We don’t often get all worked up over a park but…

8 - 10 April 2014      Gulf State Park (GSP), Gulf Shores Alabama

We’ll make an exception here. Picture being on the southern coast of Alabama overlooking the Gulf Of Mexico with white sandy beaches, miles of paved trails, generous sites with full hookups and polite park staff. No wonder this is massively popular with the locals.

We started out with a short stay and extended it until just before the secondary school spring break started. Oh sure – we really did want to stay while hordes of kids descended on the park but unfortunately the park was fully booked and we were forced to move on to a quiet park (Suwannee) in Florida.

The trails. There are 6 in the park. They travel through heavily treed areas, swamp, and low dunes. You can spend all day on them. We spent long enough time on the trails to get that “bike seat welded to my butt” sensation.

Norene was thrilled to hear about the snake the cleaning staff found behind the trash bin in this trail restroom. Did not have to wait long for her here.

 

Screened in rest stop at a trails junction

 

Lots of wildlife here. Shh-sh - don't tell Norene about the snakes.

Tortoise was pretty easy to spot beside the trail. Wasn't concerned about us.

Aw - it's a cute little bunny.

I’ve spoke about the twins before. Applauded their foldingness and critiqued their frail tires (yes we did have another flat but I think this was a Rio Grande Valley leftover). Until now we had not gone further than about 7 miles at a stretch. GSP trails gave us the opportunity to put in about 10 ½ continuous miles. That’s when you begin to realize just how small a 20” wheel really is. Compared to a big boy bike with 26” wheels the twins need 30% more cranking to travel the same distance. So our 10 ½ miles (uphill in both directions of course) are like your grown-up 13.6 miles . No wonder we get the “butt weld” from hell.

And you thought we were just wimps.

Apology accepted.

Lefty has her own billing on the printed trail map. Not so named because of her writing preferences – she’s missing part of her right front leg. Doesn’t interfere with amour apparently since she was surrounded by baby gators.

Babies are about 4' away (in the bushes and grass to the left - out of frame).

Had to zoom in to see them

Momma's watching everybody

Weather is warming up – tomorrow we head for the beach and I am going in. 

No really.