ALABAMA GULF COAST ZOO

Take A Walk On The Wild Side

Over 500 exotic animals including lions, tigers and bears (oh my!), monkeys, camels and wolves, etc. live at the Gulf Shores zoo.

There is a petting zoo, reptile house and aviary. Zookeepers provide animal encounters, animal shows and keeper talks.  

Lions

Howling winds and torrential rains on January 2, 2017 forced staff to move the animals from their cages for safety. A tree fell on the lions' den and crushed it.  A zookeeper said the male lion was petrified of the pounding rain and wind. One of the birds in a cage suffered a broken wing but is recovering nicely.

Tiger

The zoo in Gulf Shores is the little zoo that could. It was founded by Joey Ward of Gulf Shores as a private enterprise in 1989. 

Bear

The Ward family donated 17 acres of prime real estate in Gulf Shores.  which makes up the zoo today. Another 13 acres that was donated remains undeveloped. 

Wolf

The zoo expects to move four miles up the road to higher and safer ground.  The expanded new zoo is expected to open in 2018 with a price tag of $18 million.

Pelican

The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo operates solely on admissions, memberships and contributions by the local community and businesses.

Small But Ferocious

MARDI GRAS IN MOBILE, AL

Did you know that Mobile is the birthplace of America's original Mardi Gras? Mardi Gras originated in 1703 in Mobile, AL. It was revived after the Civil War when citizen Joe Cain, fed up with post-war misery, led an impromptu parade down city streets.

Down South, as soon as Epiphany is over, Mardi Gras celebrations begin.  Southerners not only celebrate Mardi Gras, they succumb to it. Doorways are decorated, wreaths are hung and beads are worn. The royal colors of Mardi Gras are purple, which symbolizes justice, green symbolizes faith, and gold symbolizes power.

Celebrations are concentrated for about two weeks before and through Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.  Many days, especially in Mobile, AL and New Orleans, LA, there are several large parades.

Mardi Gras King Cake

King Cake is a sweet, circular pastry twisted into a ring and associated with Mardi Gras. It is decorated with colored icing and sprinkles. Every king cake contains a trinket, usually a small figurine in the shape of a baby.  Whoever finds the baby in their slice of cake gets to be "King" for a day.

Callahan's Irish Social Bar

We began our Mardi Gras day of celebration at Callahan's Bar with Bloody Mary's and pickled okra at 10:00 in the morning.  

Interviewing for the Skeleton Krewe

Everyone finds their way to the street party just a block or so from the 1940's Irish social club with a drink in each hand.

Arrival of Cain's Merry Widows

Joe Cain Day is celebrated the Sunday before Fat Tuesday. A busload of the mystic society of "Cain's Merry Widows" arrive just before the street party is over. They all dress in black mourning clothes with veils and exit the bus to the porch of Joe Cain's house where they offer a toast to their "beloved Joe" and argue over which widow was his favorite. The black beads handed out by the widows are the most coveted Mardi Gras beads.

One of the Merry Widows Exiting

The goodies, called "throws" from the parade floats are usually necklaces of plastic beads, doubloons with Krewe logos, stuffed animals, Frisbees, moon pies, and cups which are referred to as New Orleans dinnerware.

Mobile's Finest

Fictional Chickasaw Chief Slacabamorinico

Cain's Merry Widows Float

Incoming

Lots of Beads Were Thrown

Hey Mister, Throw Me Something

Look Who Caught All the Beads

KILN, MISSISSIPPI (Hometown of the Gunslinger)

We wanted to visit Kiln, MS, a mecca for Green Bay Packer fans.   Kiln (population 2,238) is a little redneck town that you could drive through and miss it in the blink of an eye. 

Bret Favre Teams 

Kiln, MS was originally known as the "Jourdan Community", later called "The Kill".  When the post office was established, the name Kiln was chosen. Locals still call it "The Kill" for the old remnant kiln base that stands ten feet high on the edge of the woods.

Broke Spoke Tavern

Brett Favre was born in Gulfport, MS but his family moved to Kiln. Both his parents were teachers.

We were directed to the Broke Spoke Tavern, a southern bar on a street off the main highway in Kiln. It's not fancy or anything, probably built in the 1940s and added on to over the years. You could enjoy a cold beer while viewing all the dirty, dusty bras hanging from the ceiling. 

Let It All Hang Out

Brett Favre now lives in Sumrall, MS near Hattiesburg. He is  no longer the offensive coordinator for the local high school (Oak Grove) football team since winning the 2013 state championship. He commented about the players "they just don't listen."

Bar Stool at Broke Spoke

Packer fans will be disappointed if they travel to Kiln, MS looking for Favre memorabilia. Nothing to see here folks.

JEFFERSON DAVIS PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM

The Beauvoir

The Beauvoir estate is the post-war home of Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederate States of America. Construction began in 1848 with the house facing the Biloxi beach on the Gulf of Mexico. Beauvoir means "beautiful to view." Beauvoir has been designated a national historic landmark.

The widow who owned the plantation invited the former president of the Confederacy to stay at Beauvoir after hearing of Jefferson Davis' personal and financial difficulties.  He accepted her invitation to move into a cottage on the plantation grounds in 1877. 

In 1879 he purchased the house for $5,500 to be paid in three installments.  The owner of the house bequeathed the property to him before she died and before he had made all three payments. 

The tomb of the unknown Confederate soldier is on this property.

Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage to Beauvoir. Five of the seven buildings on the estate were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and 35% of the presidential collection was lost.

MARITIME & SEAFOOD INDUSTRY MUSEUM

Newly Constructed Museum in 2014

In 1986 the original Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum was housed in the old Mississippi Naval Coast Guard Base. It was established to preserve the heritage and maritime history of Biloxi and the Gulf Coast. However, in August 2005, the museum was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. A newly constructed museum opened nine years later in 2014.

The bell was a showpiece at the entrance to the former museum. It survived Hurricane Katrina intact in 2005.

Shrimp Peeling Machine

In 1943 James Lapeyre designed a shrimp peeling machine based on his experience while wearing rubber boots. When he stepped on a shrimp it popped from its shell. The Lapeyre machine peeled 1000 pounds of shrimp per hour in place of 30 to 150 people peeling shrimp by hand.

Wheel House From Old Kovacevich Lugger

Beautiful Fresnel Lens

On display is the Ship Island Lighthouse lens. The 250 pound Fresnel lens was made in Paris the late 1800's. The lens is made of several prisms that were scattered after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. One year and $3,000 later, every piece was found. It was restored but the scratches and chips that the hurricane left on the prisms still remain.

Nautical Treasure

The Nydia was built around 1898 on Biloxi's Back Bay. It is the only known Johnson Shipyard boat left. The 30 foot gaff rigged cabin sloop represents the ultimate in boat building skills. This impress sloop is constructed of cypress and steam-bent oak with brass fixtures.

Ship Island Lighthouse

The Biloxi Lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1848 and one of the first cast iron lighthouses to be erected in the South. The civilian lighthouse was operated from 1848 - 1939 and has been kept by more female keepers than any other lighthouse in the U.S. The storm surge from Hurricane Katrina enveloped a third of the 64 foot lighthouse.  

CAJUN PALMS

Good Sam Rating 10/10/10

Double Wide Paved Sites

AVERY ISLAND - HOMEOF TABASCO

There are five salt dome islands rising above the flat Louisiana Gulf Coast. Avery Island is one of them. These islands formed when a vast plain of salt was left by an ancient saltwater ocean. Surrounded by low-lying swamps and marshes, Avery Island stands at only 163 feet above sea level.

The McIlhenny family settled on Avery Island and began to produce a brand of hot sauce, made exclusively from tabasco peppers, vinegar and salt.

Tabasco Museum

The museum contains exhibits, videos and artifacts important in the Tabasco family history. A small greenhouse contained seedlings to mature plants with peppers. 

2014 Batch of Mash

Only two batches of Tabasco is made each year. The barrel warehouse is full of white oak barrels containing pepper mash that is aged for up to three years.

Vats of Tabasco

A balcony was provided to see the vats where the pepper mash becomes Tabasco sauce. The intense pepper aromas almost took our breath away.

Tabasco Bottling Line

The bottling line had processed over 392,000 bottles of Tabasco the day we visited the factory. Over 700,000 bottles can be bottled in a day.

On the self-guided tour, we walked through a re-creation of an underground Avery Island salt mine cavern. Salt has evaporated from brine springs on Avery Island since 1791. In 1862 workmen enlarging these springs to produce more salt for the Confederacy hit solid salt at 16 feet. This was the first type of mining operation in North America. It continued until the Union forces destroyed the salt works in 1863.