Greetings from the Redneck Riviera!

We are on day three of our sun and sand extravaganza in Orange Beach, Alabama. This is our first summer vacation to the beach as a family of five. In the past, we’ve hit the beach in February while Chris’s parents were snow birds and we could stay for free. (Snow birds are older folks who move to the beach in the cold months.) In February in northern Florida, however, jackets are required and only the bravest put their toes in the frigid water. South Alabama in June is a nice change of pace.

I have to say we are really pleased with Orange Beach. It is shockingly uncrowded for the first week in June. Our condo is between Perdido Key and Orange Beach, just 15 minutes from Gulf Shores. There are a few requisite t-shirt, touristy shops, but overall, they are few and far between. The sand is white and the waves are plentiful.

The reason it’s called the Redneck Riviera became clear almost immediately upon arrival. It seems, ahm… unusual to see people in the pool with a beer can in one hand and a cigarette in the other (right next to my woefully sheltered offspring). Then seeing people flicking cigarette butts over into the protected sand dunes/sea oats area was rather startling as well.

The accents of the kids we’ve met in the pool are so amazingly southern. We live in north Tennessee, and apparently there really are degrees of “southernness.” And I think there are certainly degrees of “redneckness.” I like to think we are on the low end of the redneck spectrum, but some of my Yankee friends might disagree!

Overall, it’s been a hot, sandy, but nice trip. (We may NEVER rid ourselves of all the sand in our nooks and crannies.) Nathaniel is in love with the beach and could spend all day digging in the sand. Annabeth loves the pool area and wants to be there every minute. Julia isn’t sure what to think about it all. She’s been a champ, “going with the flow” most of the time, but she HATES the sand. She refuses to walk in it because it makes her feet “dir-dee.” Chris isn’t a big fan of the beach OR the pool. He’s just not a hot-weather kind of guy. Me? Just give me a few minutes alone every now and then, a chair on the beach at sunset, and an occasional dip in the pool and I’m good.