Last week, we escaped to Orange Beach, Alabama, for a little rest and relaxation.  We travel in packs around here, so there were a total of 15 of us in our condo.  We booked a four-bedroom, four bathroom condo at Phoenix West 2 and it did not disappoint.  When we were searching for a cart to carry our luggage up to the room, I turned around to find this nonsense:

I don’t even know those people. What are they doing with my kids? (Wink, wink!)

We hit a stroke of bad luck when Jase and I shared our stomach bug from the week before with the rest of our vacationing partners.  People were dropping like flies in our condo–Gra-Gra, Mallory, Libby, Hannah, Justin, Meme, and Robin all wound up sick.  I’m not going to lie, it put a little bit of a damper on our vacation.

We did make it to the beach though, even if it was in shifts.

We even hit up the Keith Urban/ Brett Eldredge/ Maren Morris concert at the Wharf while we were there.  True to form, Kyndall enjoyed the music from her seat while Libby and I shook our groove thing.  (If you are considering a concert at the Wharf, go for it.  It is outside, so it’s totally dependent on the weather.  {Which in our case, was super hot.}  However, the seating is really great and it’s a smaller venue, so you feel up close and personal with the artists!)

Jase decided naps on the beach were the best kinds of naps.  I really loved them, too, because it meant a little rest and relaxation for Mommy 🙂

We didn’t get to eat many places, thanks to our friend the stomach bug, but we did make it out a few nights.  One thing we always do when we are in the area is order out from Lartigue’s Seafood.  We go for the cajun-steamed shrimp and crab legs and it always hits the spot.

We went to Bubba’s Seafood House, mostly because it was close to our condo.  The food wasn’t bad (I had the fish po’boy) and the atmosphere was neat.  It’s definitely not on my top ten beach-eats list, but it’ll do in a pinch.

Another favorite of ours is The Oyster House.  They have something for everyone–seafood, steak, chicken….a huge, awesome salad bar.  I ordered blackened snapper and it was quite possibly the best meal I ate all week.

On the recommendation of some friends, we drove a few miles into Bon Secour to eat at Tin Top Restaurant, and it was definitely worth the drive.  It’s a local favorite, so it has this cool peachy-vibe.  The food was super good.  We ordered the crab claw appetizer, blackened-grilled shrimp, and fish.  (Tip:  If the menu says market price, it is wise to ask what that price is.  We really enjoyed our crab claws, but we paid dearly for them.)

We love visiting the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores area.  It is one of the prettiest beaches you’ll find, is home to several great restaurants (because if you don’t go to the beach to eat, what do you go for?), and has tons of fun things to do.  In addition to the concert at the Wharf, we went shopping at the Foley Tanger outlets and explored the Gulf Coast Zoo.  (Also known as The Little Zoo That Could, that trip deserves its own post.  Stay tuned to hear about all our adventures with the monkeys, lemurs, and kangaroo!)

If you’ve not visited Orange Beach lately, you should definitely add it to your travel list.  If you have, I would love to hear what your favorite things to do are!