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We are back from Alabama! And I have to go back to real work tomorrow :(
We took a few days at Gulf Shores while we were there, so I can now cross off "warm ocean" on my biomes list. My sister asked me if the Gulf was really different enough from other beaches I've been to, so, bearing in mind my previous experience is limited to Atlantic beaches from Acadia National Park in Maine to Murrel's Inlet in South Carolina, here's what I've got:
1. The tides. The Gulf needs to get itself straightened out on its tides, seriously. One high tide and one low tide per 24 hours is just wrong. That's not enough tides! Sort yourself out!
2. The water! Is warm! The sand is white and soft! OK that was also pretty much true in South Carolina but it was definitely nice.
3. The season is so much longer, March to October instead of Memorial Day to Labor Day, and you wouldn't think two months is that much difference but it's the difference between being on for a third of the year and being on for two-thirds of the year, and I think that really did change a lot of things about how everything worked, from the ecosystem to the restaurants.
4. All the lights that face the beach are red, for the sea turtles. This was a bit worrying at first until we realized why, but it's actually really nice. All outdoor lighting should have to follow those rules, it's not just the sea turtles that would benefit.
5. It was very car-centric, which I was not expecting! Pretty much all the other beach towns I've been to have been very walkable; if they don't have a boardwalk they at least have a walkable shopping/eating area right next to the beach that beachgoers are invited to ramble onto. That's often the main difference between a Beach Town and a Town that Has A Beach. Gulf Shores (and Orange Beach) as far as I could tell did not have that; other than a few beachfront bars, the closest they seemed to have were shopping centers half a mile or so inland. All the buildings actually lining the beach were hotels with no retail, and all the restaurants and stores basically assumed you'd drive there, even the ones only a street or so back from the beach. And honestly the shopping etc. wasn't nearly as good, either. The restaurants were fine? But nothing to write home about, the seafood was ok, the shopping was all pretty generic, and there was no real equivalent to what I'm used to from the more Northern towns, the buskers and palm-readers and self-consciously quirky little places. I suspect that's partly because the Alabama beach towns are newer - the difference between 1940s and 1960s means a lot in US car culture - partly because Alabama generally is more car-centered - and partly because the weather is so much nicer! You actually can spend the whole day in or on the ocean without hating yourself, unlike on, say, Fire Island, where you've gotta have lots of other amusements because the ocean isn't actually that nice for more than a couple of dips and it's probably raining all week anyway. But apparently they're planning to put in a boardwalk at Gulf Shores soon? So they may have realized they're missing out.
6. So many palmettos! And pelicans! And lots of seashells I didn't recognize!
We took a few days at Gulf Shores while we were there, so I can now cross off "warm ocean" on my biomes list. My sister asked me if the Gulf was really different enough from other beaches I've been to, so, bearing in mind my previous experience is limited to Atlantic beaches from Acadia National Park in Maine to Murrel's Inlet in South Carolina, here's what I've got:
1. The tides. The Gulf needs to get itself straightened out on its tides, seriously. One high tide and one low tide per 24 hours is just wrong. That's not enough tides! Sort yourself out!
2. The water! Is warm! The sand is white and soft! OK that was also pretty much true in South Carolina but it was definitely nice.
3. The season is so much longer, March to October instead of Memorial Day to Labor Day, and you wouldn't think two months is that much difference but it's the difference between being on for a third of the year and being on for two-thirds of the year, and I think that really did change a lot of things about how everything worked, from the ecosystem to the restaurants.
4. All the lights that face the beach are red, for the sea turtles. This was a bit worrying at first until we realized why, but it's actually really nice. All outdoor lighting should have to follow those rules, it's not just the sea turtles that would benefit.
5. It was very car-centric, which I was not expecting! Pretty much all the other beach towns I've been to have been very walkable; if they don't have a boardwalk they at least have a walkable shopping/eating area right next to the beach that beachgoers are invited to ramble onto. That's often the main difference between a Beach Town and a Town that Has A Beach. Gulf Shores (and Orange Beach) as far as I could tell did not have that; other than a few beachfront bars, the closest they seemed to have were shopping centers half a mile or so inland. All the buildings actually lining the beach were hotels with no retail, and all the restaurants and stores basically assumed you'd drive there, even the ones only a street or so back from the beach. And honestly the shopping etc. wasn't nearly as good, either. The restaurants were fine? But nothing to write home about, the seafood was ok, the shopping was all pretty generic, and there was no real equivalent to what I'm used to from the more Northern towns, the buskers and palm-readers and self-consciously quirky little places. I suspect that's partly because the Alabama beach towns are newer - the difference between 1940s and 1960s means a lot in US car culture - partly because Alabama generally is more car-centered - and partly because the weather is so much nicer! You actually can spend the whole day in or on the ocean without hating yourself, unlike on, say, Fire Island, where you've gotta have lots of other amusements because the ocean isn't actually that nice for more than a couple of dips and it's probably raining all week anyway. But apparently they're planning to put in a boardwalk at Gulf Shores soon? So they may have realized they're missing out.
6. So many palmettos! And pelicans! And lots of seashells I didn't recognize!
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