Beach Party!

No such luck on the island job front, I'm back at home and ready to get back to the real world tomorrow! I've got so many photos and stories to tell you about, I don't even know where to begin. So, I made some photo collages to help you out.

There was beautiful scenery...

We ate great food...

And had a great time.

Getting to Dauphin Island was exciting in itself and interesting at the same time. Did you know that almost every business on the island closes by 2 p.m.? Yep, it took us quite a few tries to find a restaurant that was actually open when we finally looked for lunch at 3 p.m.

Some of that can be blamed on the fact that there was a big gumbo cookoff event this weekend. Guess who was the celebrity judge? Alton Brown. I know, I swooned (he's always been my fave). Too bad I didn't get to see him. But, I have a funny story about trying to get a hold of a little piece of Alton.

See, as we checked in, we saw these great posters for the event. We asked if they had any extra posters or would be kind enough to give us one of their posters (because by Monday it'd be in the trash anyway, right?). No dice. The next day, we went to the Welcome Center surely hoping that they would have posters to give away, because that is where tickets were sold anyway. No dice. She wouldn't give me one despite having them up in the door and on a bulletin board. The poster quest sort of got comical at this point. While my mom and sister ran into the post office to see if they had a poster, I spotted one pinned the community bulletin board near the street (a large wooden bulletin board with two plexi-glass doors to protect the signs). Knowing that they would be taking the sign down and putting it in the trash the next day, I had to have it. 

Yes, I slid open the door, got the poster, and ran back to the car with it. It was the happiest day of my life.

Moving on... I had never been on the island before, and I was surprised at all the history around the grounds. 

Ship and Shore General Store, Grove Park (gorgeous Oak trees), Fort Gaines, Estuarium at the Sea Lab, Indian Shell Mound Park, Sand Island.

I've got so much more to tell you guys about, including a fun stop on the way home!