Fairhope, AL

Ever since we found out we would be moving to Alabama, Mike has been talking about all the roadtrips we would take to see the sights of the South. For our first Saturday daytrip, we decided on Fairhope, AL--a small town across the Bay from Mobile. The weather was beautiful and we made the most of our first day of total freedom (no work, no school, no packing, no unpacking...just as much fun as we could handle)!

When we first arrived in Montgomery, I picked up a brochure at the Visitor's Center called "100 dishes to eat in Alabama before you die" that lists the best dishes of various restaurants all over Alabama. When I saw that, I knew what my mission would be for the next 18 months: to try as many of those dishes as I possibly can!

We left just after breakfast and made it to Fairhope just in time for lunch. We decided on a place called Big Daddy's Grill to have the Big Daddy Burger. We decided to split the burger and sample a couple of the other appetizers on the menu: seafood gumbo and fried pickles (a house specialty!).

Here Reese is enjoying the fried pickles. It sounds weird, but all three of us were surprised at how delicious they were!

I have made it my new missions to try every fried pickle on any menu that I see, but the bar was set pretty high at Big Daddy's. Totally worth the drive!

Another thing that surprised us was how much Reese loved the seafood gumbo! This girl must have a Southern palate. She couldn't get enough!
But because the gumbo had a bit of a kick, Reese had to have a drink of her water after every single bite....
...as soon as she had some water, she went right back for another bite of the gumbo! It was a crack up.
Big Daddy's Grill had a giant sandbox in the back with lots of shovels, buckets and other sand toys for the kiddies to play with. Reese seemed to like walking in the sand, but as she was playing, if any sand got on top of her feet, she had to stop what she was doing to get the sand off.

In this video I love when Reese almost loses her balance and doesn't want to put her hand in the sand to steady herself, and doesn't really want to move her feet in the sand either...that was a close one!

After lunch, we headed downtown and stumbled upon a huge Arts and Crafts festival. We had no idea, but when we saw the masses of people walking around all the tents, we got even more excited about being there!

the Baldwin County Belles

Reese loved these dresses! She could've stood right next to them all day long. I think I will look for a smaller version for Reese's Easter dress!!
When we had had enough of the festival, we headed down to the Pier on the Bay, where there were a zillion seagulls for us to feed. There was a man sitting on one of the benches feeding the birds with a big bag of Ruffles, and it wasn't long before Reese took over for him. She thought it was the greatest!

We rounded off the day with some swinging...what else could a 2-year-old ask for?

After leaving the pier, we stopped at Sandra's Place for a slice of Triple Chocolate Cake (another must on the list), which was the perfect ending to the perfect day in Fairhope. Can't wait for our next Saturday roadtrip!