Adventures in our Adventurer: Adventuring to the Gulf Coast

We arrived in Theodore, AL (actually Mobile) on Good Friday for a stay at All About Relaxing RV Park. Isn’t that a great name for a RV park? It is a smaller park but super clean and well maintained. There are even electric gates to get in and out of the park so the secure feeling is heightened as well. I have been very impressed with the staff and the super fast wi-fi in the park that is included in the fee. This is a place I will visit again. What a great welcome sign!

Welcome Larry and Beverly

We attended the Easter sunrise service at Bellingrath Gardens just down the road a bit. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed worshiping with others this special day. Afterwards, we ate at the café on the grounds and then toured the gardens and house. A lot of the folks at the sunrise service were locals that left and went to their home church so there were times when we felt as if we were the only ones wandering the grounds.

Easter Sunrise Service Cross

Supposedly most visitors only take about 45 minutes to view the gardens. We were so taken with the beauty and the moment that 3 hours later, we finally had seen enough and were tired enough to go back to relaxing at our aptly named RV Park. From big to small, we saw it all. See if you can spot the butterfly.

The next day, we enjoyed a meal at Dick Russell’s BBQ restaurant. Even though the meal was good, the really fine time to eat here is at breakfast. Yes, you heard right, breakfast. The reason is some of the best Southern Breakfast dining in Mobile and they make homemade biscuits every 15 minutes. Even at other meal times when offered garlic bread versus biscuits, choose the biscuits. They alone are worth the stop, no matter what time!

Reading these accounts you might get the impression that we do not do anything but go sightseeing. Nothing could be further from the truth. We live every day just as if we are in a sticks and brick location and do the things one would ordinarily do in that situation. These include, but are not limited to things such as cleaning the house, cooking meals, washing clothes and all the required maintenance on the home. Occasionally, we even have to look for something, or in the case below, retrieve something that has fallen underneath the couch. Of course, there is only one of us nimble and thin enough to make the trip fully up under the sofa and manage to back out again.

Besides the ordinary and mundane tasks associated with living, we do have the opportunity to work on projects and hobbies. Here is proof that Beverly knows how to sand wood. She is prepping some wooden crates prior to painting and assembly. The finished project will be posted again later. Its purpose is to organize and house some of the items she likes to keep beside her chair in the living room.

I have always wanted to visit Beauvoir in Biloxi, MS. Since it is only a few miles away, we made a trip to tour the house and grounds one afternoon. Why you ask? Well let me tell you. The house is the last residence of Jefferson F. Davis, the former President of the Confederate States of America. As a matter-of-fact he is the only President of the CSA. My great-grandfather, who was the first Quinn in my paternal ancestry line born in Texas, was named after him and both my father and myself were named after our grandfather and great grandfather. We forgot our camera and did not use the cell phones, so no pictures of this stop.

I come from a long line of Southern ancestry and have always been interested in the Civil War time period in U.S. history. Learning of the name connection increased my curiosity and interest in the story surrounding Davis’ life after the end of the war. The home is situated right on the beach looking out at the Gulf of Mexico waters and has survived numerous hurricanes, even the most recent Katrina. Most of the furnishings are original to the Davis family that occupied the house. The house tour host was great and added a lot of back story to the house, history, construction, furnishings and daily family life so our trip was well worth the visit.

While in the Mobile area we were bemused to hear the many news stories surrounding the building and opening of the first Buc-ee's outside the State of Texas. The first location in Louisiana fell through so the next location, which is around Mobile, is now the first. It seems there is a lot of interest and curiosity about this 'convenience store' in the bay area. Being Texans and familiar with Buc-ee's, we are definitely excited about this development too. This could be like Cracker Barrel and become a well-known institution nationwide.

Our last stop in the Mobile area was Dauphin Island and Fort Gaines. The fort is located on a spit of land (Dauphin Island) that was the base of operations for the French when exploring and maintaining a presence in the New World before Napoleon sold the holdings to the U. S. under President Thomas Jefferson. The fort was built to protect America’s coastline prior to the Civil War and is the site of the naval battle for Mobile Bay where the Union Admiral David Farragut supposedly uttered the famous line, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

We saw this as we arrived on Dauphin Island. We have labeled these the 'World's Skinniest Condos'. They are indeed condos and are indeed 'skinny'.

We had a great time exploring and poking around the fort, imagining all kinds of things as we learned the history of the site and about the folks that worked and served at the fort. Our next stop is the beach. We are headed to Gulf Shores State Park on the beach in Gulf Shores, AL for the next two weeks.