Jonny suggested we visit Gulf Shores, Alabama, where he and Jenny have spent two vacations with friends. It is "Midwest Heaven," a straight shot south of Iowa and a favorite getaway for Midwesterners. On April 18, 2022, we stopped at Gulf Shores and were charmed and amazed by its snowy white, powder soft beach.
We paused at the "Pink Pig", to sip a drink and look out at the Gulf.
We walked along the snow-white beach.
After hiking along the boardwalk, we treated ourselves to Matt's ice cream, a beachy thing to do.
My version of heaven is a cup of ice cream and the latest issue of the Economist, read on a sunny porch, with the ocean close by.
Jonny suggested we visit Ft. Morgan, on the other side of the peninsula from Gulf Shores. We drove past enticing beach homes, many perched on stilts to survive hurricanes.
Ft. Morgan is now a state park, with an interesting museum documenting its involvement in four wars. The fort was built in 1834 and participated in the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and World Wars I and II. Its most active involvement was fighting against, and ultimately surrendering to Admiral Farragut of the Union Army in the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864.
There was a contrast of old and new from this view from the walls of the fort. The Civil War gun emplacements are in the foreground, with a drill rig in the Gulf in back.
This memorial to the commander of the fort who died in battle reminded us of the human element of Ft. Morgan.
After his years in the Air Force, David is most interested in airplanes, but he is also curious about old forts and old cannons.
Our guide on the shrimp boat in Biloxi told us there was all the boiled shrimp we could eat for $10 at Knuckleheads in Gulf Shores on Wednesday nights. Despite our best efforts, we could each finish only one $10 bucket of shrimp, corn, and potatoes!
On April 20, we returned to nearby Oceans Springs to visit the Walter Anderson gallery, also recommended by Jonny. Anderson was a painter and sculptor who captured the sleepy, sun-saturated Gulf Coast culture.
We studied his depictions of contemplative and/or sleepy people.
Walter Anderson sculpted and painted the local animals.
And he captured the swamps and bayous which we have experienced again and again on our trips through Mississippi and Alabama.
I found this swimmer, carved from a single log, intriguing.
Anderson was an eccentric who painted every space of his work shed. Sometimes art is the truest way to get close to the culture of a place.
The museum included wood prints by another Gulf artist that I also loved.
There were interesting sculpture near the museum.
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