Beach Vacation Sites?

[DJD]

Looking to take a vacation next month for a few days. I remember a few of you take trips to Alabama and I was hoping to get some info from some of you. I know Jim (Devilshorse) had some good info but I don't remember the details.

Looking for a nice place on the beach with a pool and hopefully some decent places to frequent at night. Any help would be appreciated.

[spanky116]

We just got back from Orange Beach, AL. It's right beside Gulf shore. It's not real busy. We stayed at Sugar Beach condo's. It has 3 pools and is on the beach. It's a little older but is in good shape. If you go to vrbo.com you can look up different condo prices.

[bassin_bug]

Looking to take a vacation next month for a few days. I remember a few of you take trips to Alabama and I was hoping to get some info from some of you. I know Jim (Devilshorse) had some good info but I don't remember the details.

Looking for a nice place on the beach with a pool and hopefully some decent places to frequent at night. Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to my neck of the woods, "ALABAMA, The Redneck Riviera." Come on down and enjoy the freshest seafood and great nightlife, get some sugar white sand in your speedos, walk on the beaches at night and make passionate love as if there is no tomorrow. It isn't just for the twenty-something crowd. lol

I don't know what kind of entertainment and activities you enjoy, but here are some places that I like:

http://www.perdidobeachresort.com/ Check out "Dining and Entertainment" among other activities and browse the list.

http://www.townofdauphinisland.org/home.asp?ID=2 Click on SITE MAP in upper right hand corner.

On Dauphin Island you can go down and catch the ferry (West side) and dock at the entrance to Fort Morgan. It is a State Historical Site; a large brick fort that serviced The Civil War, Spanish-American War, and both World Wars. Construction began in 1819 and it still has some interesting artifacts. Be sure and read the info below because you need to wear tennis shoes, comfortable lightweight clothes, take a flashlight, bottle of water, and your camera.
http://www.gogulfcoast.biz/alabama/fortmorgan.html

Gulf Shores, AL is nice and so is Orange Beach, AL but I haven't visited them in a while so I can't recommend them. I do smile when I think about them and am so glad that the beaches and sand dunes can't talk.

Hope you enjoy your vacation.

[know1]

I went to Folly Beach, SC last fall (basically Charleston) and loved it. Our condo had a pool and was right on the beach. There were all kinds of things to do on Folly Island as well as in Charleston which was only 10 minutes away.

[DJD]

Thanks for the replies everyone! We will check these options and see how they shake out.

[kyfanatic]

A drove to Gulf Islands National Seashore on the Florida/Alabama border in about 11 hours a couple years ago from Northern Ky. Nice beaches,not crowded like other parts of Florida,good fishing,I liked Fort Pickens.

http://www.nps.gov/guis/index.htm

[coombro]

Thanks for the replies everyone! We will check these options and see how they shake out.

Orange beach is a nice place not junked up with all that tourist crap. Surf fishing was good as we were there in early June. Nice places to eat, Dozen raw oysters run you $10! Didn't really check out the entertainment as the wife and i entertain each other!!!

[kydonky]

I would reocmend Virginia Beach Virginia.

Fairly close (10 hours). Has a nice boardwalk that runs a couple of miles.

Fishing pier and rock jetty on the south end to fish from.

Drive across the Chesapeak Bay Bridge tunnel and yoou will drive on the bottom of the Chesapeak Bay, surface about halfway across on an Island that has a fishing pier for stripers. Continue on to the east shore for clam digging.

There are three large ampatheaters along the boardwalk with free bands nightly. Every third block has a small stage with live entertainment. If you like country music just walk or drive to the stage that is offering country.

On the streets there are AC outlets and soap box type stands for street musicians to plug in and play.

Nice waves off the beach plenty big enough to boggie board. There are usually a lot of surfers in surfing areas and long boards seem to stay up a long time.

[kyfanatic]

I would reocmend Virginia Beach Virginia.

Fairly close (10 hours). Has a nice boardwalk that runs a couple of miles.

Fishing pier and rock jetty on the south end to fish from.

Drive across the Chesapeak Bay Bridge tunnel and yoou will drive on the bottom of the Chesapeak Bay, surface about halfway across on an Island that has a fishing pier for stripers. Continue on to the east shore for clam digging.

There are three large ampatheaters along the boardwalk with free bands nightly. Every third block has a small stage with live entertainment. If you like country music just walk or drive to the stage that is offering country.

On the streets there are AC outlets and soap box type stands for street musicians to plug in and play.

Nice waves off the beach plenty big enough to boggie board. There are usually a lot of surfers in surfing areas and long boards seem to stay up a long time.

Always wanted to go there,how expensive is it?

[HURRICANEBOB]

Why go south in the heat?

Go north

1. Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard. Falmouth Marina Tradewinds motel faces a bay and marina full of guides for Striper, shark, and Bluefish fishing, and a ferry ride to Nantucket or Marthta's puts you on great beaches. Do I need to talk about lobster?

2. Put in Bay Ohio, ferrry to the island run around all week on golf carts, winery's on the island, guies to take you salmon or walleye fishing. And wait till you google Beer Barrel Saloon and hit their web cams. Totally laid back party island in Ohio, in the Great Lakes.

Me, I go south to party in winter, and north to party in summer.

[goosecreekguy]

I went to Folly Beach, SC last fall (basically Charleston) and loved it. Our condo had a pool and was right on the beach. There were all kinds of things to do on Folly Island as well as in Charleston which was only 10 minutes away.

X2. A great vacation spot thats not too long of drive, and not so "tourist-y".

Then we need to go fish.

[artcarney_agr]

I was with a group of 4 couples that went to St. George Island FL about two years ago. It was awesome!

You walk out the backdoor and you're right on the beach. The surf fishing was great with pretty much all the sand trout and whiting that you could catch. Also caught several sharks and a stingray at night. The beach/swimming was excellent with no rocks to step on whatsoever. The beach wasn't overly crowded and we set up a nice tent for shade and to keep our beer coolers from getting too hot.

The local nighlife was limited, but what was available was excellent. Felt like we were in a Kenny Chesney song with the typical beach front bars, all with plenty of oysters to eat. There's a nice state park nearby that offered some exploring and some oyster bars to fish for redfish and speckled trout.

Supposedly Hank Jr. has a place there, as well as Jimmy Buffett. An old school WW2 plane made a low pass along the beach one day, and I swear it had to of been Jimmy himself flying.

A guy set up a stand/enclosed trailer daily across the street with the catch of the day that was dirt cheap, so we bought a lot off of him during the week and cooked up some great seafood. He also had lots of shrimp he was selling for bait, so we never had a need to hit up the bait shop on the island (which was supposedly expensive from what I was told). Man, I'm getting hungry right now just thinking about those grouper sandwiches that we had almost daily. Those were delicious!

It was a great time, and definitely one of the top vacations I've had.

We stayed in this place for a week:
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p228828