As has become our tradition we spent the month of December, 2025 (and a few days in January, 2026) at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The weather was not a nice as it has been in other years but we still enjoyed our “sabbath month.” With lots of hiking, biking and geocaching on the miles of trails we had a great time. One of our favorite things to do in the park is to look for wildlife.
We saw lots of pelicans …
… a Great Blue Heron beside our campsite …
… a gopher tortoise …
… Lefty – the famous Gulf State Park alligator …
… eagles …
…and more eagles.
We are sure there were eggs in the nest. After we left, people posted pictures of two eaglets.
As a special treat this year we were given the opportunity to help finish an outdoor raptor enclosure for the owls, hawk and kestrel kept at the nature center and used for educational programs.
Max planing down a door to fit the opening
Anne working on another door
Anne and Ron in the workshop cutting lumber for the enclosure
A shelter box we helped build for the enclosure.
Anne testing the kestrel enclosure
American Kestrel in its new enclosure
This is a transport box on which the naturalist needed a sliding door installed.
And the finished transport box
We also enjoyed several activities (and food) around the area, the best was when Barry and Donna came to visit.
We really enjoyed the visit from Barry and Donna.
This year we even made a visit to the famous Bamahenge.
Christmas carol night at the park
We attended the Christmas program at Gulf Shores Methodist Church
And watched the annual Christmas parade of boats
An unusual geocache we found
An interesting neighbor for a couple of nights. It is a famous 1956 Diamond T fitted with a camper.
We cooked up the last of the halibut we brought from Vermont.
Our special recipe cinnamon rolls
Like last year we worked a few pieces of this puzzle on each day of Advent.
Christmas Day walk on the beach
Our annual traditional Christmas portrait
Once again we enjoyed the annual First Day Hike at the park.
We hope you and your family have had a wonderful Christmas season. We pray that in the middle of all the hustle and bustle you have taken time to remember what is really important. And it’s not just that it’s Jesus’ birthday. We are celebrating the Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace coming to earth. It’s the beginning of The Story, the fulfillment of prophecy. If you have been too busy, this evening would be a great time to sit down, take a deep breath and maybe pick up your Bible and read the Christmas story again.
We have spent our “vacation time” resting, reading, catching up on some work, working puzzles and watching Christmas movies. There have been lots of beach walks, and bike rides, eagle sightings and lots of good food. Most importantly God has blessed us by allowing us to spend this time listening to Advent devotions and enjoying the beauty He created here.
Our campsite this year
This heron has been a daily visitor to our campsite
We have taken several walks on the beach even though some days have been quite cool.
For most of last week the purple flags were out at the beach meaning that venomous sea life was present. They really weren’t needed because it was too cold to get in the water.
The pier is open again so we can walk on it any time. Since we are staying in the park, we don’t have to pay to walk it.
We see sharks every time we walk on the pier.
We attended a park presentation on raptors and got to see Archimedes the screech owl.
Of course, we have made several trips to the eagle nests. Yesterday we finally caught both of them on the nest at the same time.
On one of our hikes we stopped to watch this osprey eating a fish.
These grilled steaks fed us for a couple of days.
One day we took the afternoon to make Aunt Inez’s Tea Cake cookies.
We made them bite-sized this time because they are easier to eat on travel days. They probably will not survive another whole week to our next travel day.
Believe it or not, we actually worked our Advent puzzle the way it was intended – one small section at a time. We have really enjoyed it.
We tried a new recipe for for breakfast today – cinnamon rolls baked with eggnog.
Our traditional Christmas dinner of snow crab legs
As we have the last few years we took the time to watch our favorite Christmas movie again.
RVing With a Purpose 