Note: There are 19 photos in this post. Photos by me (Bruce) were taken with a Google Pixel 6 Pro or SONY alpha 6400, unless otherwise indicated. (Photos by Linda taken with a Google Pixel 6.)
TUE 21 – WED 29 November 2023 — Luxury RV Resort — 3/3
This post covers our last nine full days at Luxury RV Resort in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Our reservation was through the night of the 30th with departure on December 1st but we left on 30 November, one day early, to try and get ahead of a weather system that was moving our way. Up to that point, however, the weather had generally been very nice. Gulf Shores is a lovely place, climate-wise, in the late fall and winter.
At the Sunliner Diner in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Counter-clockwise (L-2-R) around the table: Evan, Anne, Paul, Robert (obscured, at his request), Linda (behind Nancy’s arm) and Nancy.
We continued to visit with Paul, Nancy, and Robert and occasionally also Kate and Charlie from the nearby Escapees RV Club Rainbow Plantation RV Park. This small group of people are very much kindred spirits; each of them very much of the same mind as us when it comes to religion and politics and food (by and large), which makes for a comfortable and enjoyable time together.
This antique car is inside the Sunline Diner. The doors on the passenger side have been removed to make a dining booth.
Paul makes a final inspection of the layout of our Thanksgiving dinner food in the Luxury RV Clubhouse in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Paul and Nancy’s son, Evan, and his wife, Anne, drove down from Ann Arbor, Michigan and joined us for the Thanksgiving holiday. Nancy arranged for the use of the Luxury RV Resort clubhouse on Thanksgiving Day, which allowed us to share a meal in comfort with plenty of space to lay out the food, arrange seating at tables, and not be concerned about the weather. Everyone attended, including Kate and Charlie, and shared the work of putting together a nice meal.
The first of two tables for Thanksgiving dinner. L-2-R, counter-clockwise around the table: Robert (obscured), Nancy, Anne, and Evan.
The other table for Thanksgiving dinner. L-2-R, counter-clockwise around the table: Charlie, Paul, me (Bruce), Linda, and Kate.
Me (Bruce) sitting on the sofa in our Airstream travel trailer and using my iPad Pro. Since Bella is also on the sofa, we were probably dog-sitting while Paula and Nancy were doing something that precluded taking their dog along.
We made a couple of visits to the Sunliner Diner during this time, and visited Historic Fort Morgan at the tip of the peninsula that extends west from Gulf Shores into Mobile Bay, stopping for lunch at a bayside restaurant. Nice weather and dramatic sunsets continued during these nine days, with the later eventually portending of approaching weather.
A view of Fort Morgan, Fort Morgan State Historic Site, Alabama.
One of the entrances to the interior of Fort Morgan SHS. The rectangular block centered above the opening says “Fort Morgan 1830.” The two parallel lines on the pavement are embedded railroad ties. My presumption was that these made it possible to use trollies with railcar wheels to move heavy loads in/out of the Fort.
The previous photo, this photo, and the next two (2) photos were taken at the Fort Morgan State Historic Site.
From Wikipedia: Fort Morgan is a historic masonry pentagonal bastion fort at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, United States. Named for American Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan, it was built on the site of the earlier Fort Bowyer, an earthen and stockade-type fortification involved in the final land battles of the War of 1812. Construction was completed in 1834, and it received its first garrison in March of the same year. … Fort Morgan is at the tip of Mobile Point at the western terminus of State Route 180 (Alabama). It and Dauphin Island, on which Fort Gaines is situated, enclose Mobile Bay. The Alabama Historical Commission maintains the site.
An interior view of part of Fort Morgan, clearly showing the masonry construction.
Another entrance tunnel into Fort Morgan. I thought the way the bricks were arranged to create the arch was architecturally interesting, although I presumed that they were set this way for fundamentally structural reasons.
Back at the Sunliner Diner for breakfast before Robert checks out of Luxury RV Resort and heads for points West. From L-2-R, counter-clockwise around the table: me (Bruce) taking a selfie of the group, Robert (obscured). Nancy, Paul, and Linda.
Robert’s class B motorhome and Jeep in front of the office at Luxury RV Resort while he connects them together in final preparation for his departure from the resort. The foreground is a sitting area with a firepit. To the left are some holiday decorations that are featured in the next two photos.
Linda provides a sense of scale for the Christmas holiday decorations at Luxury RV Resort; a travel trailer pulled by two Flamingoes. Two lawn chairs and a Christmas tree with wrapped presents are also visible. [Note that the door of the trailer is on the “driver” side, which is incorrect. The main entrance doors of all commercial RVs are on the passenger/curb side, with the utility connections (hookups) on the driver/street side, and RV parks and campgrounds are built around this conventional arrangement.]
This photo of the other side of the trailer decoration shows more clearly that the trailer is a large/round straw/hay bale and that the trailer has tires. A doll (or small mannequin) that is approximately half normal human-size, is holding one end of the brown sewer hose which runs down into the “dump” connection.
We were treated to a nice sunset on our final evening at Luxury RV Resort. This view is looking southeast, so I could catch the sunset reflecting off of the windows in our travel trailer along with the general soft pink illumination of the aluminum siding and the effect of the color on the clouds to the southeast.
The play of light on the clouds seems to say “look at this trailer,” so I did.
A composite of four images creates a panoramic view of our final Gulf Shores sunset as it provides a wonderful backdrop for our travel trailer.
A composite of three images produces a panoramic photo of an amazing sunset behind some of the tall buildings in the downtown/beach area of Gulf Shores, Alabama, as seen from our travel trailer at Luxury RV Resort.
One of the three images used for the previous composite photo highlighting the letters A I R S T R E A M across the rear of our travel trailer, just above the awing over the large/opening window.
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