Sunny skies, spectacular beaches, great seafood. That’s what my wife and I wanted on a long weekend trip away from late winter in Chicago. So we headed for Alabama.

“Alabama?” our friends asked incredulously. “Why?” Alabama’s gulf coast isn’t completely unknown as a vacation spot; the area attracts plenty of Southerners and snowbirds. But most of the country simply doesn’t think of Alabama as a place to visit.

That was fine with us. It’s literally right across a bridge from Florida’s panhandle and offers nearly identical weather and activities. And because it’s not as well-known, we expected smaller crowds, and knew the trip would cost us a lot less than a trip to Florida.
We were still a little apprehensive, perhaps, knowing few details about what we’d find.

We arrived at our hotel late on a Thursday night, after a flight into Mobile and a long drive to the coast. Friday morning, after a quick
breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, we headed for the beach. As soon as our bare feet hit the sand, we knew we’d made a good choice. The sand was clean and brilliant white, and so incredibly soft: this sand wasn’t sugar-soft; it was more like powdered sugar. The water was calm, with almost no surf, and shallow - only up to our thighs - several hundred feet out. We spent the entire morning sunning, swimming and relaxing.

The rest of the weekend didn’t change our opinion. The locals were friendly and welcoming, and the pace was slow and easy. And the weather, every day, was perfect: sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 80s. Two towns make up Alabama’s gulf coast. Gulf Shores is noisy, brash and exciting, with water slides, go-cart tracks, and plenty of neon souvenir stands. Rows of high-rise condos and hotels line the beachfront.

The undeveloped dunes, beaches and lakes of Gulf State Park separate Gulf Shores from the more sedate town of Orange Beach. The beach here has plenty of tall buildings, but the effect is lessened by the many one-story beachfront cottages. It doesn’t lack for shopping and dining, but Orange Beach is quieter, with far fewer loud attractions than its sister city down the road.

Our hotel was in Orange Beach. The Island House Hotel is a ten-story concrete crescent right on the beach. It’s not luxurious, but our room was adequate and large, with two queen beds. Every room in the hotel has a balcony overlooking the ocean, and the price, under $100 a night, was good. Just up the road is the more upscale Perdido Beach Resort, a newer complex with nice Mediterranean architecture. Other lodging choices include a Holiday Inn and similar budget motels. Many of the condos are also available for short-term rentals, and the sheer number of rooms helps keep prices low.

Most of our activities over the weekend involved the water. On our first afternoon, we took a leisurely cruise on a large sailboat through the wide back bays of the gulf, watching dolphins breach nearby. The next morning we joined a snorkeling expedition at a local dive shop. A small boat took us a quarter mile off shore, where we snorkeled the barnacle-encrusted remains of a galleon that sunk in 1906. We stayed on dry land part of the time, though, including a pleasant afternoon at Bellingrath Gardens, just across Mobile Bay. It’s a big place, over 95 acres of meticulously maintained gardens, wilderness, and a modest 1930s stone mansion. It was the home of a wealthy Coca-Cola bottler who, during the Depression, began to allow the public to visit the gardens. It’s a tradition that continues to this day.

Another afternoon we hiked through the lush scenery of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. The visitor’s center offers excellent hands-on displays of the refuge’s efforts to protect the endangered species who live in the area’s 6000 acres. The two-mile trail was easy, taking us past swamps, forests and dunes before ending at a wide, sparkling beach. A few miles to the east we could see rows of beachfront hotels in Gulf Shores. But here at the refuge, all was silent, undeveloped and secluded. We had the entire beach to ourselves. It might not stay that way for long.

In both towns, but especially Gulf Shores, we saw many new condo buildings under construction. Almost all the large-scale development in the area has occurred since 1979, locals told us. That year, when a hurricane slammed into the coast, the Holiday Inn was the only hotel.

Changes are clearly coming, and more and more travelers will surely discover the area. The two towns, particularly Orange Beach, appear to be trying to balance the growth with the laid-back attitude, ensuring plenty of space between beachfront developments, for instance. Still, we were glad to have gone when we did, before the area loses any of its sleepy charm.

If we could change one thing about the trip, we’d have paid a little more to fly into Pensacola, just across the state line, instead of Mobile. That thought struck us when we had to wake up at dawn on Sunday to drive back to the Mobile airport. It’s a nice enough drive, passing through some small towns and along the shore of Mobile Bay, but it takes nearly an hour and a half, time we’d rather have spent on the beach.

Still, we decided, it’s not a bad trip when your only regret is a relatively minor one. We were quite happy we’d taken the chance on this unusual destination. Alabama gave us perfect weather, great food, and a variety of fun activities, and nothing cost us too much. It was a very nice find.

Information
For more information, contact the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-745-SAND (7263).

Dining
We expected, and got, plenty of great seafood and southern cooking in Alabama. We were also pleasantly surprised at the broad range of exotic tastes offered at some restaurants. And like the hotels and activities, it was all very affordable. Mango’s on the Island was great for reasonably-priced fine dining; most of the expertly prepared entrees are in the $12 to $15 range. They offer many special fish dishes with a distinctive Caribbean flavor.

Cajun-influenced dishes share the menu with Caribbean and traditional southern cooking at the Bayside Grill. Like Mango’s, the Bayside is located at a marina, and features excellent views of the back bays of the Gulf. Just down the road from our hotel was Live Bait. The huge shark poking out of the roof is the first clue: this is a tourist joint. It’s large and loud, with an inexpensive menu ranging from fish to burgers to fajitas. The food was nothing spectacular, but the atmosphere was fun. The outdoor bar, nestled beneath a thatched roof and overlooking a small swamp, was especially nice.

Our favorite restaurant was King Neptune’s, where we went on our last night in Alabama. Seafood is king here, and it’s very good. The menu offers fish, crab, lobster, gumbo, and some of the best oysters - both baked and raw - we’ve ever had, pulled right from the nearby waters. It’s small, crowded and noisy, like Live Bait, but it was clearly a crowd of friendly locals.