Brittany After our National Parks road trip, Bill was really missing the beach, so I decided to plan a beach trip. I saw a TikTok where a girl from Alabama said how amazing Orange Beach was and decided that would be our destination. We are on a mission to see all 50 states, and we haven’t been to Alabama yet, so two birds and all that. We decided it would be another road trip and it would also be a Ruby-cation. Last year we took Ruby with us to the mountains and had an amazing time hiking with her in the mountains of North Carolina. She even got to go across the mile high swinging bridge on Grandfather Mountain! But, she had never been to the beach. Sure she’s been in our local lake and we’ve tried dock diving and she’s been in a pool, but not the beach. Without much planning, we booked our dog friendly hotel and I started my research. Sadly, one of the first things I realized was that the entirety of Orange Beach (the beach itself, not the town) is not dog friendly, dogs are prohibited and it seemed as though that policy is enforced. I was hoping that since it was off season no one would really care, but I am a rule follower at heart, so I started looking at ways to make it work.
Upon arriving in Alabama, our first action was to find this dog daycare that I had seen and check it out. We arrived, talked to the people working there and booked a stay for Ruby for the next day. I decided that our first full day would be a day for Bill and myself to do all of the things we couldn’t do with Ruby, and the following days would be Ruby days.
We spent almost a full day of driving, and were ready for dinner at that point. I’d seen that Orange Beach is known for their bushwhackers and couldn’t wait to try one! Bring Fido is a great app for finding dog friendly places and we utilized it often during this trip. We decided on Doc’s Seafood Shack and Oyster Bar for dinner. We were seated on the patio and ordered our food. They had the best bushwhackers in Orange Beach, and the food was also very good.
The next day, with a little bit of anxiousness, we dropped Ruby off at daycare and headed to the beach. We were very lucky regarding the weather. We were there as Hurricane Ian was ripping through Florida and South Carolina, but God was so good to us and gave us beautiful days for our trip. This was our first trip to the Gulf of Mexico and I did want to at least dip my toes in the water. As we walked along the beach I noticed that the water wasn’t nearly as clear as many people had described. It was quite similar to Myrtle Beach. We saw lots of jellyfish along the shoreline and washed up on the beach. I think this was a result of the hurricane churning the waters.
As we walked I was surprised to get a text from the daycare with a picture of Ruby and a message about how she was adjusting! I was quite pleased with the way they were already communicating with us and put my mind at ease! Next, it was time to head to Flora-Bama. It was still quite early, but we had all day. This place was so cool. It was huge and just as amazing as Kenny Chesney described in his song. There were indeed license plates and bras. We stayed for a few drinks and Bingo with Sam.
In the meantime I got another text about how Ruby was doing and saw that she had been featured on the owner’s facebook page! We headed down to the Wharf to check out the shops, and then it was time to get our girl. I was so tickled at the report card that we got upon check out. She was also exhausted, so I think she wore herself out playing. I would definitely recommend Sea Paws Dog resort if you take your dog and want to enjoy some places that are not dog friendly without having to worry about your pooch.
It was dinner time and we decided on Cosmo’s which is actually named after a dog. Although we had to wait a while for a table, they had live music and the food was worth the wait!
That’s all for now, check back soon, I’ll share Ruby’s adventures as we Goforth and explore more dog friendly places in Orange Beach, Alabama.
