Fun ways to stay warm this winter

Vacuum Insulated Thermos

I freakin' hate cold weather. I'm not kidding. For some reason, I begin to shiver if temperatures drop below 65 degrees. As  you can image, I've found multiple ways of staying warm in style. Explore products that are great for chillin' in the lodge or outdoor excursions.

Warmth To Go
When I'm getting an early start on my day, I'm eerily dependent on my vacuum insulated mug by Thermos. It holds 16oz and keep fluids hot for six hours. What I like most about it is that there isn't some magical way that I have to put on the lid to drink from it. Have 360 degree access to my beverage!

Multi-color Pashmina

If you haven't had a revelation of pashmina, you're at a terrible loss in life. Imagine a scarf made of the softest material that is also warm, beautiful and elegant. That's pashmina. I perfer them to other types of scarves because they're so easy to dress up or dress down. Many are quite large, so you can use them as shawls.

Fireside Coziness

Catina Bootie

Fuzzy slippers are a given. My favorites this year have been the Women's Catina Slipper Bootie at Target. I got the turqouise color and I adore them. The wool keeps my legs warm and the firm sole is great for running to the mailbox without having to change shoes. The inside is lined with artificial fur so they feel magnificent.

After a long day on the slopes (or just running around in Christmas traffic) it's great to crash in front of the TV with a warm beverage and a fleece throw. Fleece blankets are perfect for staying warm while you are lounging. They aren't bulky. They're easy to wash. You can also find them in a plethora of colors to match your home decor.

Didn't I mention a warm beverage? Allow me to recommend Aristeacrat's Creme Earl Grey tea. It's smooth, delicious, and a perfect way to begin or end your day. I prefer mine with milk and brown sugar. I've even gotten my boyfriend hooked on it so it's a...manly?...tea as well.

What are a few of your cold weather must-haves?

Exploring Tallulah Gorge

A few months back, my boyfriend and I began our very own commemorative trekking pole. Every time that we visit a new state park, we buy one of the cute little medallions that we can nail onto the wooden pole. The collection is growing rather nicely, I must say.

We don't just go to the parks for the medallions, of course. (They're bonuses.) The parks are an excellent way to unwind on weekends and enjoy the absolutely stunning creation around us. One of my favorite spots in Georgia, so far, is Tallulah Gorge.

Tallulah Gorge is located in North Georgia near Toccoa Falls, right along the South Carolina border. Quite a few travelers have likely passed over the gorge without noticing it; if you aren't looking for it, the bridge over the river looks like any other overpass on 441. With that said, you should get the picture that the gorge is no Grand Canyon. It does have it's own sense of beauty, though.

The bridge passes over one of the most narrow parts of the river. Beyond, the river and gorge extend for two miles and becomes nearly 1,000 feet deep. The most beautiful areas, in my opinion, are the views of the waterfalls and pools created by the Coleman and Tallulah rivers. The bare cliff faces are also stunning during sunset.

My boyfriend, his brother, and I hiked the North and most of the South rim trails. The hikes are easy, and a decent alternative to anyone wanting to avoid the 600 stairs leading to the gorge floor or the 1,099 stairs on the Hurricane Falls Loop trail. With that said, the hike was a bit too easy for my liking. I didn't break a sweat or feel the burn of well-worked glutes. I hope to drag my s.o. back for one of the more challenging trails. As much as I hate stairs, the opportunity to swim in Bridal Falls is tempting. It's luring me back for the summer.

There are a few things that you should know about Tullulah Falls, GA.

• Your dining options are few. If you're traveling with picky eaters, plan to eat before or after your trip. 
• It gets cold really fast near the water during the cooler months, so even if you plan your excursion during a mild afternoon, bring your jacket for the evening.
• Use quality boots, especially in the spring, fall, and winter. Most of the paths wind through trees, which is excellent for blocking out the southern sun. Unfortunately, this means that any degree of moisture stays trapped on the path. In autumn, fallen leaves become slippery. In the spring and winter, rain and melted snow will leave the paths muddy and slick. If you plan to explore the gorge floor (all boulders) it is also important to wear boots with good traction.

Gulf Shores Vacation: Day Four

The next morning was the first day of real sunshine. Not “But I’m at the beach so I may as well be outside,” sunshine that is also accompanied by icy 15 mph winds. I mean legitimately sunny, cloudless weather of at least 70 degrees. I couldn’t have been happier—unless it was 80 degrees.

I thought that the water was still too cold for a swim so I planned to lay out on a beach towel and soak up the sun. My boyfriend, however, was still in his “But I’m at the beach…” mode and decided to go snorkeling. It makes me cold just thinking about it. Gear in tow, we drove a golf cart down to the beach and began our activities.

The Beach 

Much to my disappointment, my boyfriend discovered that this portion of the Gulf doesn’t have many of shells. (Clear water, pretty white sand, and no shells was great for laying out on my towel but bad for bringing back souvenirs.) My boyfriend was also a bit started by the quantity of jelly fish bobbing along in the water. I think he saw a few sting rays, too. They are what eventually drove him back to the shore. He’s the sort of guy that has to be doing something and I felt bad that his snorkeling was cut short so I pulled myself from the sand and decided to go for a walk with him.

The community isn’t very large. Less than 3 miles along the coastline is well-developed and then the quantity of homes starts to dwindle. I wanted to keep walking (I can walk on the beach for years!) but we decided to turn back after a mile or so and headed inside for lunch.

Gulf Island Grill

I don't know how to review Gulf Island Grill. We all ordered buckets of seafood by the pound in one form or another. I got a 2 pounds of clusters and 1/2 pound of shrimp and entered bliss. I was stuffed beyond a reasonable capacity but I couldn't have been happier. My boyfriend got 1/2 lb Oysters and 1/2 lb shrimp in addition to some an oyster appetizer and half of my gumbo appetizer . My sister and brother-in-law split a St. Martin's Platter and were satisfied, though not gorged.

Fresh seafood is simply delicious. The restaurant doesn't "make" any of the sea creatures, so I don't know how to rate the establishment on how it tasted; maybe they tossed some Old Bay and garlic in the pot while everything steamed. What was prepared (the gumbo) was chuncky and well-seasoned but it was overshadowed by my obsession with crab legs so...I dunno. 

Overall rating 6/10 for freshness and moderate prices for the portion sizes.

After lunch, we drove to a shop called David’s Gallery. It’s a tattoo parlor, clothing store, and natural remedies shop all fitted into one building. The areas are clearly designated but are connected to one another via a series of doorways. Inside, the employees looked like a cross between hippies and bikers: serious piercings and tattoos, mellow, easy to talk to, not afraid to toss out a “curse word” in front of the customers, complementary. Take them or leave them. They did have a great selection of skirts upstairs that were hand dyed and made from natural fibers. I snagged one that reminded me of a Raggedy Anne doll that has traveled to Tunisia. Beautiful.

After our brief shopping stint, we decided to head back into Fairhope for the Oktoberfest. Tickets were $30 per person. Fortunately, before we could cross the threshold, a couple exited the event and heard us debating whether to enter.

“Don’t waste your money.” The woman warned. She seemed weary and disappointed.

“Seriously, it’s not worth it,” groaned in her partner. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.  “They’re serving, like, small samples of Miller Lite and Budweiser. And they’ve got store brought pretzels and hotdogs. It was a complete waste.”

The two walked away hand in hand, ticked-off but determined to redeem the night. 

We were certainly grateful for their input. My boyfriend and I lingered around the entryway for a moment longer, listening to the pop music and watching the sparse population mingle and stroll between the booths. We looked at each other and shrugged.

“Let’s walk around a bit. If nothing jumps out at us, why don’t we head back to that place with the Christmas lights on the sign that we passed on the way in?” I suggested. I received no opposition.

I fell in love with the town all over again that night. Sure, the family-oriented Oktoberfest was a bust, but walking through the town had a beautiful, magical quality to it. The storefronts were filled with seasonal decorations and unique crafts. I saw a few cafes and restaurants that I’d want to come back to during the day, if given the opportunity. 

In an effort to get back to the parking lot (and not pass through the Oktoberfest area again) we took a different route. Along the way, my boyfriend laughed, “The cat is leading the way.”

I immediately began checking the shadows for a scurrying cat ahead of us. Nothing. Seconds later I realized that he was referring to a face painted on the side of a fence. It wasn’t a cat, but a regular smiley face. Neither of us could place why but, from a distance, it had looked like the grinning face of the Cheshire Cat.

Into the Rabbit Hole

The restaurant, we found out, was called Fly Creek Café. A massive chalk board served as their sign, the names of upcoming artists sprawled in festive print under the logo. We headed down a gravel driveway that looked as if it was leading to a marina and warehouse. A tiny grouping of cars to the left of the corrugated steel structure reassured us that we were headed in the right direction.

The Red Queen: We should’ve known something was…off…when we first met the hostess. She wore a broad smile with bright red lips and a red carnation in her hair. As she greeted us, she cocked her head to the side and brushed her brown hair behind her ear. 

My boyfriend nudged in her direction with his chin. “Nice flower.”

“What?” asked the hostess, pausing with the menus in the crook of her arm.

“In you hair? It’s a nice flower...it looks good.” He seemed increasingly hesitant as he spoke. He looked to me for clues.

I smiled and nodded, tapping my temple, thinking that maybe she forgot that the flower rested above her ear. “It matches perfectly with your lipstick.”

“Um…,” the smile remained plastered to her face but she was completely clueless. “Right this way,” she enunciated and then headed out to the patio.

The outdoor seating area faces the water and the marina, making it a gorgeous place to chill at night. The boats rocked gently in the water, the moon shone brightly, and the other guests chatted merrily amongst themselves. 

A group of men hovered over a high-top with their beers, watching a single television rigged over the outdoor bar. For some reason completely unknown to us, the hostess sat our menus on the table they were standing at. The men dispersed but didn’t seem fazed by the incident at all.

Clown-smile in place, the woman looked us both in the eyes separately and said, “Toby will be right with you,” before walking away.

Toby never came. To this day, we have no idea who in the hell Toby is.

The Mad Hatter: The guy that eventually waited on us wasn’t Toby but he was awesomely weird. He spoke with a distinct Cajun accent (think Gambit from the 1990s animated X-Men series) but it ends up that he is from Romania. (I guess  Romania + Alabama accents sound like Louisiana?) That could’ve been incredible sexy if it wasn’t for his over-sized sweater. The sleeves drooped over his knuckles; he tugged at them like Jennifer Love Hewett used to in Party of Five. It just seemed more peculiar because he was at dude, maybe close to his 30s. 

He shifted from one side to the other as he spoke, doing a little jig, emphatic about everything he said, pulling on his sleeves. He recommended an appetizer by explaining, “Yeah, the stuffed shrimp are shrimp that are stuffed. There is crab meat on the inside, stuffed in the inside, and the whole thing is wrapped in bacon. It’s really, really, delicious. It’s real crab meat and lots of it. And real bacon. It’s reeeeally, reeeeally, good. You’ll love it. I’ll get it for you.”

We didn’t dare question him. He seemed so certain that we’d love it. We believed him. That was smart of us, because he was right. The stuffed shrimp were delicious (though I peeled off the bacon and gave it to my boyfriend). 

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum: We ran into a problem, though, when we wanted to order drinks. No drink list. No chalk board with drinks on it. My boyfriend asked two of the waiters (part of the group that hovered over our table before) if they had a drink menu and both men looked completely shocked that they hadn’t thought about giving us one sooner. They began their search for the drink menus by looking under the salt shakers on the table next to them. Then they looked under the napkin holder on an adjacent table.

My boyfriend, who was standing near them, turned back to me in disbelief. What are these guys doing? The menus couldn’t have been folded into the size of a business card and stuffed under a salt shaker…? He wasn't saying anything but it was all over his face.

That’s when the reality hit us. Everyone must have been high. Really, really high.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum eventually found a drink list (the size of an average menu, certainly not small enough to fit under a napkin holder). We flagged down the Mad Hatter and ordered our beverages. He seemed delighted to have us at his “tea” party. He assured me that my drink (basically a white Russian with lots of chocolate) was going to be really delicious. 

Thimble Mouse: While all of this was happening, we noticed that the other families in the area seemed to know one another. They huddled around a bonfire, sliding marshmallows onto skewers and talking wildly about a million topics at once.

One little girl, about 9 years-old, brunette with a pointed nose, grabbed my attention as being the most peculiar of the children. She asked a woman what the devil looked like; when the woman implied that the devil was a like shape shifter, the girl (whom we dubbed Thimble Mouse) didn’t like the answer. She insisted that the devil had a pointed beard and a red tail. Then she ranted on about how she could outsmart the devil. 

I lost track of the conversation but when I tuned back in the woman was telling Thimble Mouse that she must run laps around patio to burn off some of her excess energy. (I know: how about you stop feeding the child marshmallows at 11pm!) 

Thimble Mouse bolted around the patio three or four times before settling breathlessly into her chair and continuing to chat it up. A blond woman who sat across from her apologized to us profusely for the noise that her daughter was making. We told her to think nothing of it. The dad, I guess, chirped in and asked if we wanted any kids. They had three or four of them, boys and girls, and we could have our pick. The poor man seem exhausted even with a beer in his hands and I think he was only 30% kidding.

I changed my opinion to 60% when the couple stopped us on our way out. “Wait, Erica!” The woman said. I was startled that she remember my name. “What about a kid?”

Her husband laughed and shouted. “Don’t try to sneak out of here without one. We’ll slash your tires!”

Everyone around the bonfire laughed, including the kids.

“Really,” the woman continued more casually. “Which one do you want?”

“Pick me!” shouted Thimble Mouse, her hand extended high above her head.

I have no ideal how my boyfriend and I got out of that. We mumbled and smiled a lot and eventually made our way out of the Rabbit Hole.

Fly Creek Image. Mad Hatter Image

Gulf Shores Vacation: Day Three

The guys heard about the USS Alabama and decided that we should tour the battleship. I hadn’t toured a battleship in well over a decade and my sister never had. Why not?

USS Alabama Tour

Here are a few notes for surviving the ship tour:

• Lose weight and consider shrinking. The corridors are small, the doorways are smaller, and I am convinced that sailors were all 4’11’’ or shorter.
• Take breaks. They aren’t kidding when they suggest allotting at least 2 hours to tour the ship. There are God-knows how many levels and tiny rooms to investigate. Since many of the spaces are tight and the hallways are winding, it’s easy to feel a bit claustrophobic or oppressed.
• Go with people who really enjoy history or battleships. Enthusiasm is contagious. Otherwise, you’ll be bored to tears very quickly.
• Don’t bring babies. Who would? you wonder. Some woman thought it was a good idea and I swear she nearly dropped the child three times trying to climb through the doorways and up the ladders. It was absolutely frightening. And I don’t think there is anywhere to change a diaper.

 My sister and I only made it through the green tour. (There are also yellow and red tours, I think.) The guys went to the very top. I later joined them to tour the adjacent Air Force museum.  Notes to survive the Air Force museum:

• Read all the little plaques, even if you usually skip them. Interesting stuff! And most of them are short, sweet, and to the point.
• The flight simulator is a mixed bag. As a ride, it’s fun. The movements of the vessel are jolting but not horrifying (suitable for kids) and you can feel the vibrations whenever you’re "shot." What ruins the simulator are the 1994 or earlier graphics. I feel like the graphics on my Atari were better. Spoiled, modern patrons will be a bit disappointed.

Felix’s Restaurant

Snapper with crawfish Oscar sauce

Whether you’re coming or going from the USS Alabama, it’s hard to miss Felix’s Fish Camp and Grill. It’s a two story…shack?….made of corrugated steel that rises majestically from the swampy area along Route 16/Battleship Parkway. The building is so bad that it's cool and we just had to go in.

Yes, Felix’s is touristy. It’s next to a major tourist attraction, so go figure. But don’t fault the restaurant or the staff for picking prime real estate and making cash off of good planning.

After walking up a long ramp or taking the elevator (the restaurant is on stilts since it’s next to the water) guests enter the typical wood-clad, nautical themed restaurant. Southwest facing windows make for beautiful sunset views. I don’t think the windows are insulated, unfortunately, because it was extremely warm in the dining area.

We settled in, ordered our quintessential oyster appetizer and selected our entrees. I got the stuffed yellowtail snapper, topped with two crab cakes and served with fried green tomatoes. I’m a big fan of Felix’s crab cakes, especially when served on top of a thick snapper fillet. It was wonderfully prepared in flavor and texture. The fried green tomatoes only rank slightly above average, too soggy to be extraordinary. I’d certainly go back for the Come Back Sauce, a house blend created specifically for fried foods.

My boyfriend ordered the ½ shrimp ½ oyster poboy with a side of crab soup. We were instantly saddened by the sight of a typical hoagie. (Sea-N-Sud’s bun really spoiled us.) It didn’t help that the seafood didn’t impress, either. Fortunately, the crab soup stepped in to save the day, rich and hearty with chunks of crab.

Pork chops with crawfish sauce

Pleasantly surprised by her venture into the unfamiliar, I was glad when my sister ordered the crawfish smothered pork chops with jalapeño fritters (hush puppies). Plentiful crawfish, unique cream-based creole sauce, and a juicy pork chop makes this a recommended dish.  She was less than impressed by the fritters; they lacked spice and flavor.

Her husband ordered the fresh catch which includes grilled yellowtail snapper with crawfish Oscar on top and a side of grits. Felix’s Oscar sauce should win an Oscar for its stellar performance! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) His only complaint regarded the cheese grits. Grits. In a bowl. With shredded cheese on top. Not even melted.

Overall restaurant rating: 7/10 for great views, Come Back Sauce, fresh fish and hefty portions.

Mobile, AL Driving Tour

I wasn’t ready to make the trek back to Gulf Shores. I didn’t imagine that I’d ever come back to Mobile on my own (what’s there?!) so I begged my fellow travelers to do a driving tour through the city. We were all pleasantly surprised.

Mobile is by no means a large city but it has plenty of attractions and charm. We drove around a bit, meandering through one-way streets. Dauphin St. held my interest. It reminds me a bit of New Orleans or Charleston; it has glimpses of international influence, ornate wrought iron balconies, and quaint shops. The area is rather pedestrian friendly. We parked and hopped out to look around.

We passed Bienville Square and decided to stop at Spot of Tea. The restaurant is located directly across from Cathedral Plaza. We sat on the patio (the bottom, not the balcony, which doesn’t open until after 5pm) and watched a group practicing for a wedding in the Plaza. While no one was impressed with the teas (I’m kind of a tea person, so that was a big disappointment) we all agreed that Spot of Tea is an excellent location for people watching, sipping a beverage, chatting and letting the day pass by.

You can see Mobile from the pier in Fairhope

Everyone was in a pretty good mood after our short stop in Mobile so we took a different route back to Gulf Shores. We came up the US-98 alternate but headed back on Route 98 proper through Daphne and Fairhope. We were two for two in good ideas for the day.

I officially want a home in Fairhope. Residents have taken great lengths to maintain the small town. Its center is filled with character, each of the historic buildings preserved or renovated nicely. There are plenty of small cafes, shops, and restaurants that promote pedestrian traffic. And the flowers! Every street corner has a lovely little flower bed and hanging baskets of seasonal varieties. Such little touches are what made me fall in love with that place. 

Fairhope is an active community. Nearly every public building advertised an upcoming event including an Oktoberfest and a youth art show at the community center. People milled through the streets wearing light jackets and smiles; if I didn’t feel so giddy myself I would have been scared that we’d entered some sort of Amityville Horror scene. But I DID feel giddy and I couldn't wait to return the next day for their Oktoberfest celebration.

 

Gulf Shores Vacation: Day Two

Since the second day of our trip also had a chilly forecast, we decided we do a bit of hiking. We didn’t think too much of it since places below sea level tend not to have too many treacherous hills. For the most part, we were right.

Pine Beach Park

The entrance to Pine Beach Park is clearly marked from state route 180. You’ve got to try to miss it. Since the SUV nearly got stuck in the sand earlier that day (a little unnecessary but fun off road action) I was glad that the parking lot was covered in gravel. We checked out a few of the informative displays before starting the trail.

The first leg of the trail is well shaded. The archway of prickly beach vegetation and Spanish moss provides much needed relief from the sun but it also blocks off any scenic views. We strolled along at a casual pace, taking photographs of flowers, moss, and silly poses of each other. It was a peaceful place to take a walk. 

We came to a lookout point, basically an elevated gazebo, that provides guests with views of Gator Lake and a bit of Little Lagoon. The shelter has more informative plaques about the wildlife that resides in the area. I was less interested, though, because I was snapping photos with a DSLR. (I’m currently obsessed with them!)

While we were near Gator Lake we didn’t see any gators. There were at least three herons, though, and I swear they are the most intelligent, regal, and intimidating birds arouns. Really scary when you get too close to them. I’ve held plenty of snakes and clawed mammals in my lifetime but I’m not touching a heron.

 Past the lookout point is where things got interesting. Hikers will pass the ruins of a few structures (unidentifiable, just a few brick walls and a foundation) and then enter the sand dunes. Hiking in sand is one of the best workouts ever! Since the weather was cool I was able to take of my shoes and enjoy the sand beneath my feet. (Don’t try that in the summer. I image half a mile of hot sand is quite unpleasant.) I got a nice tingle in my thighs and butt but it wasn’t enough to make me feel the horrors of exercises. Nice! It would’ve been perfect had we gotten a slight breeze but the dunes block those, of course.

My favorite moment in the whole hike was when we reached the crest of the last dune. The beautiful Gulf opened out before us like a shimmering gemstone with ribbons of turquoise, teal, and blue. The wind picked up immediately and cooled us off. We made our way towards the water and sat along the edge.

Then reality kicked in. We noticed the oil rigs in the distance, beastly structures that rose out of the horizon like sinister Transformers. Then we noticed the clean-up crew. They were making their way down the beach with nets, stopping and scooping. I was in denial at first. Could they still be cleaning up oil? But it is true. About half a dozen workers passed us with dark matter in the bottom of their nets.

I had mixed feelings about it all. We learned that the workers were paid by BP. At least BP was still paying the crews to clean since there were still globs of oil that needed to be removed. (Most globs were the size of ping pong balls or smaller.) At least a few men and women had jobs that may not have been employed otherwise. Both good points. But it hurt me in an inexpressible way to see such a beautiful beach aesthetically and physically marred by our quest for fossil fuels. 

Within an instant I thought back to PureIcedTea.com and how much needs to be done to protect the natural beauty of the South. There is a lot of work to do. “And we drove to this beautiful place in a freakin’ SUV!” I thought. My siblings know how I feel about that sort of thing but they also convinced me that there wasn’t a more cost effective, time-wise and gas-friendly way of getting to our destination. Ugh, the dilemmas that travelers face.

Mikato Japanese Steakhouse

After spending a couple of hours near the beach, chatting with the few locals and visitors, we headed back into town for a late lunch or early dinner (I think it was about 4:30pm). We settled on sushi at MikatoJapanese Steakhouse, a dimly lit restaurants nestled in the distant corner of a shopping plaza. It seemed inappropriately dark, as if strippers would crawl from the other side of the bar at any moment. There was nothing at all shady about our waitress, an accommodating and humorous 40-something.

Of course, you want to know about the sushi. Filling. Creative. Moderately priced. I couldn’t get a feel for the quality of fish used; it certainly wasn’t poor quality but I wouldn’t put it towards the top of my list. I’m sorry, but we were so delirious from our morning in the sun that I completely forgot that I’m a blogger. I didn’t take notes from our dining experience and I’m pulling everything from our collective memories. The only thing that we recall is that the Volcano Roll changed my sister’s life for the better and their BBQ eel made a believer out of my boyfriend. Sort of. The common theme seems to be that this restaurant does sauces and seasonings well even if the fish itself isn’t the main attraction.

Overall rating: 5/10 for friendly staff and good sauces. It's a forgettable restaurant, unfortunately.

There was nothing of interest to us in the mall. Its exterior corridors made a great place to walk off the food. We hoped back in the car and headed home, picking up a frozen pizza in case of late night hunger. I think we spent the night sipping homemade sangria, watching Fact of Faked on Sci-Fi (sorry, SyFy, which is stupider) and being glad that we were on vacation and didn’t have to do anything that we didn’t want to do.

Image Credit: Malaysia Most Wanted

Exploring Gulf Shores, AL: Day One

Every day is a good day for a vacation. When my sister proposed taking a trip during her fall break from school, I was more than thrilled to jump on-board with the plans. She wanted a location with beach access that was within comfortable driving distance of Atlanta. Destin popped up on the list first since it is where she got married but when my boyfriend suggested Gulf Shores, Alabama, we agreed that trying a new destination would be worthwhile.

We settled on a rental property in the Morgantown neighborhood. It’s a relatively small development of beach houses with community tennis courts and a pool. Since we were vacationing in October, the off season, most of the homes were vacant. No complaints about that! It felt like we had the beach all to ourselves.

Even during the height of the season, the Morgantown neighborhood is quiet. Most of the restaurants and attractions are 10 to 15 miles away in Gulf Shores proper, which is perfect if you’re searching for a relaxing getaway. The location is a bit inconvenient if you like to dine out often and enjoy cultural activities. My travel buddies fell somewhere in the middle, so the location worked out just fine.


Sea-N-Suds Restaurant

We made the drive “into town” each day, at least once a day. On one of our first excursions we set our sights on Sea-N-Suds restaurant. It is near to the Gulf State Park so it’s the perfect stop for a day after sunning and swimming.

The restaurant offers plenty of seating with waterfront views, as well as a deck outside where you can enjoy the weather while having a drink (though I didn’t notice any tables for seating, likely because it was a windy October day).

The beach views save the ambiance of this restaurant. The interior design consists of some nondescript beach kitsch and solid wood tables. If I'd found this place anywhere other than the beach I would have turned around and walked out. But don’t be disappointed. I think the restaurant crew spends most of their time on their food and customer service.

The waitress was fun and personable. My boyfriend and I enjoyed her How to Make Cocktail Sauce 101 class that was brief and informative. And delicious! We used the fresh cocktail sauce on our oysters on the half shell. Fresh. Light. Perfect.

My brother-in-law ordered an oyster poboy and I opted for the shrimp poboy. We exchanged halves so that we could sample both. The poboys are served on soft, sesame seed buns that are durable enough to hold the sandwich together but not so thick and bulky that you can hardly eat them. The buns provided just the right amount of bread. (My boyfriend now insists on finding restaurants in Atlanta that don’t serve poboys on hoagies.) The fried oysters and shrimp were as fresh as fried food can be, and the breading provided a bit of crunch and texture while leaving room for us to enjoy the flavor of the seafood.

Sea-N-Suds struck out with the stuffed crabs. While they were tasty, they would have been tastier with less breading and more crab. It’s still a decent buy at about $8. The onion rings and fries were good, greasy complements to our meal but nothing mind-blowing.

Overall Sea-N-Suds Rating: 8/10 for waterfront views, filling portions and fresh seafood.

The Original Oyster House Restaurant

I’ll spare the boring details about grocery shopping and skip right to dinner. We dined at The Original Oyster House, a restaurant that overflowed with people and cars each time that we drove by it. Once we were inside, we completely understood why. I genuinely felt welcomed by the super friendly staff. They weren't at all creepy or artificial way.

I'm not sure what it is about interior designers in Gulf Shores restaurants but they don't seen to stray much from the norm. Fishing propaganda, a million nautical items on the walls. Typical beach restaurant stuff. It felt clean and had a nice local vibe to it so I won't complain too much. Again, they seem to focus on the food more than the decor.

We held onto our tradition of ordering an oyster appetizer. The oysters were generous in size and again, very fresh. I don’t think the freshest oysters that I’ve had in Atlanta could compare to them. I also nibbled on my sister’s  bowl of gumbo. The crawfish and okra were particularly delicious, leaving us fiending for more.

I was still relatively full from lunch so I ordered the gator bites appetizer as my entrée and a side of turnip greens. I discovered that I don't like meaty gator bites. I eat cold-blooded meats like seafood because its the lightest meat around. Thick, hearty gator just made me think about the animal that I was eating and kinda ruined it for me. (Yeah, I was a vegetarian for a few years.) I'm well aware that most people would really appreciate the ample portions of gator. Very filling! When complemented with the sweet and tangy tiger sauce, The Oyster House’s gator proved to be an appreciated departure from the norm. The turnip greens were delicious, just like my grandmother would make them. Then I realized why: there was pork in it. Heads up, if you don’t eat pork.

My boyfriend ordered the Captain’s Choice with delicious shrimp scampi, cheesy hushpuppies and the fanciest grits I’d ever sampled. There was something else involved like a fish option. I found it forgettable because I kept stealing the shrimp scampi. It’s worth stealing. Seriously.

Drawn in by fried soft shell crabs, my sister ordered the Shrimper’s Delight. The entrée didn’t disappoint. The crab claws remained plump and juicy on the inside but crisp on the outside. We’d recommend ordering a plate of those for the group next time. Everything else on the plate, though delicious, paled in comparison.

There were a few fish specials that night, including Hammer Jack. No one at the table had tried it before so my brother-in-law took the plunge. He loved it but I wasn’t impressed. I’d say that it is reminiscent of tuna yet it had the texture of overcooked salmon. Since no one at the table had tried it before, we don’t know if that is how Hammer Jack is supposed to be prepared. The scrumptious butter pecan sauce could’ve made a burnt tire taste good so it definitely saved my brother-in-law’s entrée.

Overall The Oyster House Rating: 10/10. We all wanted to go back, hands down. Good service, good food, good portions, good people.

Image Credits: Classic American Food,  The MacLarteys, Tie Dye Travels