Beach breezes

WHEN? Thursday · June 5

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama · find us on the map

Until our recent move here, most of Gulf Shores that Wendell and I had seen was limited to the drive past various tourist destinations along Highway 59 and Perdido Beach Boulevard, on the way to our regular Orange Beach vacation spots. Now that we're Gulf Coast locals, we've been exploring areas that we used to breeze on past. Today we discovered a Gulf Shores public beach that's less than 20 miles from home. Although it didn't offer the senior-discount freebie we've grown accustomed to, the $5 parking fee was worth perks like restrooms and showers that aren't available at other area public beaches.

The yellow hazard flag was flying when we arrived, and the strong winds created big, curling waves like I haven't seen since we vacationed on Dauphin Island over thirty years ago. With so many families out on a weekday afternoon, there were plenty of opportunities for people-watching. My favorite was a parasailer who was pulled from the shore to the horizon and back several times. He seemed to enjoy the challenge of the high surf.

The purple flag was also up, but that didn't keep people out of the water

The wind was such that we thought we might go parasailing while we were trying to get our sun shelter put up! Shortly after a red hazard flag replaced the yellow one, we departed to escape an unexpected rainstorm. Our time there was fun though, and we got our five bucks worth.

See more of today's photos on flickr:
Beach · Clouds · Sky · Waves