Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.
Fort Pickens is in the Gulf Islands National Seashore of Florida. We’ve stayed here before and love the miles of white sand beaches that don’t have beach crowds or rows of high-rise buildings like other parts of the Florida coastline. Our favorite kind of travel day; about an hour and a half of a sunny scenic coastal drive from Santa Rosa Beach to Fort Pickens Campground.
Motorhome life has its unique challenges and rewards. Overall, we prefer wide open spaces and avoid crowds whenever possible, so our social distancing was already in place. Having medical backgrounds, we daily practice infection precautions irregardless of COVID-19. Nevertheless, short of wearing a hazmat suit, it’s difficult to avoid exposure during a pandemic since supplies always need replenishment and we only have so much storage room. Trips to the grocery store and motorhome repairs are unavoidable.
Orange Beach had the same beautiful fine white quartz sand beaches, that originate from the Appalachian Mountains, that Pensacola Beach had. We were there just at the beginning of spring break, but the crowds of partying college students were significantly diminished because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Last Updated: February 25, 2017
After weeks of state parks — beautiful, quiet, and trail-filled as they were — we were ready for a different kind of stop. Bella Terra of Gulf Shores is an upscale Class A motorhome resort in southern Alabama, and we chose it deliberately: we needed to receive mail and packages, catch up on bills and phone calls, and give Michael’s still-healing ribs and wrist a few days without a hiking agenda. It also has a pool and spa, which after the state park circuit felt like pure luxury.
Last Updated: February 24, 2017
We only had a couple of days at Gulf State Park, and it rained for most of them — so this isn’t an exhaustive account. But even a rainy short stay at one of Alabama’s largest state parks gives you a sense of the scale. Gulf State Park covers 11.5 square miles of Alabama’s Gulf Coast, with 2.5 miles of white sand beach, a 1,540-foot fishing pier, miles of paved trails, and enough campsites to house a small city.
