Our Trip to Orange Beach

As I mentioned in my post last week (Six Tips for Road Tripping With Young Kids) we recently went on our very first family vacation. We drove out to Orange Beach, Alabama for a five night stay at a cute little resort right on the beach. Even though we always say we're going to plan out our days beforehand whenever we take a trip, it never fails that we just kind of wing it once we get there. And that's exactly what we did.

A and I are the worst about weighing our options and finally picking a place to stay , so it took us awhile to decide on Perdido Beach Resort, but I'm glad we did. It literally was like a two minute walk to the water. The interior decor could use a little updating, but it was clean and well taken care of, and the staff was all super nice. Definitely recommend it if you ever happen to visit the Alabama coast.

I also mentioned in my last post how we came about visiting Orange Beach, since Alabama seems like a random vacation. If you didn't read it, a few months ago when we were trying to figure out where to take our trip, I came up with the brilliant (if I do say so myself) idea of making it a goal to see all 50 states as a family. I've always said it's a goal of mine, so why not rope everyone else into it with me? A said sure, whatever you say (he was probably watching sports and half listening)...so then I decided to make it even more interesting. I said something to the effect of "Babe, wouldn't it be fun if we saw all of the states in alphabetical order? Wouldn't that be such a fun and random way to see everything? Oh my gosh, yes! Let's do that! OK, so we'll go to Alabama this summer! I love it!". And he said something to the effect of "Alabama? What the hell are we going to do in Alabama?", and I said "They have beaches.", and he said "Oh. Ok.". So that was that.

So that's how we ended up in Orange Beach. And no, we won't be going to Alaska next year because someone doesn't like the cold and someone doesn't understand why anyone would ever want to go to Alaska and someone said they are vetoing that idea and we will skip to the next one, thankyouverymuch.

But I'm so glad I came up with my random plan, because Orange Beach was awesome. It was the perfect beach to have a kiddo in tow. Very low key, quiet, lots of older couples and families and basically zero people who were there for a party. Grayson was a little hesitant with the water the first day, but by day two he was running into the waves as fast as he could and causing mini heart attacks in his mama.

We basically spent our time on the beach, at the pool, and eating. On our third day we went to Pensacola Beach in Florida, which was about an hour drive, and I think that may have actually been our favorite day. The beach there was beautiful, the water was a clearer blue, and we found a fun little outdoor boardwalk area to walk around for awhile. The time passes so fast while you're on vacation, I can't believe we were actually there for four full days. But it was an absolute blast, and Grayson was seriously amazing. With a 16 month old it's kind of a gamble, and we were so pleasantly surprised.

A decided that he wanted to extend the trip by a day, so we debated on staying an extra night or stopping in New Orleans on the way home for a night. When we woke up our last day it was dark and gloomy with a high chance of rain all day, so that made the decision for us. New Orleans was only about three hours away, so we were there early in the afternoon and got to spend several hours exploring the French Quarter and Jackson Square.

I had been to New Orleans years ago, I believe the summer after I graduated high school, and I remembered it vaguely as being a very cool city. It was fun to be there again though, and I'm glad A got a chance to see it. His verdict was awesome city, would love to go back, but definitely not with a kid. Surprisingly, we saw several other people with little ones, but it's definitely not a super kid-friendly area. I never felt uncomfortable or like Grayson was unsafe in any way - but we did take a maybe five minute stroll down Bourbon Street and I can safely say that it is NO place for a baby. It was like we were on a casual little stroll, we turned onto Bourbon and everyone was NUTS. It was loud, people were screaming and dancing and literally 90% of the people looked wasted. Luckily G was napping in his stroller, and I have no idea how, but he slept through that entire debacle. The minute we turned down the street we looked at each other and started laughing and were like we have to get out of here!

The cutest part of the New Orleans stay was watching Grayson. That kid loves to dance, and the minute he hears music he starts moving. In stores, in the car, while he's eating, no matter what he's doing. There are street performers everywhere and music on every corner, so he literally danced his way through the entire French Quarter. He drew in quite a crowd at one point and some drunk guy came and gave me a hug and thanked me over and over again, telling me how amazing and wonderful Grayson was. It was hilarious. I swear this kid has a future in entertainment.

Overall the trip was pretty amazing. There were obviously some tantrums here and there (mostly from G), some bickering over where we should eat or what we should do, but for the most part it was wonderful. It made me want to take a vacation at least once a month. I mean, that seems totally reasonable. Can't wait for our next trip!