Trip report - 08/24-08/30

Will say first off, we had a wonderful time!

Hope all are safe after Gustav and will be safe w/the upcoming storms. Hesitated on posting trip report until after storm had passed.

We left Little Rock on Sunday, 8/24, headed to Vicksburg. Rained the entire way and the entire time (overnight) that we were there, thanks to Fay. Left Monday morning driving to Orange Beach in the rain and had rain until we hit the causeway in Mobile. Once we got to Orange Beach the sun was out.

Stayed at Palm Beach and everything was great there. Had a unit in the A building and had an outside beach and inside pool/beach view from our 1 bedroom. My computer did not like the high speed dialup from unit and kept firewalling it, so, therefore, no posts, lol!

Jellyfish were out and red flags but the jellyfish were gone by Tuesday. Still had red flags on Tuesday, but beach was clear. Had sun and calm beach the rest of the week (through Friday). It was the mating season for the blue crabs and they were everywhere in the water! Watch where you put your feet, DH caught one on the heel, lol. Stingrays were out also. Water was warm, calm and wonderful!

Want to mention a place that we just happened upon to eat -- it was called ';Lartiques';. Was just catty corner across the street from Palm Beach and was probably the best place we discovered while we were there. You take a menu and pick any type of seafood listed and they will cook it for you however you want. We always asked for ';spicy'; and they did it right. They catch their own fish, shrimp, mussels, oysters, etc., and sell all the sauces, etc., that go with it. We had mussels, shrimp, grouper, oysters, corn, potatoes, crab legs and enjoyed it enough to eat there twice. It is all take out so you go in order, it%26#39;s ready in about 5 minutes and you take back to condo ready to go. Oh, also, no debit or credit cards, just cash. Very nice guys, they will take care of you. DH and I ate twice for less than $50, was great!

Also ate at Bubba%26#39;s -- I probably need to clarify what eating there means, lol. DH is not one to sit in restaurant and eat, we go to bar and drink a beer or two and order food to go. We went to Bubba%26#39;s and ordered a couple of cold beers and a dozen oysters while we waited on food. DH ordered the fish and shrimp special, was either grilled or fried, he took grilled (he has high cholesterol, lol) and two sides. I had a shrimp dinner that had 2 or 3 different choices of shrimp and 2 sides. Was good, but still had way more food at Lartiques and was quite a bit cheaper, our bill was $70 something dollars for food and a couple of beers.

Also ate at Jakes Steakhouse one night, when we went in, there was no one in there and staff was watching the Democratic Convention and took a few minutes to notice us, but all was fine after that. We both ordered the ';cowboy steak';, which was a 16 oz. T-bone and two sides and bread for like $21.95 apiece. Was an awesome steak! Both cooked like we asked, we got it to go and they also threw in a bottle of steak sauce too!

We went to Bruno%26#39;s Market the first night we were there and got some ';microwave'; food, had an excellent selection, got salads in the deli, there were lots of selections and had decent prices also.

Just my observation -- don%26#39;t by any means want to offend anyone, but found that a smile and a hello and a tip (yes, we tipped the bar people bringing our food out), went a very long way. We were there in between Fay and Gustav and there were probably not as many people as normal, but everyone was friendly, service was adequate, maybe a little slow (but not as slow as the Bahamas), it could have been a lot worse. Hey, we were on ';vacation time';!

Bought t-shirts, drove up and down Beach Blvd., went into Gulf Shores, looked around, went to outlet mall, DH even got to put on snorkel stuff (he%26#39;s prepping for our trip to VI next year, lol) and all in all had a wonderful time. We%26#39;re already planning our next trip to OB, can%26#39;t wait to go back.

Left Saturday morning early ahead of Gustav and now it is sitting on top of us, pouring rain, lol, thinking of beach and sunny days!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Trip report - 08/24-08/30

Thanks for your great reporting! We always love to read our visitors post-trip posts. Very good info. I%26#39;ve not heard many good things about Bubba%26#39;s or Jake%26#39;s so I%26#39;m glad it was OK for you. Also glad you slipped in between storms :-) BTW all is well here, no storm damage. I%26#39;ll have to try Lartigues, sounds great.

Trip report - 08/24-08/30

Great TR! And glad to hear about Lartiques. We drive that way all the time, but have not noticed it. Is it the place that has a big sign advertising steaming shrimp?

Have been in a few units at Palm Beach and they are very nice. You chose a good place.

Like the previous poster I have not heard good things about Bubba%26#39;s or Jake%26#39;s either. Maybe they are improving.

So glad your enjoyed your visit!

Lartigues was just a wooden building, looked kinda like a house next to the car wash by the BP station. They have menus on the outside by the door in a plastic case, we picked one up before we actually went there. I think the neon on the outside said something about steamed shrimp though.

Maybe the fact that Bubba%26#39;s and Jakes were not swamped had something to do with it -- both were surprising after some of the posts I had read here. Could have also been that I was just glad not to have to cook it myself!

Makes me want to go back -- just want to wait until the storms calm down. Glad ya%26#39;ll are safe and sound and not too much damage! Hope it stays that way!

Be safe.

Thanks for sharing your report. I live here in the LR area too. Did you think you%26#39;d come back and need to build an arc?? Sounds like you had a great time. I think one of the best deals we%26#39;ve found in that area is a seafood market that cooks the food for us and then we go back to the rental to eat. We use the one out on Ft. Morgan Road next to the Chevron Station.

Lee, hi neighbor -- this was the first time that we had actually used someone to cook our food other than a restaurant, and we really enjoyed it. Was a great idea!

Hope you enjoy Orange Beach like we did! We will definitely be back.

bird