Trips

As a child, we never really took family vacations to the beach. So, I'm making up that time now. In March, I took two trips to the beach with Outdoor Pursuits. The first was to Horn Island and the second was to Gulf Shores.

 Horn Island is an uninhabited island about 9 miles off the coast of Mississippi. It is about 12 miles long and 1 mile wide. We sea-kayaked the 9 miles to the island, through mostly open water. Epic workout, and slightly demeaning as the motorboats sped past you. The paddle out to the island was hard. It was rainy and windy, and the water was cold. We made two stops at two smaller islands on the way out there. Singing River Island and Round Island.

 When we got to the island, there was no one else around and it was so beautiful. We watched the sun set and set up camp. The next day was free, and we had a great time just hanging out on the island. One of the trip participants was crazy, awesome. She was like wanna-be survivor woman. That afternoon she went to one of the lagoons on the island, and started catching crabs! Guess what we all had for dinner that night? Fresh crabs.

To paddle back, we had to leave at low tide. Around 5 am. Dark, cold, risk management nightmare. Totally worth it. The stars were above us, and we watched the sunrise as we paddled towards shore. Absolutely beautiful.

I would definitely put this in one of the top five trips I have ever taken with outdoor pursuits.



The second trip was to Gulf Shores, which could not have been more different. Still fun times on the beach. Many, many more participants, and craziness with the kayaks. Epic Sunburns.

We arrived to our camping spot late on Friday night (almost 2 am) and had to hike all 44 of our participants 2.5 miles to our camping spots. Running around while it is starting to rain helping participants set up tents. Craziness (and pretty exciting!).


One of the best parts was that I learned about an awesome beach camping spot very near Gulf Shores, though.It's in the state park right next to Perdido Keys. It's $8 to park for the week, and the camping is free. The beach is beautiful and there are not many people there. If you  do want to go to the public beach, then it's only about 10 minutes away. Next time I take a trip to the beach with my friends, I would totally stay here. It's so cheap!

I loved this trip because I had some great bonding time with some of the best trip leaders & some of my favorite participants. The beach was nice and relaxing, even though the kayaking was hard in the pretty choppy waters.



This weekend I'm off to visit my family for Easter!