Have you ever felt like you needed a vacation from a vacation? Like, maybe you planned so many fun adventures into your day and your kids are tired, your feet hurt, you’re broke now, and just flat out exhausted? I have been guilty of this so many times. Not that I am complaining, because I love seeing and doing all the things! But, let me tell you a little secret… sometimes just being in a new place is all you need to have a wonderful time. I feel like this pretty much sums up our trip to Orange Beach, Alabama last month.
So, let me tell you the back story. My friend and I planned a very detailed, and if I’m honest, a too packed full of activities trip to Cape Canaveral, FL to view a rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center. I happened to see that a rocket launch was scheduled around April 20th and we just immediately booked our flights and had a hotel and rental car waiting and ready for us on the Space Coast. Then, we started planning our days and decided that we were going to enjoy the hotel water park, visit NASA, kayak with manatees, visit an alligator farm, take surf lessons, find all the best beach front dining, and the list goes on and on. As luck would have it, the launch date changed by 2 days, so we changed our dates, which was a whole other ordeal. Then the launch was canceled, so we changed back to our original dates, only to discover that the launch was back on and moved to 3 days after the original date. Following me? Yes, it was basically a hot mess and like a sign from the heavens that we did NOT need to see that rocket launch. Well, being the troopers we are, we decided to still go to Cape Canaveral and have a blast with our kids in FL for a few days. Three days before our departure, the weather channel started showing videos of the torrential rain in the forecast for Orlando and all of the Space Coast area. I don’t think there is anyone that wants to spend money on a rained-out vacation, so we decided to cancel everything and look into other options. I had visited Orange Beach a few times in the past, but hadn’t been back in five years. Since we had already taken the days off from work, we decided to look there to see if any hotels had availability. And we got so lucky! We ended up being able to add an extra day to this one and decided to make the 10 hour drive to the beach and enjoy our week with our kids. I am so thankful we made this decision! It ended up being such a special trip for us and the biggest kicker – we literally did nothing except play at the beach and eat seafood dinners at night!
We rolled into Orange Beach and checked into our hotel around 7 pm. We stayed at Hampton Inn and Suites and had a lovely experience there. We booked a small suite that slept 6 and we had more than enough space for us all! Here are a few photos from the hotel and beach.
My boys and I both LOVE seafood, especially at the beach. We enjoyed everywhere we ate this week, but The Hangout was especially fun since they have foam parties every hour!
Here is a list of our dining experiences this week:
The Gulf Restaurant and Bar (my favorite)
We basically only ventured off the hotel property for dinner/souvenir shopping. We stopped at the Walmart across from the hotel on our first day for lunches and took advantage of the really nice hotel breakfast each morning. The days were spent sleeping in, playing in the sand, watching dolphins from the shore, riding boogie boards, making memories, and just having an all-around actual restful and relaxing vacation. Our mama hearts were so full and our kids just really enjoyed their time together… and taking a couple of metal health days off from school!
Road Trip Queen 
2 thoughts on “Orange Beach, Alabama”