Alabama!

     We are just cruising along these southern states and missing so much but we're thankful for each experience we do get! I'd found reviews online stating that the Camping World in Robertsdale, AL allowed overnight parking AND had free hookups for Good Sam Members. We headed there but tried not to get to optimistic. We were pleasantly surprised to find them very welcoming and yes, with a free water and electric site for us! 

They have at least 6 sites!

We parked the site closest to the dump station and the hose reached so essentially we had full hookups! We did laundry, showers, and cleaned 😍.

     And then, we need to do something to experience Alabama, so we headed to Alligator Alley! It was pricey but in the end we decided it was worth it.

They had a few pigs too!

The babies!

This place was very clean with fun signs everywhere.

More small ones.

Swimming closer so we could feed them.

Names of all the ones in that pen.

It was astounding how many there was!

And we all got to hold a 3 year old!

It was pretty cool!

Out in the swamp is where they keep the nuisance alligators" that they pick up when people complain about one in their yard. We were able to walk through on a boardwalk and see hundreds of them!

You just never knew when one would pop up!

During mating season they have fights and some die from it every year. We were wishing we could see a fight :). 

These huge Cypress trees were a site to behold.

It took Emily the whole way through the swamp to work up her courage to hold one but she did it!

     Visiting a gator ranch was Eldon's idea and we all had a blast!

Mississippi!

     Our drive through Louisiana and Mississippi was highly enjoyable. It was impressive how the road was built up over swamps for miles at a time. We loved driving along the coast for a ways. Traffic was more intense and most drivers certainly don't drive the Texas way 😁.

    Our overnight stop was a the Golden Nugget Casino in Biloxi, MS. The large parking lot in the back easily accommodated our large rig along with 15 or so others. Obviously no hook-ups but it's a safe place to park free. 

     We had decided that we need to experience some real southern food. A Bubba Gump's was inside the casino so we headed in for supper. It's been a while since we've watched Forrest Gump but it was still fun to see quotes from the movie plastered all over.

"Now Mama always said there's only so much fortune a man really needs, and the rest is just for showing off."

"You may be an idiot, but try not to be stupid."

Blue meant we were doing good.

And if we flipped it to red, it signaled the waitress to stop.

Seafood platter. Michael loved the fried shrimp. The catrish, hushpuppies, coleslaw, and fried mac an cheese were good too. Makayla liked the hushpuppies best.

Fish tacos! These were Eldon's favorite. They were good!

And a bucket of french fries because Emily and Ethan aren't fans of new food. YET.

Shrimp Gumbo. It was to spicy for Michael but Makayla, Eldon and I loved it. It was my favorite by far.

Eldon requested that we all enjoy our meal but at the end of night still prefer a burger because $$$ 😂.

After supper we went for a walk.

Another long bridge. Many are either drawbridges or peak in the middle to allow for the passage of barges and ships.

     I love to find free things so Tuesday morning we pulled in the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Refuge. Big rig parking was not in abundance but the place was nearly empty so we made do. The refuge features a lovely exhibit room that contains information about the Mississippi Sandhill Cranes as well as other birds and animals in the area. The children appreciated the description of birds and a button to push and hear their call. They showed us a short video describing the diminishment of the wet pine savanna and how the refuge has restored 3% of it. In the 1970's only 30 MSC's were living in the wild but today there is around 100, all here at the refuge. Eldon and I were able to spot a few with binocular.

Such beautiful birds!

Emily loved this exhibit of the mount of a nest.

Walking the 3/4 mile nature trail.

Spanish Moss is so intriguing.

It was humid and the birds were going crazy. We felt like we were in a rain forest!

Massive pine cones!

And another!

The wet pine savannah. 

Pitcher plants that eat flies and insects were in abundance.

These huge, old trees are gorgeous!