Friday and Saturday on Dauphin Island

On Friday morning, we caught the 11 am ferry from the ferry slip about a quarter-mile from the campground.  The ferry crosses Mobile Bay, to land at Fort Morgan, about a 35 minute trip.  While their brochure said that passengers can watch dolphins and various seabirds, we didn't see much but gulls; however, it was a pleasant ride across.

Once across, we drove east for about 25 miles to Gulf Shores where we got on 59 north to Foley, Alabama.  Then...98 west to take the scenic route along the east side of Mobile Bay.  We entered the town of Fairhope from the south, passing lots of pricey waterfront mansions along the way.

By then it was lunchtime, and we ate outside at an excellent local restaurant where the waitress fussed over Ranger, and of course he just ate up all that attention.  While in Fairhope, we drove by a couple of houses that I had browsed on realtor.com, and Dan made a stop to check out the local marina, just in case we happened to move down and just in case we bought another boat!

We completed the loop around the bay, going north, through Spanish Fort, west into Mobile, and south on 193 back to Dauphin Island.  

Kelly and Michael arrived in the evening and set up camp in the tent-section of the campground.  

On Saturday morning, we all took a walk through the nearby Audubon Bird Sanctuary, which the dogs enjoyed.  The best part was the last stretch along the beach where Kelly ran with Ranger and allowed him to splash around in the waves.  (He had a good shower back at the RV to get the sand and salt off of him.)  

After a lunch of HUGE burritos purchased from one of the local restaurants, we are all taking a break to digest and rest, so I am using the time to update this blog....and then maybe nap for awhile.