Headed there for a week long beach house vacation with the family in June. House is ocean front, on the beach, with a private pool. As much fun the beach is, seven days in a row is usually more than I can tolerate. What other fun things to do are in the area. I know about numerous golf courses, but what else is there?
One thing I’ve learned in life is that if you wait long enough, your problem will solve itself. Seems like we will now have some other extra-cirricular activities waiting on us when we get there.
Found these nifty do-it-yourself oil spill beach clean-up instructions from the 2007 San Francisco spill.
Thanks BP!! 
Don’t worry about sunscreen - just make sure to take a dip in the ocean every day or two.
Gulf Shores isn’t very far from Mobile, where you can tour (or could, years ago, haven’t been there in years) the WWII battleship U.S.S. Alabama, and the submarine U.S.S. Drum.
Casinos on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are within day trip distance.
There’s a great Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola N.A.S., also day trip distance away. Last time I was there they had Pappy Boyington’s airplane, and some of the moon launch stuff, I think.
I’ve gone to Gulf Shores just about every year since I was a child. We will be making our annual pilgrimage to pay homage to the sea in July.
I don’t really know what to tell you to do, because we just do nothing. We wake up and head to the beach where we read or swim or just be.
I’m very sad about what is happening. Going there has always been kind of a religious experience for me and now I don’t know what will happen.
Oh, and go to the FloraBama if it’s still open. It’s always “about to close.”
The biggest rattler I’ve ever seen a picture of was taken right north of you in Bay Minette. 97 pounds. The guy was standing in the back of a pick-up holding it’s tail with outstretched arm and its head was dragging on the ground.
The biggest rattler I ever saw in the wild was… yep, also in Bay Minette. Crotalus horridus. Our Crotalus could expound on it if you’re interested but I believe it’s a Timber variant called a Canebreak.
Just don’t roll up your pant legs, blindfold yourself and go running through the woods next to a peanut crop and you ought to be okay. Probably.
Like an hour or two drive tops (without map questing it).
This isnt just A museum. This is a WORLD CLASS aviation museum. If you have any interest in aviation, the navy, or warfare history in general you will not regret going there. If you really like to poke around you could spend the whole day there. There is a place or two to eat at right there. And they have a couple of IMAX theaters as well. Also on the base are two old forts, Redoubt and Barrancas, both also worth taking a quick look at.
Keep in mind the base forts and museum keep bankers kinda hours IIRC, so you want to get there fairly early so you arent getting rushed out of the door before you are done because they are closing.
Agreed, it’s an enthusiast’s dream and I recommend Trader Jon’s as a place to eat. Great burgers and you get a reward if you catch him wearing matching socks.
ETA: Bummer, tried to find a link only to discover Jon’s is now closed. Trader Jon's - Pensapedia, the Pensacola encyclopedia
If you want to drive about 1.5 hours to just north of Milton, Florida there is a canoe livery in Blackwater State Forest. Adventures Unlimited offers canoe, kayak and inner tube rentals. They drop you off upstream and you float your way back to their facility. They offer trips of various lengths on the Juniper, Coldwater, and Blackwater creeks. These are some really nice creeks that are fairly unique. After a day on the water you could hit downtown Pensacola for some food/entertainment/nightlife.
Adventures also offers rope/climbing courses. They also have a BRAND new zip line course that goes through the trees. You climb up a pole, get on a cable with a pulley and zip to the next pole through the trees. Looks like fun to me.
Here is their website (safe for work and home):
There is a great mall of outlet stores in Foley. Also, somewhere in Foley, sort of under a bridge there is a great restaurant called Lulu’s. It belongs to Jimmy Buffet’s sister. It is well known in the area and you can just ask someone for directions.
About the beach: You might want to ask someone before you go. Oil spills can be very smelly and sickningly so. In normal times the beaches around Gulf Shores are very white and beautiful. I love to go there every year. There are lots of interesting birds – sandpipers, pelicans, gulls. I hope they are surviving.
And speaking of Foley, Lambert’s is a must. That’s the home of the throwed rolls. The food is really good, and watching people get whacked in the head with a roll is fantastic entertainment.
And I almost forgot about the ferry between Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan. Beautiful trip. The kids and I spent it at the top of the boat watching the seagulls glide by. It’s a car ferry as well.
Couple of suggestions:
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Several places offer “dolphin cruises” in the bay. This is a fun way to spend an afternoon, and 99 percent of the time you’ll see dolphins.
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As Zoe said, the outlet center in Foley, about 15 minutes north of Gulf Shores, can easily eat up an entire day.
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I definitely recommend touring the USS Alabama. I’ve never been to the Naval Aviation Museum, but as billfish678 noted, I’ve heard it’s phenomenal.
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Eat out a lot. There are a ton of good restaurants. Some of our favorites include Lulu’s (more for the location than the food, frankly, but the food’s not bad), The Original Oyster House (best seafood in the area), Live Bait, Cafe Grazie, and Wolf Bay Lodge. If you drive into Panama City (about an hour away), you should also eat at Captain Anderson’s. Plan to be hungry when you go to any of these places.
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There’s a towering Ferris wheel at The Wharf, a self-contained vacation area. There are also several shops and restaurants there.
Can’t remember the name but there’s to civil-war era forts flanking the entrance to Mobile Bay. They’re a good way to spend an afternoon.
North of Gulf Shores is “Fairhope” Alabama. It’s a neat-as-a-ping community with some nice little shops to wander through.
Thanks everybody for the good suggestions. We’re going to play it by ear, as to whether or not we still go. Luckily, the house rental agency indicated that they will grant FULL refunds if requested due to the oil on the beaches. This is something they don’t normally do.
Let’s hope it’s not too bad.
Along with what everyone else has said - the Blue Angels (the Navy’s aerobatics demo team) are based onboard Pensacola NAS and if they are in town they practice every week.
You might be lucky and be there for one of their airshows, if not, you can probably attend one of their practices, which are free.
http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/
The Gulf Shores beaches are cool, but head east across the florida line to perdido key and keep heading east to Johnson Beach. Its one of the beaches where the locals go. Its a park, so there’s no commercial development and its on a small island so you can go to the gulf side (where there are waves) or the intra-coastal waterway side which is calm.
I hope the spill doesn’t make it there before you get to experience the ‘real’ beach.