Another Great Week at Gulf State Park

Monday, January 9, 2023

Last week was a great weather week in Gulf Shores. It was cool several mornings but warmed up later in the day so biking, hiking and walking on the beach were on the agenda each day. It was also Max’s birthday week so we had some good food and good times.

More camp cooking in our kitchen with a view

In addition to the alligator we see near Shelby Lake we saw this one near the Gulf Oak Ridge Trail.

Pelican party

We enjoyed a talk by the naturalists on carnivorous plants. We were familiar with the white pitcher plants that are common in south Alabama but also learned about some others as well. We went to the nature center to meet Archimedes, an eastern screech owl. Unfortunately, Archimedes was hit by a car when he was very young and lost vision in his right eye. As a result, he could never survive in the wild so he now lives at the nature center. While at the nature center, we also met Homer the box turtle. Homer is free to roam the building and seems to want to meet the visitors. He was very interested in Max’s camera. Max returned another day to attend a presentation on snakes that inhabit south Alabama. Anne decided to skip that presentation.

The naturalist gave a very informative carnivorous plant presentation and then took us outside to show us a few of them.

The sundew is another species of carnivorous plant that grows in the park. It is about the size of a quarter and traps insects with a sticky substance on is spiny leaves.

Homer homing in on the camera – or the finger holding it.

The cat at the nature center was very interested in the snakes. In fact, one time we saw it in the snake enclosure while the snake was out being shown to some kids.

There was a good group at the guided nature walk we attended.

The very interesting snake presentation was focused on teaching how to distinguish between venomous and non-venomous snakes …

… and ended with the feeding of a dead mouse to one of the snakes.

The very best days of the week were Saturday and Sunday because Donna and Barry came for a visit. We spent the time biking and hiking a lot of the trails in the park, walking on the beach and photographing the eagles, ospreys, alligators and any bird that would let us get a good picture. We also enjoyed some great seafood and sunsets but mostly we just enjoyed our time with dear friends. We miss Barry and Donna but hopefully we will be back through Blount County again soon.