Mobile Bay

We decided to take off with friends last weekend since it was a 3 day. The kids and Ryan were both off. We headed to Mobile Bay. Our mission....tour the U.S.S. Alabama battleship. We also took a little walk around part of the Delta area in the bay. What a beautiful place!

Our first stop when we arrived in the area was a state park where 5 rivers merge into Mobile Bay..This is where the Delta is...well part of it..it is HUGE, it is actually about 20,000 acres of water, including, rivers, streams, bayous, swamps, forests, and more....

We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed hiking around. It was a little cooler, so most of the wildlife was hiding away staying warm somewhere... we saw a ton of different birds though, including a pretty big bald eagle. A nice older couple were bird watching and wanted to let the kids take a peek through their telescope, but of course, the eagle decided it was time for lunch and with a turtle in his beak, he took off for somewhere more private ;) We saw plenty of shells... if it were warmer and we felt like venturing into the shallow water, I bet we would have found some big ones in there!

From there we headed to our hotel in downtown Mobile. It is hard not to laugh a little when we look at these pictures of "the big city". When your used to driving into cities like Boston, where you come up over the edge of the hill on the highway and the city comes up out of nowhere and is filled with tons, of huge skyscrapers...and we look up on our drive and see this...

Three building! Haha. It really is a pretty town... but as far as a city goes to me, not quite. There are lots of smaller buildings (you know, like 2 stories high) ;) Very pretty, and some really neat little pubs, and taverns. Actually if you look it up, you will find that Mobile is where Mardi Gras originated! Interesting fact right? If you are ever in the area, just look up at all the tress lining the down town streets... they are filled with hundreds of beads! 

We checked into our hotel, (which actually had 4 floors! haha) it was one street over from Dauphin St. Which is"The Street" In downtown Mobile. It's really pretty, we walked it a few times, to get to dinner. There are a few really nice parks around too. With big fountains, and huge checker boards on the ground, which the kids thought was pretty cool. The checkers were bigger than their heads, but nice and light ;)  

OK...finally onto the battleship! Sunday we spent at least 3 hours ON the ship itself. The thing is HUGE! There are self guided tours, you follow the arrows and they are each numbered so you don't get lost. Trust me, you WOULD get lost if you didn't follow. There were a few times we lost the dads. Actually I think they purposely went slower as we were following the kids through....... They always caught up though....us moms made sure of that! ;) Here are a few pictures from inside and on the ship, and the kids in front of it before we "boarded". 

Hanging out in the bunks...which were surprisingly quite comfy! 

"locked" in the Brig. 

Ignore the "photo bomber" behind the kids...would have been a perfect picture...

view from the top...(well, the highest you could go anyway)

There were also a few planes, helicopters and a submarine there. We toured the Sub too, however that was a much quicker tour. It was a small sub. This flag was on top of it and I just thought the view behind it was really pretty. :)

 Gators and snakes....Pshhhh who cares! it's a nice view, let's sit for a bit 

After 2 nights in the hotel, it was time to pack up and head out......

We decided we would be adventurous and try out a place called "The Biscuit King". The couple we went with had found it when looking on line. It looks like a "hole in the wall" kinda place... it is literally an aluminum building on a side road. It is on the trip advisor website and has all kinds of awards hanging in it. Kind of reminded me of something I would see on the Food network ;) Let me tell you, if you are ever headed down Route 98 from Mobile to the Gulf coast, you MUST stop here fro breakfast. They are called the Biscuit king for a reason...They were sooooo yummy and big! 

We took a more scenic route home along the coast line. We have been to the Florida gulf beaches so many times, but it was time to check out the Alabama coast. Man is it beautiful! The water was a bit chilly (It is January and all...)  That doesn't stop our kids....they rolled their pants and put their feet in, then decided to jump the waves, and one by one....fall in....fully clothed. Good thing we had a suitcase full of clothes ;) 

 She was the first to fall in....at first she was mad....

Then she decided to embrace it and go back for more.

he was next...

And so on and so forth.........

Another weekend of exploring down.... Can't wait for our next adventure!