Gulf Shores, Alabama/Gulf State Park

What was meant to be a two night stop over in Gulf State Park turned out to be a five night stay, and we could have easily and happily stayed longer.

We left Pennsylvania in our motor home on Saturday, and after two overnights in Cracker Barrel parking lots (one near Knoxville and the other just north of Gulf Shores), we pulled into Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama, early on Monday morning.

Morning movement in a Cracker Barrel parking lot, near Knoxville, before a day of driving

We stayed at the state park campground and couldn’t check in until after noon, so we parked at a beach day use area and spent a few hours recharging on the beach after two very long drive days. We then set up camp at our site in the late afternoon and spent the next 5 days enjoying the state park and beginning to learn the ins and outs of this road life adventure.

Our first view of the Gulf, early Monday morning

Our site at Gulf State Park, our first official set up

We enjoyed cooking outdoors a few nights!

Loved our bike trailer for hauling laundry and trash

Highlights of our time in Gulf Shores include:

Bicycling! The state park was amazingly bicycle friendly, with paved trails through the entire park and out to the towns of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. There were wooden bridges going over marshy lands that connected the trails and took you right out to the coast. It was a super quick bike ride from our site out to the beach, and we were grateful to get to spend some beautiful time on the beach, at the water. 🙏🌊

Riding the trails through Gulf State Park

Greg took this video on a bike ride from our campsite to the town of Gulf Shores

Meeting fellow road lifers! We got in touch with a couple that was staying a few sites away from us and ended up having a few drinks with them on evening at their site (Hi Jeff and Becky! ☺️ @bradylife on Insta). It was honestly out of my comfort zone to just get together with someone I didn’t know, but we had such a wonderful and memorable conversation that it goes to show me that I should do things out of my comfort zone more often. We loved getting to hear a bit of their story.

Fresh gulf seafood! We love to experience new places through food, so we wanted to get some fresh, Gulf seafood while in Gulf Shores. We initially planned to get take out from a local restaurant, but decided to buy fresh seafood from a local market to cook our own instead. Greg picked out cobia – a new to us fish – and some Cajun seasoning made in Louisiana. We made Cajun seasoned cobia with herby steamed potatoes, and enjoyed the fish so much that we went back to the same market the next day to get it again.

Nightly sunsets! Mama 🌎 gave us a beautiful show every evening while in Gulf Shores. We took a sunset bike ride through the park one evening and we had a great view of the sunset at our site, too.

Early sunset, from our bike ride one evening

Learning! This was our very first set up on the road, and we were grateful for the opportunity to start to learn some of the ins and outs of this life. From setting up, getting around, daily routines – we have already learned so much, including the necessity of being flexible, which is what Our Open Ended Life is all about! We can’t wait to continue to learn and grow on this journey.

Gulf State Park – we liked ya a lot and will for sure be back.