The Golden Sunshine

I woke with the morning's first light and knew it was an opportunity to catch a sunrise in photos. Chorro was happy to accompany me and we headed back to the "Gulf" trail.





A real benefit of being on a south-facing beach in the winter is seeing both the sunrise and sunset from the beach!




I used a Christmas gift card to acquire a tripod. (Thanks, Roxy!)

A ferry runs from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan, Alabama, and we could drive from there directly to Gulf Shores, to spend the night at Gulf State Park. But the ferry wasn't running because it was windy.




It doesn't look at all like the sturdy Washington State ferries, so I was glad they didn't want to run it in wind. Looks a little scarey. So that meant heading back to Mississippi.


These would be some of the offshore drilling rigs we heard so much about during the Katrina storm. It's easy to imagine how they might have been damaged.


They look to me like awkward robots.

Sometimes not knowing what lies ahead requires a little faith.


In Mobile, Alabama, we went through a tunnel that made Chorro quite nervous. You would think that being a terrier, the notion of burrowing underground would appeal to him. Not our boy.



Gulf State Park turned out to be quite ugly. There is much deadfall from Katrina around the park. A few sturdy trees remain, many with broken branches. The campground is arranged like an RV park with RV's lined up side by side, dozens in a row or in a loop.



This park has a small lake in the middle, but it is not on the seashore, as I hoped.



This park apparently also has wildlife. You're seeing the Gulf Coast equivalent of Yellowstone Park's "Do Not Feed the Bears" signs.






I'm not certain I want to see an alligator! Is this Alligator Creek, running a few dozen yards away from my RV?


Our day ended with a long walk and more sunset pictures.



The rectangular silhouettes are beachfront condos.


When we walked back to the RV from down the road where we took these pictures, the sky was getting dark in the east. The air smelled so fresh and clean, ocean smell I guess. It was one of those moments of deep appreciation of the natural world. And what a peaceful frame of mind to go to sleep with.

And tomorrow is a new day.