Gulf Shores

The sun sets over the Gulf Coast.

We spent the last weekend of January at my Uncle Jim and Aunt Joanie's house in Gulf Shores for a family get together. We had a great time. You may recall Hurricane Ivan, the 3rd in a spate of hurricanes that ravaged the coast late last summer. Ivan, a Category 4 hurricane, burst upon the Gulf Coast and just mauled much of the coast from Pensacola to Mobile Bay. The eye actually passed right over Gulf Shores. Below are some pictures I took along the coast of the damage. Keep in mind that these pictures were taken 4 months after the storm...

Not quite what it used to be I imagine

What can you say? 

What's missing? Well, parts of that pier, of course. But also sand dunes! Totally gone for the most part, except for those parts that had vegetation, which kept them in place. 

More. 

It's just amazing how many sites like this exist along the coast 4 months later. There's just so much to clean up, and there is a labor shortage. Imagine the scene in the days immediately after the hurricane. 

These old cheap condos will hopefully be replaced by some nicer new development. The good side of Hurricane Ivan is that there is now a serious real estate and development boom in the area, which is being managed well by the city council. Gulf Shores should be really really nice in a couple of years. 

Damaged house - I think there used to be houses on either side of it. 

The back porch of my uncle and aunt's house in Gulf Shores, where we stayed. Really great house - loved the porch. 

My cousin Lindsay. OK actually her mom is my cousin which makes us.... 2nd cousins or something? I get confused by that stuff. Anyway, the main reason this is here is because I don't think she would want it here, and I'm like that. 

Another nice picture on the porch. 

The Leaning House. The surf rushed up and rotted out the foundations on many buildings like this one, leaving them really screwed up. 

Good to see this place boarded up, if you ask me... it is across the street from the beach. 

Another condemned house. Note the way it is leaning to the right (east to west - as the hurricane winds came in). Also note the truck behind it. You see a lot of trucks and stuff on the beach down there - the whole beach has to be sifted for debris - as does the shallow part of the ocean - before it can be opened. Also note the swimming pool. 

More messed up houses 

There used to be a house or condos or something there... now just a bunch of debris 

Yikes 

A little inlet off the gulf coast somewhere near the AL/FL border