Sigh.
We still haven’t seen one in the wild. I even went on a solo hike into the wilderness on the tip of a park ranger the other day and…and…nothing. We will keep you posted. Meanwhile, we stayed at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama and we will most certainly be back some day. This park was sparkling clean and the staff was knowledgable and so friendly. The girls and I hit the beach as many times as we could, hiked, skipped science in the RV to experience science with a park ranger and Paige also conquered her fear of the wild and intimidating scooter! It was a glorious time.

The sand, the food, the shells, just all of it was good for our spirits. We are very loyal to our beloved Malaquite on North Padre Island but Gulf Shores sand was out of a movie set. It makes for lousy sand castles but who cares when you can just bury yourself in what looks like powdery snickerdoodle dough? Danny even found a tiny but whole sand dollar which he promptly crushed after foolishly entrusting its security to his jacket pocket. Sigh. We have photographic evidence of its existence, though so I guess that’s something.

The pier was crazy long and the pelicans weren’t really upset by our presence at all so we got loads of pictures and one of us, who will remain nameless, stalked a young fisherman and gave him tips out of her large vault of angling knowledge. We were at the beach the night the moon hung in the sky like that giant beacon the bad guys flip on when Truman goes missing from Seahaven Island. It lit up the water and made me a bit breathless. Paige couldn’t stop pointing at it and shouting about its gloriousness. It consumed us for quite awhile.

This place is special. I hope we are back if not again in 2017, certainly next year. You should come with us.