Last weekend Steven and I got a change to tour the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area and see firsthand the damage that Hurricane Ivan dealt out. My family has gone to the Alabama coast almost every summer since I was in elementary school; we are the classic annual tourists. We know the great places to eat, fun places to go, and we even had our favorite places to stay. We don’t live there but we love the town as if we did. Finally seeing what Ivan did three months prior just broke my heart.
I didn’t really know what to expect, but I didn’t expect what we saw. Soon after we were south of Montgomery we were already seeing the signs of the recent hurricane. There were many trees down, especially on the western side of the interstate, and we saw a few gas stations that were missing some pieces. The closer we got, the more we saw. Heading south on Highway 59 we saw a skeletonized McDonald’s sign, toppled trees, and many more damaged gas stations. Something tells me they’re not very areodynamically designed.
We reached the Gulf Shores intersection at the beach then turned left to park near the amusement park. My sister and I both just loved that park. There was a Ferris wheel, The Scrambler, those red planes that swung you so close to the corner of Alvin’s Island that I shut my eyes, and the ever-fantastic Tilt-a-Whirl. I could ride the Tilt-a-Whirl for hours if I had enough money. Ivan decided it was time for the Tilt-a-Whirl to go.
This is looking across the lot where the amusement park used to be. The blue building is Alvin’s Island. The asphalt track is where the go-carts circled. The yellow building is where the arcade games were. Everything else has been carted away as it was mostly wreckage.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
We then crossed the street to the public beach area. This marker was buried in the sand; I don’t really know how tall it is supposed to be.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
This public beach area had a boardwalk with benches, a large pavilion area with an arbor, and some public restrooms. The pavilion lost it’s wood planking and has a seven foot deep trough dug out of the sand underneath it, which was halfway filled with water. It is still has the arbor, though.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Here is one of the benches that was on the boardwalk. You can see how the waves pushed up at the walk area from underneath and bent the planking. In some places the boardwalk was completely gone.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Below is another view down the boardwalk, looking west toward where the Driftwood condos should be. On a side note: boy, I think it’s a sure bet their parking lot flooded during the storm. We’ve stayed there a few times, I daresay. During one of those stays there came up a rain good enough to flood their parking lot enough that Cathy and I were able to float around it in big-ass doughnut floats. Instant pool.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Here is a look the other way down the beach toward the east. See that low, flat, brown building sticking out on the right? That’s ye olde Sea ‘n Suds. It’s where you wanna go when you’re hankering for a shrimp po’ boy. To the left is one huge pile of sand. Once we stayed at The Boardwalk Condominiums located right next to the Sea ‘n Suds. The trip wasn’t all that spectacular for reasons I won’t mention here, but Cathy and I did have a lot of fun swimming under the Sea ‘n Suds. Yes, I said swimming — that restaurant used to be over the water! Usually hurricanes take away the beach, so I’m going to assume that it was the bulldozers that moved the sand underneath the Suds. Whoa, dudes, I think y’all got a bit carried away!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
This palm tree made it through the storm, but his head is starting to lean toward Aunt Nancy’s house, a.k.a. Charleston — I found that old house, remember?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
After our beachwalk we hopped back in the car and headed east towards Orange Beach and Florida. I was driving since I had more of an idea where we were going and Steven had passenger seat camera duty. My main instructions for him were, “Just keep shooting; don’t stop!” Steven got some excellent shots; this one below is one he’s really proud of since the sign crept into the photo right as the shutter opened. Before Ivan, you really couldn’t see the ocean from the road like this because of the numerous sand dunes. In the distance you can see the torn-up pier.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Our favorite place to stay of late has been the WindDrift Condominiums; the first set of condos you come to after you cross the big bridge over the marina. I’m not sure how many times we’ve stayed there, but it’s been a lot. I bet Cathy could tell us all the room numbers we’ve been in — that’s one of her specialties. I myself can’t remember that nor do I remember the room numbers we’ve occupied at the Driftwood, but I do remember where our rooms were in the Driftwood. One year we were at the very top on the FAR side and the next year we were at the top on the OTHER FAR side; the third year we were next from the top and one in from the end. At least, I think so. The WindDrift seemed to make it through okay, at least from the road view that we had. The road itself was a shambles and there was yet another huge pile of sand in the parking lot, but it hadn’t collapsed. After some internet research, I’ve found that they’re scheduled to be reopened at the end of May in 2005. Excellent.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
One of the more surprising things — besides the wreckage — was the amount of shells on the beach. I’m not talking about a bunch of junk coquina shells and cross-barred venuses, either; we are talking about GOOD SHELLS. Steven and I spent much longer than we meant to just beachcombing the surf and filling our coat pockets. It was like potato chips — we couldn’t stop at just one.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Here we have some, but by no means all, of our excellent catch. All my life I have wanted a sand dollar like that. Uhh, I won’t repeat what I said when I found it. I’m not sure Ivan was the cause of this above-normal amount of shells or if it was just because it was December and the summer armies of kids weren’t there to scurry them all up. There’s something to ponder. Despite the fact that the shells are exoskeletons of dead sea creatures, it does give me hope that the beach and the human inhabitants alike will heal themselves. Though the sand dunes and many buildings were torn through, the beach is not gone. It is just redecorating.
