Brittany The next days of our trip were all for Ruby. We woke up and had a quick breakfast in the room then packed a lunch in our beach bag and headed toward Fort Morgan to catch the car ferry to Dauphin Island. I had read that it was a very small island, so I wasn’t sure if there was even a place to grab lunch or snacks. The best thing about the island-it’s completely dog friendly. Dogs are allowed on the ferry, as long as they are restrained and the owners have control of them. The ride was about 45 minutes long. You had the option to get out and stretch your legs or enjoy the view of the water from an upper deck, but we decided to stay in our car.
Upon arrival to the island, we headed toward the public beach access, which was to the left as we exited the ferry. There was plenty of parking. Despite the hurricane smashing Florida, we had beautiful weather. Full sun, a bit windy, but as expected at the beach. There are beautiful dunes and sea oats on the beach. There were people, but not very many. We headed straight toward the water for Ruby to get her paws wet in the Gulf! Then she was ready to play! Although dogs are allowed on the beach, they must stay on a six foot leash. We had great natural lighting, so decided to take advantage of the beautiful scenery.
Next, we headed back to our car to see what else the island had to offer. When we got off of the ferry, had we turned right, we would’ve ended up at the Dauphin Island public beach.
Believe it or not, the water on this side of the island was much prettier than the other side of the island and also prettier than Orange Beach itself. There was more sand, as there was a longer walk from the parking area to the shoreline, but we didn’t mind.
Again, Ruby had the very best time romping in the waves. She was a very happy pup!
After a long beach day, we headed back to our hotel to rest and settle in for the night. We had a very light dinner because we planned to go to Ruby Slipper Cafe for brunch the next day! I was super pumped to try their seasonal mimosa flight!
Ruby was allowed on the patio area, so we ordered her some fully cooked, naked eggs. The servers loved her, one even offered her some bacon, which she had never had before. She ate it so quickly, I don’t even have photographic evidence.
I got a breakfast biscuit and cheesy grits, Bill had an eggs benedict sampler with two different kinds. It was good eats for sure. I would definitely recommend trying this restaurant. They have other locations in New Orleans and Charleston among other places. And the mimosa flight definitely lived up the the hype.
Once our appetites were satiated, we headed back toward Fort Morgan. After getting back from Dauphin Island the previous evening, we had stopped by but knew they were about to close so we decided to return when we had more time.
We had a nice time walking through the museum and learning about the history of the fort. The fort and museum were dog friendly which was a plus. Ruby did step in some sand spurs in one spot which was pitiful to see her in pain from those little suckers. They were difficult to remove, so I know they hurt her once she put her weight on them. Had we known ahead of time that we might run into them, we would’ve put her shoes on, but we had no idea.
We then headed to the dog friendly beach just off of Fort Morgan. You do have to pay admission to enter the Fort and thus this particular beach. It was a very small beach. We walked up and down the whole thing. One end goes to a bunch or rocks where the beach ends, the other turns into a sanctuary for other animals, such as birds and signs clearly state that dogs are prohibited. She still had the very best time playing in the water, but it was, by far, not our favorite beach of the trip.
After that, we headed back toward downtown to possibly try out a dog park. I hear horror stories all the time about dog parks and I was already feeling a little iffy. When we got there and saw there were sand spurs there, it was a no go for me. I put my foot down. We walked around a bit, and then I started to get a little FOMO because I saw some dogs playing in the water that was at the dog park. After a closer inspection, we saw it was quite brackish and also inhabited by alligators.
By this time, we were hungry and ready for some dinner. I read about a place called Pirate’s Cove that was dog friendly, so we took the long trip over there. It was packed with people and off leash dogs (which I expected), but it felt like a place for locals. We felt very out of place and awkward, so we decided to try somewhere else. We ended up at a place called The Tiki Bar. We had some boiled peanuts and cheeseburgers and I had one more mudslide to remember Alabama by.
Ruby was absolutely exhausted. We learned that Ruby loves the beach and does well in hotels.
We do not have any “big trips” planned until 2023, however we keep our adventures going all year long and have lots of little day and weekend trips to look forward to. We are working through SC State Parks and are learning all about camping. We love finding places to go with Ruby for Ruby-ventures, so stayed tuned, who knows where we’ll Goforth and Explore next!
