A little Road trip

On Sunday we took a drive to Dauphin Island.  The rainy weather earlier in the week gave way to a warm, sunny day and that was all the encouragement we needed to hit the road and do some exploring.

Dauphin Island is on the western shore of Mobile Bay so we decided to drive through Mobile to reach it.  We could have taken the ferry from Ft. Morgan west of Gulf Shores, but we wanted to see the western shore.  The 65 mile trip to the island brought us through several small fishing communities aglow with the colors of spring.  Dauphin Island is actually a barrier island situates three miles south of Mobile Bay.  The island lies in the Gulf of Mexico and is reached by a three mile long, 2-lane,  high rise bridge, and is about 14 miles long and 1.75 miles wide and its widest point.  About 1300 residents live on the island year around.  

The entire island is a bird sanctuary and tourists flock to it during the annual migration.  We decided to take a walking tour of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary on the south eastern shore line.  Several trails were available looping through the heavily wood sanctuary.  What I believe were long-leaf pine and palms were numerous.  There was a swampy area as well as a small lake in the sanctuary.  Though  we did not see many birds, we did see several turtles at the lake side as well as many fish in the shadow of a small pier.  The south end of the sanctuary is bordered by large sand dunes and the Gulf was not visible until traversing the dunes.  Once over the dunes, we saw a nice sandy beach with several people enjoying the beautiful day.  And Donna also took a break in the sun:

Walking back to our vehicle, we stumbled upon the island's only campground, Dauphin Island Campground, run by the city.  It abuts the sanctuary and contains 152 camp sites, 80 with full hook-ups.  It looks like a very nice place to do a little camping and is only a couple of hundred yards from the beach. 

Of course, after an hour or two of hiking, we needed sustenance.  And sustenance we found at the Common Loon Cafe.  The cafe is a small quick-order place with several booths inside as well as seating on the front porch.

They had a small menu of some seafood items, hamburgers, gumbo and seafood po'boys.   Ordering at the counter, we both opted for their grilled shrimp basket.  The basket included shrimp, fries, cole slaw and a drink for $12.99.  The price was similar to other restaurants we ate at on the eastern shore of the bay.  Donna asked for a garden salad instead of the fries and slaw.  Our meals were soon done and we were both surprised by the quality and the quantity.  Ten large, fresh shrimp were perfectly prepared in a garlic-butter sauce with just the right hint of heat (cayenne, I assume).  Donna could not hide her feelings for our lunch:

The shrimp were the best we have had since we arrived at the Gulf last November. They were larger and tastier than we anticipated and were well worth the price.  They would have been worth the hour and a half drive alone.  Superb.  We topped off the meal sharing a slice of home-made Key Lime pie.  Delicious.  We are ready to go back for more.