up around the balcony. We sat out there to eat. Nick had some fried seafood platter (shrimp, oysters and???). I had some fried white fish, and a Bahama Mama to drink. Nick also went the fruity drink route with a Bahama Bob. Dinner was good and so was the service.

Nick and I love ice cream, and it’s kind of our thing to find a local ice cream place wherever we are. So once dinner was finished, it was off to Matt’s Homemade Alabama Ice Cream for dessert. I have no idea what kind of ice cream either one of us got, but it was very good. Not as good as our local place (that, interestingly, was begun as the senior project of one of the teachers I work with), but very good.

After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to the hotel to grab the camera, and go for a walk on the beach. It was beautiful. I took lots of pictures. Nick waited very patiently.

While picture taking, we noticed a fin surfacing periodically a ways out in the water. We never figured out exactly what it was, but we decided to go with “dolphin”. We didn’t want to think of alternatives.

Once the sun had really gone down, we stopped at the beach side tiki bar that was connected to the hotel for a beverage for Nick (some Alabama themed thing that tasted like cough syrup), and headed up to the hotel room, where we parked ourselves on the balcony for awhile to listen to the waves, and then eventually collapsed into bed.