If you’re looking for white sand beaches, coastline that goes on for as far as the eye can see, and the calm of the ocean, you need to head to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We’re here visiting the gulf coast city and it has blown my expectations out of the water. Are you curious what all there is to see and eat here? Well I’m going to show you. Let’s get started…
Things to Do
Bon Secour National Wildlife Reserve
This wildlife reserve is situated right on the Gulf of Mexico and is absolutely beautiful. ‘Bon Secour’ comes from the French words meaning “safe harbor”, and that is a great description for all the wildlife that call this place home, like alligators, red fox, armadillos, bobcats, and a variety of birds. In fact, Bon Secour represents an important stopover and staging habitat for migratory birds that are dodging the winter weather.
There’s 4 different trails on the property and we chose the Pine Beach Trail which goes 3.5 miles from the parking lot out to the beach and back. If we had had more time, we could have spent all day relaxing on that beach. It was super secluded and had the most gorgeous clear water. The kids had an absolute blast!
Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo
We love checking out the local zoos wherever we go. I know what you’re thinking – if you’ve seen one zoo, you’ve seen them all – but you couldn’t be more wrong. We’ve been surprised in quite a few cities by their zoo offerings. The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is definitely one of those places. In fact, I finally got to do something I’ve always wanted to do – feed the giraffes!
Not only can you feed giraffes, but this zoo also offers a kangaroo encounter, sloth encounter, and lemur encounter. And when I say ‘encounter’, I don’t mean you just get to see them close up, I mean you get to feed them, have them jump all over you (those lemurs are crazy), and enjoy spending some up close and personal time with them. It was such a cool experience. Of course, this zoo has a bunch of other animals as well like a white tiger, alligators, turtles, snakes, and more. They also have a petting zoo and carousel, so if you’ve got young kids, they’ll love this stop.
The Wharf
The Wharf is a cool, outdoor entertainment district that has all sorts of shopping, dining, and activities to enjoy. Our daughter has always wanted to go on a ferris wheel, so she got to do that for the first time and loved it. The Wharf also has axe throwing, a selfie museum, an arcade, the Wharf Express train, and the Spectra light show. The light show was really neat because it was a laser light show right down the middle of main street. I recommend stopping into Southern Grind and getting a latte or hot chocolate (with their signature blue whipped cream) and grabbing a chair on the patio to watch the light show.
OWA
Downtown OWA. This place has only been open about 7 months when we visited, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect when we decided to stop in. But I’m so glad we did! This 520 acre entertainment destination has everything a traveler’s heart could desire – shopping, restaurants, a theme park, live music at the amphitheater, wakeboard park, musical theater, and there’s even a water park being built currently. You could spend all day here – and we actually did!
They also have a ton of events every season – like a spring fling, Summer hot air balloon festival, Oktoberfest, and the New Year’s Eve celebration we were there for.
The Park at OWA
One of our kids’ favorite things about OWA is the theme park. It has 21 rides from thrill to family friendly rides that the whole family can enjoy. Our young kids loved every single ride they rode (and they rode almost all of them). And I loved that they got to conquer their fears and try new things.
Murder Creek Distillery
This second store for the distillery is situated right in the middle of downtown OWA. They have 14 different flavored moonshines available currently and all batches are distilled, mixed, bottled and labeled on site. I wasn’t expecting to like moonshine, but when you can do a tasting of all of the flavors they offer for just $1, I figured I might as well try them. And so I did and you know what? They were delicious!
It’s so interesting to see everyone in our group’s favorites from the tasting. My mom loved the chocolate moonshine and the pecan praline moonshine. While my husband and I love the pickle moonshine and the hot pepper moonshine. So no matter if you like a fruitier drink or a specific taste, they’ve got a flavor you’ll love – and they’ll even mix it into a cocktail for you there. We might have ended up bringing a case home to try out some of the recipes they have on their website with.
Legends in Concert
The casting directors did a phenomenal job of finding performers who could sing, dance, and act just like famous entertainers like Celine Dion, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter, and Michael Jackson. We all loved it! The kids were dancing in their seats and we all had such a great time singing along with the songs. This is the longest running show in Las Vegas, and you can see why after experiencing the show!
Water park
The water park is currently being built, so I’m not sure when it will be available for guests, but from the looks of it, it’s going to have some pretty amazing water slides!
Check out the video above to see everything OWA has to offer!
Coastal Alabama Farmer’s Market
This was a really nice farmer’s market. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect since it was January 1st when we visited and I didn’t know how many vendors would be there, but we easily found a few things we needed to take home with us. There were fresh vegetables, fruits, jarred jams and jellies, pickled things, and herbs. It was really neat to talk directly to the growers themselves and a lot of them had traveled a long way to be there.
There was a very nice man from Minnesota who had driven down to escape the snow and brought his apples with him. We sat there and chatted with him for a while and ended up purchasing some of his honeycrisp apples. He told us how his apples would stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to three months – and that’s without that waxy coating on the apples like the ones you get from the grocery store or any pesticides being applied to them during the growing process. When you get something from the source, you also have the opportunity to get some of the wisdom and information about the products that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Battleship Memorial Park
I know, I know, I’m going to get some backlash for including this one on here since it’s not technically in Gulf Shores, but you know what? If you’re in the car driving to or from Gulf Shores and happen to go through Mobile on I-10, you’re going to thank me for letting you in on this little nugget of information because it’s a nice way to stretch your legs and see something interesting instead of a gas station bathroom.
USS Alabama
While our kids aren’t big history buffs yet (and neither are we really), we’ve always enjoyed checking out battleships, aircraft carriers, and the like. It’s such a neat experience to be able to see where military personnel live, work, eat, and sleep for months on end and see the conditions in which they resided. At 680 feet long, this battleship was used primarily during World War II. It was home to and protected 127 officers and 2205 enlisted members.
It held 150 different guns of various sizes and you can see some of the shells and artillery on the ship as well. While on board, you can choose to take a self-guided tour (there’s actually three different tours to choose from). With little ones, we much prefer to take self-guided tours because we can set our own pace. We can stay a little longer at the places the kids are interested in and skip past the parts where they’re bored.
The kids loved seeing the battle bridge, chart house, the officers’ staterooms, and the spud locker (that’s right – they had a closet just for storing potatoes). It was also really important for us to show our kids the various plaques everywhere with the names of the crew members who lost their lives in battle and to pay our respects to them for their service to our country.
USS Drum
When this submarine was first commissioned in 1941, her crew consisted of 7 officers and 65 enlisted men. Once you experience the inside of this ship, you’ll realize just how crazy that really is because there is not a lot of room in there! The hatches in between the different spaces onboard are super small and there is definitely no way two people could pass in that one skinny little hallway that runs the length of the ship. The USS Drum earned 12 Battle stars in World War II and when exploring the submarine, you can even see the torpedo rooms where the enlisted men would even sleep underneath the torpedoes (um, no thank you). I’ve always wanted to see a real submarine and this was such a cool experience!
Where to Eat
Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen was by far our favorite restaurant to eat at OWA. Everything is served family style and features delicious southern favorites like fried chicken, creamed corn, broccoli casserole, and that chocolate ooey gooey butter cake was sinfully good. The fried chicken was probably the best I’ve ever had and the pot roast had a ton of flavor (I wish I could get mine at home to taste like that!)
The only downside to Paula Deen’s is the price. It’s a tag bit expensive at $24-28 per person. Now that price is all you can eat, but it’s still pretty pricey if you don’t even end up finishing the first round like our group did. There’s also a store right when you walk in so you can get some souvenirs like a butter stick ornament or cookware with a fun Paula Deen quote on it. One of my favorite parts about this place though is that those leftovers you can’t take home aren’t trashed. Oh no, they’re actually boxed up and sent to local animal shelters for the animals to eat. Those are some lucky dogs!
Lambert’s Café
This huge restaurant is serving up Southern classics as well, but at a much more affordable price tag than Paula Deen’s. The menu is pretty extensive and has a lot of great southern options. Our table of 6 ordered chicken fried steak, hamburger steak, and chicken and dumplins’ and everything we got was hot, fresh, and delicious. I also love a restaurant that has things they bring out to you that are included in the meal price. Going around the restaurant were black eyed peas, fried okra, fried potatoes, and they’ll even throw you a roll or two (which the kids loved).
King Neptune’s Seafood
We’re so close to the water, so it makes sense there’s going to be some great seafood restaurants. One of our favorites is King Neptune’s. I typically look at reviews before going to a restaurant, but honestly, this one got me from driving by. We’ve driven past the place several times while we’re in town and it’s been packed every time. And then I saw it – the sign that said “Hot Beignets all day” and that was the clincher.
This is definitely a locals place. Lots of people chatting, riding their bikes right up to the patio, and bringing their dogs. But the important part, how was the food? The food was awesome! The fried catfish had a great flavor to it and I could have eaten my weight in the beignets. I definitely recommend coming here if you’re looking for good seafood!
El Diablo
In need a potent margarita? This is the place. And if tacos are the way to your heart, El Diablo has over a dozen different taco combinations – there truly is no other place like it in the Americas. They even have those “in” tacos right now – Birria tacos. Slow roasted short ribs tacos served with all the cheesy goodness your little heart could desire. They also have a great patio on the back for you to unwind and watch the wake boarders flip and spin over the water.
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