There’s just nothing like a road trip to Gulf Shores with some girlfriends to recharge your batteries and just enjoy some good ole’ girl time. We all love our hubbies, but this trip was all about us. We got to do exactly as we pleased, stopped as much as we wanted while we were driving, shopped a whole lot, and ate girlie food. Oh, it was fun! These ladies are very sweet and I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know them these last 2 years since moving to Birmingham. This was our first time going on a trip together and it really turned out great. We had a blast, took walks on the beach all 3 days, sat and sipped coffee in the morning over good conversation, and relished the peace and quiet pace of the beach. And the napkins that Maureen had at her beach house said it all…Just us Girls!
We carpooled down in 2 vehicles and stopped plenty of times. One of our many stops going down was at Priester’s Pecans, a legend in this area for their abundance of pecans and candies.
We popped in upstairs to see the candy making process in person. I didn’t take pics, but on the way back home, we stopped by the Russell Stover store and bought their blooper chocolates. And man, are they good! My hubby was happy to see those when I got home.
And who knew there were SO many variety of pecans. I sure didn’t!
Next stop, Wisteria Cottage in Fort Deposit, AL. A couple of the girls had been here before, but it had been awhile.
They have lots of home accents.
And apparently, they are party central in this area for pageant dresses, prom dresses, and all around party wear.
These slip-on OKA sandals are very popular in the South. Do you have these in your area? They are very comfortable and the ribbons can be changed out for other colors. I don’t have any yet, but I just bought my first pair of Yellow Box flip-flops at Belk this week. The black and white polka-dot ones will be great for my wardrobe this summer.
Wisteria Cottage has lots of monogrammed items, like these hand towels.
Lots of birds and nests.
And an abundance of bunnies. And no, I didn’t buy this lamp, as much as I loved it.
This tall lantern was very nice.
Birdsnest and a painting.
This iron item was very unique and would look great on a large island in the kitchen. What a fun piece to have for parties. If you’re in this area sometime, stop by Wisteria Cottage. You’ll enjoy it!
And so, after a few stops on the way down, we finally arrived mid afternoon at Maureen’s beach house. I showed lots of pics of this last year, so if you’d like to see the whole tour of this beautiful beach cottage, click here. It’s a 3 story beach house and absolutely beautiful. With 4 bedrooms and baths, we all had our own space.
The large back deck looks out over the back bay area. A total Coastal Living moment.
Their dock, complete with boat and Waverunners. It’s a bit chilly yet to be in the water.
Since we had sunshine the first day, we figured we had better take advantage of it. Good thing we did, as we didn’t see it again the whole trip.
So, we enjoyed a nice breezy walk on the beach late afternoon on the first day.
The beach was practically deserted this time of year. Isn’t it pretty? Come summer, things really get hopping down here.
We watched a couple of guys on these balloon skis flying through the air. There was plenty of wind that day, so it was no problem for them to fly across the waves.
And we stopped someone along the way to take a pic of the girls. That’s (L to R) Sandy, Tricia, me, and Maureen, who owns the lovely beach house we stayed in.
For dinner that night, we went to Calypso Joe’s and it was really good. I got shrimp and grits and we all enjoyed our seafood. When at the beach, you gotta get seafood.
Maureen, Tricia and me before dinner.
Since the weather didn’t cooperate, we had to find something to do the next day. Rain threatened and it was black and cloudy. We didn’t let that dampen our spirits though. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. When it rains at the beach…what do you do but go shopping?! We took off to the Tanger Outlet and spent all afternoon there and had dinner at Lulu’s the second night.
After walking on the beach that morning, we all decided that our hair would just have to wait. You can see I went curly since that’s what my hair does naturally and after walking around in the humidity, it’s almost a losing battle at the beach, I’ve learned. We were all whining about our hair, especially me.
Lulu’s is a lot of fun, if you’ve never been there you must try it. I got my fill of some fried seafood that night and we all had some luck at the outlet shops. I bought some Gap jeans and a cute top from Ann Taylor and we all came home with shopping bags.
On the way home from the beach, we took some time to stop at more fun places and I’ll share those with you in the next couple of posts. There are some great places down there to browse and the best time to do that is without our hubbies, so we took advantage of the time and had a ball looking at everything. Can’t wait to show you some of my favorite new shopping haunts. I’d love to go back to a couple of them for sure, so stay tuned for more great shopping and a few pretty beach houses too!
Thank you ALL for stopping by the giveaway. What a great success it has been. I’ve got so many new readers to visit and I’m really trying to catch up with all of you, but it’s just about impossible these days. I SO appreciate you all taking the time to stop by and see me and I just run of out time to visit you all. The fab giveaway below ends on Friday night at 6 pm Central time, so there’s still time to comment if you’d like to get in on it! Winner will be announced on Saturday morning.
I bought a pair of those bronze flip flops with the leopard bows down there in July!
:-D)
Your trips always look like so much fun. I’m glad you had some fun girl time.
Sounds like a wonderful trip! I loved that bunny lamp; I might have purchased that! The beach house is just lovely; how nice that she has so much space to entertain friends and family there.
Thanks for sharing! We love going to the Gulf! Looks like you had a blast.
I love road trips. My coffee group goes once in a while. They are mostly men but we stop at every interesting spot we can find. These are only day trips though. The overnighters of course are with the women friends. They know how to more fun.
Looks like y’all had a great time. I love your hair curly..it looks great. I would give anything to have some body in mine. You lucky thing going to the outlet mall and LuLu’s. I know it was all a blast!
{{Hus}}
Cathy
You bum, a few days at the beach, just what I need right now!
We always stop at Priester’s for a little “snack” and I love going to Wisteria. They always have the neatest things.
I wondered what kind of weather ya’ll were having since it’s been pretty nasty here but at least you got to shop.
Love ya,
Judy
Glad you got to get away. I leave on my grils trip in 2 weeks, cannot wait! It is our tradition to stop at Preisters too. LOVE that place. The samples and (alomost) enought to suffice,,,but really one cannot resist a praline!
Looks fun! What a fantastic home.
We were in Gulf Shores a couple of weeks ago and seeing these pictures brought back those memories. This isn’t the best time of year to be down there, but it’s less crowded and still fun things to do like eating at Lulu’s!
That is a beautiful beach house. My dad lives down there in Foley and I haven’t managed to make it down in quite a while. I need to go. It looks like you had a great trip!!!
That sounds like a wonderful time! I need a girls only trip like you wouldn’t believe! 🙂 And you’re right, it does look very “Coastal Living” there! Glad you had so much fun!!
Stacey
Looks like you had a wonderful time! Rhoda, I can’t believe you didn’t buy that bunny lamp!!! Lots of beautiful things!
I’m just soooo jealous! Nothing more fun than a girly trip! No men to moan and groan when you want to shop, or eat or go to the bathroom several times a day! ha! Looks like so much fun! I’m in Texas and I’m already planning an overnight trip to the coast. I hear it’s coming together again after the last hurricane!
God bless,
Jennifer
I’m wavin at you today when I go to lunch with my friends. We are going to Joes. Thanks for the tips. The one girl that is from Chelsea has 10 kids. She is similar to Mrs Duggar in how they raised/are raising them- they are all so Christlike and a sweet family. I guess I am her bad friend:)
Looks like a fun trip. Everytime I see photos of Gulf Shores, I want to go! I’ve been getting e-mail stuff from rental management groups at Gulf Shores for about 10 years and yet, we’ve never planned a trip! Even with all the information, I still don’t know what to book for lodging.
I have to really plan my bloggy visits, these days and I still don’t get to everyone, I would like to. I really appreciate all the visits and comments, I get, too! Who knew I would have such a following. I am continually amazed!
What a FUN trip with the girls!!! Just the beach house alone would have made my day!!!!!! BEAUTIFUL!
What a dream!!!
The Hubs & I are looking forward to a trip down to Amelia Island in about 3 weeks and these pictures are making me impatient : )
Glad you had a lovely time!
Best,
Arlynn from Fleur De Licious
oh those photos of the beach are so beautiful, the only beachs I have been to are Corpus and Galveston and believe me they are this nice. Glad you recharged your batteries with the girls.
What a great trip Rhoda! Being from TX I should have known about all the different pecans. But I didn’t! So interesting!
I, too, had no idea there were so many varieties of pecans. Thanks for teaching me something new.
I loved the iron item with the cheese, bread, and half an apple on it. I can vision multiple uses as an entertaining piece and also for plants and flowers.
So happy you had such a delightful trip with your gf’s.