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Going
to the Beach
in the Fall and Winter
By
Mike McLeod, Editor
Okay,
call us crazy. But my wife, the
kids and I love to go to the beach
in the fall and winter. Our two
favorite beach spots have been Fort
Walton Beach in Florida and Orange
Beach/Gulf Shores in Alabama which
we traditionally visit during the
Thanksgiving holidays. My wife and
I have escaped for our own mini-vacation
in February before.
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Sunset
in Fort Walton Beach
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Yeah,
yeah, the water’s cold, but to be
honest with you, I don’t go to the
beach to swim in the Gulf of Mexico.
I go to the beach to relax, to listen
to the waves on the shore, to watch
for dolphins and manta rays (which
we see almost every time), and to
let stress drain right out of my
body.
The
kids body surf in the water and
try to ride skim boards in the surf,
but they don’t care very much about
the water temperature—which in November
in Florida and Alabama really isn’t
too bad. The air temperature is
usually in the 60s and 70s, and
once in a while in the 80s, so the
water is refreshing to them.
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Skim
boarding
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Why
do we go to the beach in the fall
and winter? No crowds for one thing.
We can walk the beach without stepping
over and on people. We can play
Frisbee or football with only a
person here and there in an area
the size of a football field. My
eight-year-old daughter and her
four brothers can build sand castles
on the shore and only have to worry
about the waves knocking them down.
In fact, one year we saw a huge
dragon sand sculpture that someone
created.
Another
reason why we love the beach in
the fall and winter is the heat.
Rather, the lack of the heat. We
have been to Fort Walton over the
4th of July, and it was too hot
to enjoy the beach. Half an hour
or so, and you’re done—well done.
And there were crowds everywhere—in
the restaurants, in the shops, on
the streets. I want to get away
from crowds and people on my vacations,
don’t you?
Another
reason we love the beach is because
of the bright white sand in Fort
Walton and Orange Beach. I know;
the sand is white all year ‘round.
But you get to see more of it in
the winter because it is not covered
up with bodies and beach towels.
My wife’s parents have been to Hawaii,
and when we took them to Fort Walton
(at Thanksgiving), they said the
beach was prettier than Hawaii’s.
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My
attempt at an artsy
beach photo.
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We
also enjoy flying kites on the beach.
In our area around Atlanta, we have
two levels of wind velocity: none
or tornado strength. Neither of
which is conducive to kite flying.
Every year, we take kites for the
kids because they can go out just
about every day, and there is wind.
To me, there are certain things
every kid should do: ride a bike,
go swimming and fly a kite.
Both
Fort Walton and Orange Beach/Gulf
Shores have the usual touristy souvenir
shops, which we always visit with
the kids and usually buy useless
things. Not far to the east of Fort
Walton is Destin, and we often drive
over there to see a movie after
our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
The outlet stores are also
over there, which I typically try
to avoid.
Further
to the east is Seaside, which is
a quaint community of small beautiful
homes with brick streets. I think
it must have the smallest post office
is America because only two customers
can fit in at one time. Seaside
is where some of the exterior scenes
for The Truman Show were filmed,
which starred Jim Carrey. It is
mostly a rental community, but it
is growing and has some quaint shops
and restaurants.
Even
though the day after Thanksgiving
is the busiest shopping day of the
year, and I usually avoid malls
on this day at all costs, we have
gone to the Santa Rosa Mall in Fort
Walton Beach. Each year at this
time, they have a huge sand sculpture
in the mall. One year, the sculpture
portrayed the mice dressed like
soldiers from the play, “The Nutcracker.”
Also, there is a working carousel
in the mall. If you don’t mind waiting
in a line, one of the food shops
sells great hot chocolate with whip
cream, cinnamon and caramel.
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Photographer:
Karim Shamsi-Basha.
Photo, courtesy Alabama
Bureau of Tourism and
Travel.
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Last
year, my wife and I went to Orange
Beach in February to check out another
beach vacation spot. As you recall,
hurricanes hit the area not long
before, and when we drove into the
area along the beach late on a Friday
night, it was almost completely
dark. We could only see one or two
condo buildings with lights on.
It seemed desolate. The next morning,
we awoke to find that the place
is well populated with homes and
condos—it was just that power had
not been restored to all of them.
Work crews were everywhere, but
they weren’t on the beach. The weather was cool, but the sun was bright, the sand was white, and the waves were blue. Close to perfection, in my opinion.
One
thing we noticed in Orange Beach
is there are more seashells on the
beach than in Fort Walton. You know,
it is a natural law that when you
walk the beach, you have to look
for shells.
Despite
the damage, we enjoyed our visit
and brought the kids there for the
Thanksgiving vacation. Orange Beach
is just to the west of Gulf Shores,
right on the Florida-Alabama line.
The area has pretty much rebounded
now, but last year, there were still
damaged beach homes along the Gulf.
(These homes are built on poles
or stilts, and some were still leaning
when we were there.)
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Photographer:
Dan
Brothers.
Photo,
courtesy Alabama Bureau
of Tourism and Travel.
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Orange
Beach and Gulf Shores has the same white
beach and the same souvenir shops
as Fort Walton, but we’ve discovered
some other interesting places there.
Just north of Gulf Shores is a little
community called Foley. In it, there
is a restaurant called Lambert’s
Throwed Rolls. It is a home cooking
restaurant like Folks, but at Lamberts,
they really do throw dinner rolls
to you. A guy comes out with a bowl
of hot rolls, and if you raise your
hand, he will throw you a roll over
the heads of the other diners. Our
daughter told me just the other
day that she wants to go back there,
and she asked if she could throw
us rolls at dinner in our home—which
she did.
Often
throughout the year, I will think
about our time at the beach. It
helps me chill out and makes me
long to go back. I remember once
when we were walking along the beach,
one of our young sons was running
in front us when he suddenly leapt
into the air and kicked up his heels
out of pure joy. That’s a mental
snapshot that I will always keep
with me.
The
beach in the fall and winter is
a joy to me.
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