Orange Beach, Alabama: 3 Day Trip

We just road tripped to Orange Beach in Alabama and really enjoyed it! The drive wasn't bad at all and the beach was beautiful. We spent a night in Montgomery on our way to Orange Beach and found some cool spots in town. We were at the beach for three days and felt like it was the perfect amount of time. Here are all the things we did and ate on our trip! 

A road trip in the south isn't complete without a Buc-ee's trip or two! There are a couple of different Buc-ee's locations while driving to Alabama and to the beach. We stopped for a Paddle Tail and Kettle Corn Popcorn. The bathrooms are always really clean and well maintained and the gas is a good price. Plus, it is just a unique experience walking into a Buc-ee's. 

When we arrived in Montgomery we drove through downtown to see what they had in town! The whole town is rich in history with a lot of big events that had happened right there. We drove by all the museums, Martin Luther King Jr's old church and home, Rosa Park's statue, the state capitol and so much more. The town is beautiful and has a lot to see. You could hit everything in one day, but it would be a full day's worth of things to see. 

We were able to go down to the River Walk while we were in town. There were plenty of walking areas, a big ferry boat, historic information and restaurants on the river front. The sky and water were beautiful to see and was very peaceful. 

The next morning we got up and grabbed donuts from Shelley's Donuts. We had heard from some locals about how good her donuts were. They were right! The donuts were very soft and melted in your mouth. I tried a glazed and a maple frosted donut. Both were super tasty. I would go there again for sure! 

Our next stop was a coffee shop at Vintage Coffee. It was a hip and modern little coffee shop. They had a good size menu with drinks and some breakfast foods. I got the Funky Monkey Smoothie, which had peanut butter, bananas and milk. It usually comes with coffee, but they were able to make it without. This was a bit pricey of a spot, but it was yummy!  

On our way out of town we stopped at Jozetti's Cupcakes. We had heard that this was another must try place in Montgomery. There were so many flavors of cupcakes to pick from. I got a vanilla cupcake, but we each got a different flavor to try. It sounds like the Pecan or the Carrot cupcakes were the winners of the ones we picked. It was great for being one of the only bakery options in town, but I wouldn't have to go back again if we were in town.

The drive to Orange Beach took about 3 hours from Montgomery. We took the route where it went into Florida which was super neat. I haven't been to Florida since I was little. We drove through Perdido beach and crossed the Flora-Bama boarder into Alabama. It was a pretty drive and went pretty quick. We stayed in an Airbnb right across from the beach. There were plenty of restaurants, grocery stores and treat spots in the area. 

We stopped for a sub sandwich at the Publix and an ice cream cone at Kayden's Ice Cream and Candies. The Publix was busy and was the same as any other Publix I have been to. I got a Pralines and Creme ice cream scoop on a cake cone. Their cake cones came in different colors which was super cute. There were lots of candies in the shop and a good amount of ice cream flavors to choose from. It was very pricey for a cone, but it was a cute spot and a good ice cream cone. 

We tried to be at the beach as much as we could! We got up each morning for a sunrise walk along the beach. We spent a couple of hours during the day sitting on the beach. We had an umbrella and beach chairs, which made it really enjoyable. We just put our feet in the beach this trip. It was high risk for jelly fish being in the water, so we stayed close to the shore. We did a night walk with the little nocturnal crab life in the sand. There were lots of seashells on the shore. We saw two jelly fish and lots of fish jumping in the water. The beach was pretty quiet early in the morning and later at night, but midday was packed! We set up chairs early to get a good spot and it worked out just fine. 

It ended up raining in the afternoon this day, so we headed to the Tanger Outlet Mall. It was about a half an hour away from Orange Beach. They had every store you could think of at the mall. We stopped by quite a few different stores and enjoyed the air conditioning inside. There was a kids park and some food in the area as well. 

Before heading back to the beach we tried Foosackly's which was right across from the outlet mall. It originated in Alabama and was super good. It reminded us a lot of Raising Canes or a Zaxby's. I thought the chicken was better there though! They have lots of different sauces to pick from. They had a garlic aioli sauce that was my favorite. The French fries and lemonade was great as well. 

On our way back into town we stopped at Hope's Cheesecakes. It was a cute little shop with a ton of different cheesecakes to pick from. They had cases full of options and they each came in individual baby cheesecakes. I got the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flavor and loved it. It ended up being everyone's favorite flavor out of the one's they picked. 

Our last morning we got up and walked the beach again for the sunrise. We packed up our things and headed out! We drove past the Gulf State Park where there were a lot of marshes and water. There are signs everywhere warning about alligators, so we were hoping to see one and we did! The alligator was just sitting in the water when we drove by. It was the coolest thing, but also very glad we were in a car and not walking the park! You can walk through the state park and see the wild life, but we didn't get to that on our trip. (The picture above is the view from our back porch from where we stayed. We had little marsh areas and lakes all behind us) 

Overall, Orange Beach was an awesome place to vacation at. We could have explored a lot more of the area, but we were in full blown relaxation mode. There was a pool by our condo we stayed in and we spent a lot of time with family and hanging out. It was a much needed relaxing and rejuvenating trip! 

Where are your favorite beaches to visits?