Orange Beach

From Pensacola Beach, we drove westward along the gulf.  It was a little swampy in places...

But lovely...

We looked on Yelp for a good place to get seafood for lunch, and found rave reviews for The Gulf, a new, super trendy place on the beach.  The building is made from repurposed shipping containers.

These parking spots were for Tesla only!  (Never seen that before!!!)

The best thing about The Gulf was the atmosphere.  Wow, is it gorgeous!!!

It was a beautiful day, though very hot.

It was confusing when we walked in one entrance, so we went around to the other. Fortunately, a bartender could easily read our confusion, and she explained to us that there were 2 places to order.  

At one side you could order entrees, and at the other side you could order tacos and finger foods.  

The whole place has cool decor.

We chose the finger foods.  Jeremy and I stood in line for quite a while waiting to order, while the kids found a place to sit.

There was no place left to sit in the shade in the middle of the day, so we sweated it out for a while waiting for our food.

They have a locator system so they can find you wherever you decide to sit.

We each ordered fresh-squeezed lemonade for $4/cup--with no refills.
That was pretty painful, but it was very good.

We waited a long time for our food.  It was pretty good, but didn't knock our socks off like we expected it to from the descriptions and reviews.

We sure did enjoy the atmosphere though!  It is a really beautiful place!  Strangely enough, I didn't take any pictures of the shoreline, even though we were right alongside it.  Sailboats and speedboats were going by while we ate, kids were playing in the sand...it was lovely. 

Pensacola Beach

This morning, we crossed the big bridge from Pensacola over to Pensacola Beach.  There was construction going on right next to the bridge, and it was very interesting to see.  (Seems they are building a new Pensacola Bay Bridge.) It really is quite a different culture along the gulf--not like the flat farms of central Illinois.

The bridge is 3 miles long!

Pensacola is pretty.  

And also a bit "tourist-y."

After a bit of driving/sightseeing, we found the public beach parking lot. 

Caeden was bothered by this...

 Ahhhh...those first few steps onto the sand...

Someone is in his happy place!

Seeing a John Deere on the beach does make us midwesterners feel more at home.  

Pensacola Beach

This is the day the Lord has made, and we are rejoicing and glad in it!!! 

(We are a little selfie challenged.)

 I didn't want to get in the water, since we have more driving and places to stop today. But I did enjoy having my feet in the sand and watching and hearing the beautiful waves!

And this handsome guy.  

There is a beautiful, long pier at Pensacola Beach.

It's also a great beach for finding pretty shells!

 Digging in a little...

 Caeden found a snorkel mask in the water.

They dug in far enough that Caeden was taller than all of them!

A nice lady from Texas approached us and offered us a lovely teal shower curtain she'd bought at the dollar store to sit on at the beach. She and her husband were leaving today and thought we might be able to use it.  It was such a nice gesture. She also offered to take our picture.

What a beautiful place. 

As we left Pensacola Beach, we discussed how this was a great "bonus day," and whether or not our vacation officially starts before we check into the cottage at Gulf Shores.  I say the whole experience (including planning, packing, and travel to and from) is vacation...all part of the memory-making process.  I love it.  We are all glad we decided to make the trip down all in one day and take in a bit more of the gulf today.  Worth it!

We stopped at an Alvin's Island to get Pensacola Beach souvenirs.

Caeden scoped out the boogie boards, but we decided not to buy until we get to Gulf Shores and unload what is already in the car.

Thanks, Pensacola Beach!
We had a great time and enjoyed taking in the beauty of God's creation here!