Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama + Florida

Louisiana

I have been to Louisiana twice: once for a swim meet and the other time driving through to get to Gulf Shores. The swim meet happened in 2018 and it occurred in Shreveport. I wasn’t expecting much out of Shreveport, but it ended up being pretty cool. Just my mom and I went to Shreveport so it does not count for the 50 states :( For our our road trip to Gulf Shores, we left super early in the morning. We drove through Northern Louisiana, but our friends went through Southern Louisiana so that they could see New Orleans and Baton Rouge. It added about an extra hour to do that. We made this drive in 2020. On the way back from Gulf Shores we decided to take a photo of a swamp that was on the way back home. I guess Louisiana is known for their swamps…and gators! We had our meal in Louisiana on the way to Alabama at Chick fil A, classic!

Mississippi

Every time I hear Mississippi, I think of someone trying to spell it with the song, or of the Mississippi River. Well, that is what our state photo is for Mississippi: the good old Mississippi River. For our meal we had Zaxby’s on the way back from Gulf Shores - not our favorite. That’s pretty much it for Mississippi, just viewing the river and a nice meal at Zaxby's.

Alabama

We went to Alabama in 2020 (yes, during Covid) and stayed at our friend’s condo in Gulf Shores. We stayed there for 4 nights and drove from Fort Worth, which was about a 12 hour drive with stops. We mainly just stayed at the condo and cooked meals there; we never really went anywhere else besides to the beach and out once to get ice cream. The ice cream place we went to was called The Yard Milkshake Bar; it is a little pricey but is giant portions and you get to keep the mason jar. I would definitely recommend sharing with someone because I don’t think that anyone has ever finished it. Gulf Shores is right by Florida (20ish minutes away) and the water is between a blue and gray, better than Texas, but not as pretty as those crystal clear Florida beaches. We all definitely enjoyed heading down to the beach everyday and being able to soak up the sun. I also recommend going crab hunting at night and seeing how many crabs you can catch. I know that Gulf Shores can have some jellyfish problems, so go early in the summer to avoid that issue. There were a few string rays while we were there. and we also saw a baby shark in the water one day. Overall, Gulf Shores is a very friendly family beach town and is a great place to go and relax during the summer. If going to the beach is not your thing, there were a good amount of shops and restaurants and lots of putt putt / go cart places. For our state picture we got a photo of us on the beach. I would definitely come back here!

Florida

Florida was a separate trip than these other three states, I just lumped it in with these three. We have been to Florida three times; each time we went to Disney World. The first time we went to Disney I was really young and don’t remember much. The second time that we went to Disney I was in second grade. We stayed at the Art of Animation hotel, a fun cartoon themed hotel, great for young families. This is a great budget hotel if you want to stay on Disney property but you don’t want to break the bank. We also went to Universal Studios for one day and I’m glad we did. They had great coasters and the highlight was the Harry Potter World. The last time we went to Disney I was in 8th grade, and we went with extended whole family for Disney World's 50th anniversary. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, a hotel where you can go out on your balcony and view giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and more. This hotel was on the pricey end, and we were spending so much time in the park that it felt like we did not get enough time at the hotel. Therefore, if you are planning to spend all day at the park I would not recommend staying at one of the more expensive hotels. Some of the biggest things that I would stress to do is book EVERYTHING early, get to the parks early, get lightning lane/fast (it is worth the cost, trust me), and stay at a Disney hotel for the perks. Some restaurants I suggest are Space 360 in Epcot, Ohana in the Polynesian hotel, and 50s Prime Time Cafe. Disney World is an amazing trip to go on and I highly recommend it! If you do not want to go to Disney World then I recommend going to the beach (duh); some good beaches in Florida are Key West, Destin, Seaside, and Clearwater. The beaches inside the gulf have calmer waters which make them that pretty blue you see in all the photos, while the Atlantic side has murky waters and a little bit rougher seas.