We had headed south for a whole variety of reasons including seeing the Gulf of Mexico and getting warm, so we spent a couple days at Gulf State Beach near Gulf Shores, AL. While there we met a couple from Kirkland, WA just a few miles across town from our home – we chatted with them for an hour or so each evening – and therein lies the tale.
We had not been able to sit outside in the evening and enjoy the outdoors setting of our campgrounds in Georgia and South Carolina because it was too cold in the early evening, and we had really looked forward to some nice warm evenings on the Gulf. But we had forgotten – MOSQUITOES! So aggressive and numerous were they – farewell warm evenings outside . . .
The sign in the park also warns of another aggressive creature – not the one by the sign – the one mentioned on the sign!
The park was really a lovely setting just a few hundred yards from the Gulf itself, on an inlet. The storm surge
from Katrina had rolled up that far and severely damaged the park and its facilities, but they had all been rebuilt. Except for the trees which had been killed by the stagnant salt water pond left behind by the surge, with no drainage.
As we left Gulf State we were struck by the other devastation that is ruining the area – high-rise condos! The stretch of pristine white sand has been taken over by huge tall structures and the beach is gone – for a couple miles! Twenty or more of these insulting constructions completely alter the – I can no longer call it beach since there's none left.
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