Alabama; Battleships, Beaches and Forts (part 2)

Location: Hilltop RV Park (el 150 ft); Robertsdale, Alabama

All pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 Cell Phone
(click pictures to enlarge)

I'm still in Alabama and will be here until this weekend. I'm having more difficulty than usual finding campgrounds that meet my needs along the path to Charleston. A lot of the campgrounds are still filled with snowbirds. I was lucky I was able to get into the one I'm camped at now since it completely filled most days. I've talked with the office people and they say the snowbirds will begin to filter back north beginning in April. I have called looking for reservations to several parks but they had no vacancies. I was able to find a Corp of Engineers park for 3 nights beginning this Sunday. It is located on the Alabama/Georgia border. A blog reader named Steven posted a comment to the blog recommending the campground, Thanks Steven. The next place I have reservation is in south-east Georgia but instead of the 4 nights I wanted, they only had 2. I jumped on those 2 nights. I'm still looking for something around Charleston and I'm sure I'll find something soon. 

I drove along the beach road in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. There are several spring breakers visiting the area but not an extreme amount. Mostly they were walking along the roads and enjoying the beaches. 

This is one of the public beaches in Gulf State Park

This is another beach in the same State Park.
The temperature was in the upper 60's but
people were still enjoying the beach.

The beach is next to a long fishing pier.
I bet these beaches are jam packed in the
summer.

One place I liked due to the large amount of people watching was the Gulf State Park Pier. This pier was built in 2009 after the original one, which was built in 1968, was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. At 1540 feet long and 20 feet wide, this new one is 700 feet longer and 16 feet wider than the original one. I arrived a just a little bit after 12 noon and the place was busy. The parking lot was probably 90% full so I thought the pier would be overloaded with people but I was wrong. The parking lot also serves the public beach area either side of the pier. There still were a lot of fishermen trying their luck but I only saw about 2 or 3 fish being caught in the couple of hours I lingered around. The cost for a non-fisherman on the pier is $3.00 but as I was pulling my money out of my pocket, the lady asked if I was active military or a vet. I said yes to the vet part so she surprised me by responding with "then it is free". I told her I didn't have proof and didn't mind paying but she said it didn't matter, put a stamp on my hand, thanked me for serving and sent me on my way. It was a nice surprise.

This made me a little sad. The two kids sitting on the pier are obviously bored silly. I'm not sure those are going to be pleasant memories to look back on when they get older.

This is from the end of the pier looking back towards shore. Most had fancy, I don't know what to call them. Maybe "fishing wagons"? Each was a little different with their own special things. 

This will satisfy as the "thinking bench" picture. :)

There was a pelican that interacted with the people on the pier. The first interaction I saw was when the bird came gliding in for a landing on the handrail. He sailed right along the pier over the people. Of course he didn't use the public restroom available on the pier, instead he bombed a guy. After seeing the guy take it in stride and start to laugh, all the people around him joined in. The pelican was looking for some free food and received some. 

The guy without a shirt is the one who the pelican bombed. It was a good reflection on him that he took it in stride and laughed about it. There are a lot of people who would have cut up and showed their a$$ if it had happened to them.

The pelican was waiting for this woman to catch another fish since she had just caught one. He waited for a little while and the lady just ignored him. I think she was used to him doing that.

He gave up waiting on the woman and decided his luck would be better by the fish cleaning station. 

One fisherman too pity on the bird and gave it one of his fish. The pelican immediately swallowed the fish in one gulp. 

More rain is predicted for later in the week and this weekend. I hope I don't have to hitch up and move in the rain, but the percentage is looking at about 40%. 

I tried going to Fort Morgan but there was water everywhere from a storm that I had recently passed through. I don't know if I'll try again before leaving this area. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.