Cycling at Gulf State Park

Tuesday
The forecast had called for a cloudy day, after an early sunny start, however, whilst the clouds did come and go, we also enjoyed some nice sunny spells. We decided to check out Gulf State Park, which lies adjacent to the beaches with their hotels and apartment blocks, and with over 6,000 acres 3 lakes, and 28 miles of trails, a huge campground and cabins, offers plenty to do. We have brought our bikes with us, and so after visiting the visitor center for a map, we set off to explore. The visitor center lies beside the biggest of the lakes, Lake Shelby, which is about 6 miles around, and we took a few detours off it, including into the campground, which looks wonderful, with spacious sites, many beside water -:if you don’t mind the proximity of alligators! Along the way, we saw two bald eagles, one perched atop a tree, and the other on its nest, we saw an Osprey, turtles and an alligator - at a safe distance! We stopped for conversations with fellow travelers, one couple were obviously from the south, but didn’t live in the area, another couple all the way from Minnesota, and one couple almost neighbours of ours - from across the Ohio river in Kentucky. After our ride, we went to charge the car up at a charging center at a shopping and entertainment complex, so while the car was charging, we went to treat ourselves to an ice cream, which was wonderful, so creamy, and full of flavour. Then it was time to do a bit of shopping for dinner on the way back. Having put the shopping away, we took our chairs and books down to the beach. Unfortunately by this time the clouds were moving back in and it was cooler than we expected, so we only stayed about an hour. Back at the apartment however, we discovered our balcony was sheltered from the breeze, and it felt much warmer there, so we sat out, reading and having a drink while watching the sun set - not a great one this evening, it sort of fizzled out.