Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores

Has anyone stayed at The Rookery in Fort Morgan? What is the difference between Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan. We have small children under the age of 3.

Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores

I have not stayed at the Rookery before so I can%26#39;t help you there.

You asked the difference in Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores so I%26#39;ll try to explain.

To get to Gulf Shores or the beaches of Alabama, you will go in via State Highway 59 from Interstate 65 (Exit 37 or 34 I always forget which but it%26#39;s Gulf Shores Parkway). To get to Gulf Shores, you will stay straight on State Highway 59 and you will cross the intercoastal waterways bridge (eta from I65 is 45 minutes) and stay on 59 until it dead ends and you have to go left or right. That is Gulf Shores, basically. I say basically because the City Limits are before that but not on the beach.

Fort Morgan - same directions from I-65, down State Highway 59, over intercoastal waterway bridge and about 2 more miles, you will come to a red light with signs (brown I think) with directions to Fort Morgan. I believe this is actually Fort Morgan Road. You will turn right and go down this road. Depending on where you stay, they should give you a map from here.

In my experience though, I%26#39;ve stayed at the Beach Club (which on some sites is listed as Gulf Shores but it most definetly Fort Morgan) and from the intersection, it is 15 miles. This road will dead end at the actual Fort Morgan. Great site to visit for a day or 1/2 day. There are many places between State Highway 59 and the actual fort. Fort Morgan itself is more undeveloped than Gulf Shores (lots of construction) and Orange Beach (some construction....more for kids and we prefer it for family vacations...with more to do).

Fort Morgan has absolutely nothing for families to do except the fort and the beautiful, private beaches. Which is great if that%26#39;s what you want. No shops, a few eateries, no miniature golf, no souvenir shops. It%26#39;s like a small non-touristy town. It is however very romantic because you don%26#39;t have many choices of things to do, if that makes any sense. I guess I%26#39;d love for the hubby and I to go for a weekend, rent a place and just hang out and tan - ok my dream not yours with 3 small children. LOL

With 3 small children unless they are in to the swimming in a pool or staying on the beach and exploring all day, I wouldn%26#39;t stay in Fort Morgan. However the Rookery may have a playground for the kids. I%26#39;ve never stayed there but heard it was nice.

Hope this helps. If not, let me know. Born in Birmingham, go to South Alabama - Orange Beach - no less than 5 times a year, many more times as I can. I%26#39;ve been going to Gulf Shores since I was a wee baby. I might be able to help or at least find someone who can.

Sorry so long but I know so much. : )

Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores

My family and I are going to Ft. Morgan this year and renting a house. There will be 7 adults and 2 kids and we picked Ft. Morgan on purpose b/c of the two kids. We wanted a beach house with a fairly uncrowded beach so that we won%26#39;t be dealing with lots of other people. Both kids are very young (1 and 2), so we know they will still need naps during the day and early bedtimes. We%26#39;re hoping Ft. Morgan will be a good choice for us b/c we really won%26#39;t be able to get out and do much during the day anyway--so a nice quiet beach is just what we have in mind. I know driving the 20 minutes or more into Gulf Shores and Foley will be a pain at times, but with grandparents around, we%26#39;re also hopeful that we%26#39;ll be able to take turns watching the kids when one group may want to do something away from the house. We%26#39;re not going until July so I can%26#39;t post back until then to tell you how it all works out. I just wanted to share some thoughts on why we chose Ft. Morgan over Gulf Shores. We%26#39;ve been to the Orange Beach area several times over the years and loved it, but this is our first trip with kids!

Rookery looks nice, drove thru there one day. As I recall they are duplexes with screened porches, fairly new looking. But if you plan to spend a lot of time at the beach, you will have a good ten minute walk, and have to cross Fort Morgan Road. Not fun with two small children.

Since you%26#39;re coming from St Louis, you may not be coming down I-65. When I lived in St Charles we always came down I-55 to Jackson, then Hwy 49 to US 98 in Hattiesburg, then 98 to Mobile. At Mobile take I-10 east to exit 44 (Loxley, Gulf Shores). After that the previous poster%26#39;s directions apply.

Rookery is a very nice place. As already posted, they are duplexes with screened porches. Very quiet. About a two minute drive to beach access, I wouldn%26#39;t walk it with little kids.

If you have a good price at Rookery I would stick with it.

We have almost always stayed in fort morgan.

Because of the quietness of the beaches,

we are trying a condo this year, in gulf shores....Right in the thick of it...

We tried it in a all suites hotel back in september, beach front, loved it, but it might be worse in the summer.

I stayed at the Rookery two weeks ago for a weeks vacation. We have one small child, and she loved the pool and the beach is seconds away(no crowds, you actually almost have the beach to yourself). We actually put an offer on one of the units there and our offer was accepted. We love it there!

I replied to this post last year, before my family of 7 adults and 2 toddlers (ages 1 %26amp; 2 at that time) had gone to Ft. Morgan. So, here%26#39;s some follow-up.

We rented a house on Ft. Morgan, about 16 miles down the road from the Highway 59/180 split. It was fantastic! The beach was so private, with just other small family groups around (staying in houses as well). It was never crowded--in our little ';area'; I would say we hardly saw more than 10-15 people out around us on any given day. And, that included people from other spots who were just out walking on the beach. We got an early start on the beach every morning b/c the kids woke up very early. It was easy to come in for lunch time and naps and go back out when we watned to. We also left all our beach chairs, umbrellas, etc. out the whole week. There%26#39;s a great seafood market on Ft. Morgan Road (I believe it%26#39;s Ft. Morgan Seafood, next to the Chevron station) and we ended up buying both raw and cooked seafood there several times during our week.

The only issue that we really had was driving back into GS. Yes, it is a bit of a drive--20 minutes or so, and so you have to get a little smart about planning your day or night if you%26#39;re going into GS or beyond. Since we had grandparents there, we sometimes could leave the kids with them for a bit and go do something on our own. We also were able to take turns going for grocery items. Driving to Foley and back was probably the biggest pain--mainly b/c GS traffic is pretty awful and slow moving in the summer. That limited my shopping time!

We%26#39;re going back this summer with just one toddler (age 2) and the grandparents. We%26#39;re again staying in a beach house on Ft. Morgan. Our son isn%26#39;t old enough to be interested in a pool yet, so this works out well for us. When he gets older, we%26#39;ll probably have to think about being more in the middle of things, but for now, he loves playing in the sand and the location works well for us.

I%26#39;m trying to decide between Gulf Shores and Ft. Morgan. Loved Gulf Shores when we were there last summer - everything was quite convenient (including for doing major grocery shopping).

But we prefer something a little less commercial and not so high-rise.

Does Ft. Morgan yet have a ';major'; grocery store?

No they still don%26#39;t have a major store,

I doubt they ever will.

Most people just go into gulf shores...

You can stay aways out on west beach in gulf shores, and it is very quiet...

But quicker to get into the main areas of shopping, restaurants, ect....

The further west you stay down here, the less ';high rise'; it is. I think there is way too much opposition locally to ever put a big store on Ft Morgan.