My sister and husband have camped there many times and will again in March. My daughter lives nearby and we have all visited there before. Great campground. Love it. We all went to Fort Morgan.
You are correct - the incoming dark skies and wind along this section of coast make for some gorgeous views! We have been to the amazing beaches at Topsail Hill & Pensacola, but not here - just beautiful. Visiting the forts is always so interesting.
Out of all the you tuber RV travelers i watch i have to say , your channel is the best . Thanks for all the info and travel ideas . My wife and i take one big trip a year and i think Gulf Shores and boondocking on the beach in Louisiana is going to be our next "Grand Adventure " safe travels
Thank you so very much, Todd! You're far too kind. Here's wishing you a wonderful trip to the Gulf Coast! That beach boondocking at Rutherford Beach was one of our favorite stops all of last year.
I saw traveling Robert's videos from the war ships. That thing is huuuuuuuuuuuge. I saw it whilst driving to Utah out of the corner of my eye. I spent the night in Oasis truck stop... figured I could drive slower on the bridge to see it, got my cameras all pointed to that side of the rv to capture that revealing shot.... started driving... saw the ship from a long distance away and then all hell broke loose. I was rained on all through the next 1000 miles.
Ugh! Those are the worst driving days. We ran out of time to tour the ship, but wanted to include a brief bit of Mobile in this episode so we filmed it as we were actually towing our trailer out of town en route to Louisiana.
Your videos are excellent. To me they are TV quality. The combo of music, footage, and your narration is spot on. My wife, kids, and I will be at GSP campground in late summer.
This looks like a great area. Thanks for sharing. This is a state park? Or private? Wow. So many sites. But those prices 😮 Looks like Starlink would have no problem there. Sorry about weather - Mother Nature is fickle. Free bike share? That’s awesome Despite the weather, you got some awesome footage. Love the lighting in the city at night. Love that fort. Fort DeSoto was a bit disappointing 😉 Love that shot of the slow zoom through the arches Is this a hard campground to get a reservation? Not how I pictured Mobile - glad you showed it Larry would love the battlefield museum Alice 🤗
Hey Alice! It's a state park, but it feels a little like a privately run RV park and it's priced like one, too. We booked a couple of months in advance, but while I was checking in someone else showed up for a week as a walk-in and was able to get a spot. November is very much that area's low season. Things around town were very, very quiet.
We live in middle TN just off Interstate 24 and LOVE Gulf State Park. The bike trails are SO nice. The campground and park are located perfectly for all area attractions. I love watching your videos Marc. You always do such a good job describing the area and the history. Thank you.
This place is on our bucket list, now we really want to go here, but first, I'm making the trip hopefully to Quartzsite, see you there hopefully the weather in the Ozarks let's me go lol...
We can only estimate our arrival date in Q for the same reason, as I refuse to tow in winter conditions. If I need to adjust my driving schedule by a day or so either way, I'll do so just to have dry roads. Hope to see you there, Dave!
@@GrandAdventure me too, but tonight is supposed to be -5 here, may get a white Christmas, be safe, and watch out for those drivers in a hurry, they cause most accidents and don't know it...
Glad you enjoyed your stay at the park and your visit to Mobile. Looks like you found a few of those good seafood shacks on the causeway. If you're ever through south Alabama again, you might want to park your rig and treat yourself to a night or two at the Grand Hotel in Fairhope, just up the highway from Gulf Shores and overlooking the bay. Safe travels!
My brother in law had his calf bitten off by a Black Tip Shark when spearfishing in the Bahamas. He healed up. This state park is awesome. I haven't stayed in the rig in Alabama yet so this gives me a great spot to pin. Nice job.
Thanks BBB! Wow, quite an experience by your brother-in-law, happy to hear that all ended well. We had heretofore not actually overnighted in Alabama ourselves, having only visited the far northeastern corner while at Lookout Mountain, GA, so this stop allowed us to check another box ourselves.
Just love your details of local history. I could spend days waking those forts. Exploring the architecture touching the walls wondering about the people that built and lived there. Thanks GA
Greetings from Tasmania, Australia Marc. I never wanted to visit Alabama until now! We may have to spend 2023 on the East coast again. Thanks for your great work.
Sure seems that the prices are really jumping up, a 65 foot spot is not large enough for us, 42 rig and a Dually. Nice spot and nice video, need to add a new small vid to the intro with the new solar
Great piece on the “ Redneck Riviera” and loved the beignet mention. Can’t wait to hear about your trip to Louisiana. I hope you got your share of gumbo, etouffee, boudin & cracklins while you were here. Stay safe…
Thanks George! When I saw a beignet shop, there was no way I wasn't stopping. You'll love that Louisiana episode coming up next Wednesday, it was one of my favorite stops all summer. However, the beach we boondock on in that episode is *extremely* remote with the nearest restaurants 40 miles away each way, so I only got one night to eat out -- but that was one killer Louisiana seafood boil!
Thanks Don! I can still taste that grouper. Beyond some absolutely fabulous free beach boondocking right on the sand, the area we visit in next week's episode took a double hit in 2020 from Hurricanes Laura and Delta, and it's so sparsely populated and income levels are so low that the area never really recovered from that blow. It's an interesting view, and a fascinating look at how population adjusts to adversity.
@@GrandAdventure My pleasure. We've enjoyed your channel for some time now but just have too many friends to keep up with everyone. Love the research you do as well, so informative. Merry Christmas.
@@BackroadExploits same to you! And we hear ya...we can't keep up with everyone else's channel even though we'd love to be able to. Just too little time left in the day after a full-time job and also keeping Grand Adventure humming.
Awwee man! Wish I knew you were going to be in Mobile. Would have loved to have met you. Schedule permitted of course. I live in west Mobile. Not too far from Dauphin Island
To be honest we shot those Mobile scenes on the way out of town en route to Louisiana. Trust me, you do *not* want to tow a 33' fifth wheel through downtown Mobile!
@@GrandAdventure oh definitely, I know, I hate driving just my truck through there. Those roads are old, they're modeled after the French standard which are very very narrow
Hi Marc, sorry I missed your video I was out filming Mt. Charleston in Nevada while it was covered with snow. I stayed last November and December, 2 months at Gulf Shores. It was 99% humidity while I was there. Good job. Hope to see you in Quartzsite. Don
No worries whatsoever, Don, and hope to see you in Q as well! I'm sure that you got some fabulous shots with Charleston all draped in white. Yup, it sure was humid in Gulf Shores despite the far cooler than normal temps that we experienced. After calling the Intermountain West home for nearly 20 years I'm now far less equipped to handle that humidity.
Good one. I’m finding it interesting that though we love every video you do of places we have never been to we especially love the videos of where we have also been. It like reliving our trip through new eyes! Thanks, Marc!😊
Thanks Marc... at least you had a couple of nice days while you were there. That RV Park is really huge. I guess you could say it is a luxury RV park. With that many huge sites and amenities, it is great to get a review on those for future reference. So the snark got away... how much did he get away with?😉 Gord
We got lucky and did most of our filming during that (very) brief break in the weather. That state park is unusual in both the breadth of amenities and in the price, which is more like what you'll find at a private RV resort than a state park. And with its size folks were able to drive up and get a spot, something usually unheard of at state parks elsewhere in the region. Right after I filmed that shark the fisherman released him. He had been playing the fish for about 30 minutes before we arrived at the pier, and the shark was definitely tiring out.
@@GrandAdventure How did you find out about this state park... research or referral? I'd like to see a map outline of your tour this year. I hope that's planned going into the new year with excerpts from the highlights of this year's travels. Gord
@@gorrdd we're one small step ahead of you, Gord -- that map will appear in our annual highlight reel scheduled for Jan. 11. We found the park the same way we find most of our destinations: browse the map for interesting looking areas in the direction we're headed (i.e., "Gee, that looks good on paper!"), then see what's available in that area for camping.
@@GrandAdventure Thanks Marc. I assume you use the Dyrt Pro and Campendium to check on amenities and the reviews, and not flying totally by the seat of your pants. That's why I asked... Gord
Well Forrest, it depends on the shot. 😄 Our workhorse camera that does most of the heavy lifting is a Sony Alpha a6500 with the Sony G-Series 18-105mm f4.0 lens. We also have a fixed focal length 35mm f1.8 lens for it but seldom use that lens. Our camera stable also includes GoPros (Hero 10, 9 and 5 Black), two drones (DJI Mavic Pro 1st gen and a DJI Mini 2), a phone (Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G), and some since-retired cameras (DJI Osmo, DJI Osmo Pocket, DJI Osmo Pocket 2, etc.).
Yep. We too found the price out of line with other state park systems. But Marketing 101 is charge what the market will bear, and that massive campground is consistently full much of the year.
whats with the greedy pricing of campsites in the last couple years? ridiculous! I suspect it has to do with corporations taking over the operations of public campgrounds.
Lee, prices across the country have definitely gone up. That said, this state park and its campground have substantial amenities and substantial maintenance requirements that someone needs to pay for. If the Alabama taxpayer shouldn't foot that entire bill, those who actually use the park are the most reasonable source of funding. As a state agency I highly doubt it's being run as a profit center.
