Our first stop was the Nature Center where we made Tom's day. I thought I took a picture of him but when I tried to upload it, it wasn't there. Anyway, Tom asked us where we were from and when we said Rhode Island, he asked, "Are you serious? Rhode Island?" He was pleased because we were the first visitors this year from RI and now he only lacks Idaho to completely color in his map. Frederick volunteered that he was born in Idaho, but we agreed that doesn't qualify.
We got information about the park trails and viewed the exhibits before we headed out - first to the beach.
There are long boardwalks to the beach because they are working on restoring the dunes.
The beautiful Gulf of Mexico. I felt the water. It wasn't freezing cold, but it was bathtub warm, either.
Looking both ways along the beach we saw these high-rise condominium buildings. This is looking east, towards Orange Beach. Looking west, towards Gulf Shores, it is the same scene.
We were able to share the beach with other visitors.
Sea oats with their curly leaves.
We didn't spend a lot of time at the beach because we wanted to get in a good long hike. We chose to hike the Gulf Oak Ridge trail, the longest in the park, at 6 miles. The trail follows a ridge above the park and has the highest elevation, 22 feet.
This overlook along the trail had notices posted about not feeding the alligators. We didn't see any.
Aside from a squirrel and a few birds, this is the extent of our wildlife viewing - a baby alligator!
The trail wasn't exactly wilderness hiking, we didn't even need our sticks. Almost everyone here has a bicycle so that' what the trails are like. Even so, there were plenty of people, like us, walking the trail.
It was quite spectacular with live oak trees and Spanish moss.
We finished the hike and now feel that we are ready for Thanksgiving.
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