Our Orange Beach Adventure

Our first and much needed summer vacation of 2022 was a hop, skip, and jump over to Orange Beach, Alabama for a few days soaking in the sun and waves! To be completely honest, I’m not much of a beach gal but my family LOVES it. I don’t hate it…but I don’t love getting into the ocean, sweating, hauling everything across sand, and also I get burned just thinking about the sun. But it’s my husband’s happy place and the kids always have so much fun…so away we went! Mainly for my future reference, I wanted to document some of the things we did, learned, bought, and enjoyed!

1. Location

I found a cute little condo on VRBO in Harbour Place, which was on Perdido Beach Blvd, beach side. This condo was a small, but spacious enough, one bedroom with a pull out couch for the kiddos. Looking back, I believe I looked at way too many options in January, got overwhelmed and just booked the next one I saw. This is likely the last year that we can force the kids to share a couch bed so moving forward, a two bedroom with at least three beds will be a must, must, must. This year, they didn’t seem to care too much, as evidenced below!

All that to say, this place really provided all we needed this year! It was right on the beach and had a great indoor/outdoor pool. It was very clean, very well maintained, and had all the amenities we needed. While we will definitely have to find a larger place in coming years, I have no complaints about this year! Moving forward, I don’t think I’ll rely on a service like VRBO again but try to rent directly from the source to avoid unnecessary fees.

2. Food

We didn’t get to Orange Beach until early evening on Wednesday and after unpacking and settling in, we didn’t have time for much. While we did bring some food for the trip, we didn’t want to chance bringing over any refrigerated items so our first stop was to the closest grocery store, which was Publix. In addition to the essentials, like coffee creamer, we grabbed some local coffee and brews as well. Now, it was crunk so it took a little longer than we would have liked so for dinner that night, we just grabbed some Subway and headed back to our condo for a good night sleep!

Our plan was to enjoy breakfast, snacks, and lunch in the condo, eat dinner in one night and then out the remaining evenings. That Thursday we learned the hard way that if you want to grab dinner at one of the fun local hangouts, you need to get there around 4:30pm because after 5pm, you are looking at a 1-2 hour wait for a table. And aint nobody got time for that!

So after striking out quite a bit Thursday evening, we got lucky at Cactus Cantina! Despite being quite busy, there was no wait and the service was crazy quick! Plus, the food was DELICIOUS!

We anticipated crowds being even more crunk Friday evening, so we opted to stay in for dinner and enjoy a frozen lasagna that we had picked up at Publix. We attempted a game night with Phase 10…but it might have been a little too complicated…maybe next year!

With our lessons learned fresh in mind, we did not play on Saturday evening! We made plans to leave our condo at 4:15pm and head straight to Shrimp Basket! The stress of the wait was removed and we jump right in to enjoy allllll the fried goodness! Plus, there is an amazing ice cream shop right next door which was the perfect sweet ending!

3. Beach Set Up & Fun

With this being our second family beach trip, we still learned quite a bit! From our first trip, we learned that long sleeve rash guards are a must for us…while setting up a 10×10 tailgating tent might be a bit much! While we lightened our load quite a bit, we still filled our little beach wagon each day with our essentials:

• Our Costco Special Beach Umbrella (It’s currently out of stock online, so keep your eyes peeled if you are in the market for one. This one was perfect!)
• Chairs ( We learned pretty quickly that camping chairs are not beach chairs! These that we had also gotten at costco were fine…but we probably should have done these instead, plus they match the umbrella!)
• Beach Blanket (Though we never used it, I wish we would have! I got this one from Amazon before the trip and it feels like good quality! Next time we’ll bust it out for sure!)
• Toys & Fun (Our kids are a little older so we didn’t bring a ton of toys out there but they love looking for shells. So we did bring nets, shovels, sifters, and a few sandcastle toys! We also brought a couple balls to toss around and one boogie board. In the future, better goggles are a must!)
• Travel Cooler (We filled our little shoulder cooler with frozen water bottles, lots of Capri Suns, and a couple adult beverages. I also had my 40 oz water tumbler handy because I’m not playing with hydration! Additionally, we packed a few quick snacks and a trash bag as well!)

In my fun little beach bag, I had a few other essentials:

• Books (I brought my iPad down the first day to finish a book I had on the Kindle app….and had I not been so close to finishing it, I wouldn’t have. It quickly got overheated and it was difficult to read. So hard copies moving forward for me!)
• Cheap Sunglasses (I didn’t want to chance loosing my nicer ones so I opted for a cheaper option and these worked perfectly!)
• Beach Visor (I discovered quickly that I’m not a floppy hat gal but these visors were clutch!)
• Extra Hair Clips (I couldn’t love these more…especially for wet or wind swept hair!)
• Can Insulator (You know…for those adult beverages!)
• And then extra sunscreen, chapstick, wetbags, cooling towels, ziploc bags for shells, and a small first aid kit.

I have no doubt that we could have and likely should have brought more…but this seemed to work for this year! In the future we talked about paddle boards or larger fun items but I think the kids need another year!

4. Swim Suits & Cover Ups

No one has asked, but I was pretty pleased with the swimwear and covers up we brought this year so I wanted to share those that had links!

• Rachel: This year I went all in on one-pieces and I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve purchased from Old Navy: Black One Piece, another Black One Piece, and to spice things up a Blue One Piece with Skirt. I’ve worn each a few times so far and I haven’t noticed any visible wearing or color changing! I can’t find links to my rash guards but I got them at Costco! In terms of cover ups, I’m newly obsessed with these from Old Navy and this one from Amazon! I’m also digging these flip flops…again from Costco!
• Lily: This girl took roughly 14 bathing suit options to the beach this year. Girl is crazy! From Costco, she gets a lot of wears out of the Eddie Bauer sets as well as this set, which is fun. From Target, she is currently rocking this cute little set. And then a couple of Old Navy that don’t have links for but I did find one for her slides!
• Harrison: He also has quite the collection of swim shirts and trucks but I did get these super cool ones from Target, these classics from Old Navy, these cool guy ones from Old Navy, and, of course, these awesome slides from Old Navy as well! I was warned to cut out the inserts of the swim trucks and completely forgot…which led to a very uncomfortable situation for Harrison! He was VERY pleased when I finally remembered for day two!
• Chris: Lord only knows where he gets his trucks…I lie, it’s Costco.

5. Other Lessons Learned

• Sunscreen & Sun Care: I wear sunscreen all of the days of the year, every last one. So, of course, we were crazy about it at the beach. However, we had a little realization this trip! I’m not a huge fan of the spray sunscreens but as diligently as I applied, I missed some spots that got burned! So we decided, moving forward, we’ll keep the lotion apply before we leave the condo but have spray available for reapplying on the beach. Also, hot tip. Before you unpack a singular thing, put your after sun gel or aloe in the fridge. You are welcome.
• Buc-ees is fun, but not worth the hassle! Yes the bathrooms are crazy clean and the options for snacks are re-donkulous! But, the location near Orange Beach is a certified nightmare. There are just too many people.
• Entertainment: After dinner, we were exhausted so an easy night in was a must! While we did bring some games, we completely forgot DVDs. We are big movie night people so we should have brought a few DVDs to avoid the never-ending scroll through regular television channels.
• Exercise, Shmexercise: While its commendable that I genuinely believe I’m going to work out while on vacation, I’ve got to stop packing work-out clothes. No one is working out at the beach…well, not in my family anyway! For me, a day in the sun doesn’t inevitably lead to working out so I need to start remembering that while packing, leave the clothes behind, and plan for a few rest days!

Am I a converted beach lover? Eh, its a solid B+. But, the family loves it so I’m on board to visit year after year! Hopefully learning and resting with each visit!

What are some of your lessons learned from the beach? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment!