Nestled among the pine and oak woodlands and sand dunes, just 8 miles west down Fort Morgan Rd in Gulf Shores, AL, you’ll find “Alabama’s last remaining undisturbed coastal barrier habitat” – the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. As a gulf coast photographer, this refuge is an oasis of photography opportunities as well as a great way to explore nature.

Many assume that I grew up in the Pensacola, FL area, but actually, I moved to Gulf Shores, AL in 2005 and then to Pensacola, FL in 2011. Growing up, North Alabama was my home. My family has vacationed in Gulf Shores or Pensacola every spring break and summer for as long as I can remember. In fact, for about a decade, my grandparents had a beach house about 14 miles down Fort Morgan Rd. The many family vacations I spent on the Fort Morgan peninsula left me with a strong love of south Baldwin County, AL, the city of Gulf Shores, and, more specifically, the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge that I have spent countless hours exploring both as a child an adult.
 
So for today’s “Exploring the Gulf Coast” one-tank trip blog post, that’s where I’m taking you. 

When I don't have all day (or it's just too hot to take the entire Pine Beach Trail), I like to park half way down Mobile St. at the Gator Lake trail head. This trail is a one-mile one-way trip across a dune ridge from the parking area to the land bridge at Gator Lake and Little Lagoon. This is also the Pine Beach Trail intersection. This is a great, shorter walk where you'll see wildflowers, birds, and lizards. At the end of the trail you could choose to turn around and walk back, you could head South and continue on to the Gulf of Mexico, or you could turn North and take the Pine Beach Trail to it's trail head where you'll be about 1/4 mile down the road from where you left your car.

Whatever trail you decide to embark on, be sure you're well coated in sunscreen and bug spray and that you have plenty of water. Take it from someone who's ended the day red as a tomato - these trails spend a lot of time in full sun! Plan accordingly.

All specific details about the refuge as well as the map can be found on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website at www.fws.gov.
​All pictures are property of Finding Beauty in the Ordinary Photography.

There's something extraordinarily special about documenting a family's first journey to parenthood. This is exactly why I offer "Watch Me Grow" baby plans - to offer an affordable option for my clients to have professional portraits taken during their pregnancy, when their little one is a newborn, and on through baby's first year.

Their son, Thales, was born at 40 weeks and 1 day, and from what I hear, Ana rocked that 14 hour labor. I had the absolute pleasure of taking his newborn portraits at their home in north Pensacola when he was 6 days old.

He was, and is, an absolute doll baby and completely rocked his session! 

These mamas were absolutely smitten with their new addition.

I'll leave you with what I think is the BEST thing about "Watch Me Grow" baby plans - continuity. If you look back, you'll see that the some quilt Ana is laying on in her maternity session was used as a basket stuffer for Thales' newborn session.

​I was also able to take a stylized approach at duplicating Ana's favorite picture from her maternity session during their newborn session. What a difference 4 weeks makes. The picture on the right was taken exactly 28 days after the one on the left.

Now that it's starting to feel like spring again here on the northwest Florida gulf coast, I'll be continuing with my "Exploring the Gulf Coast" one tank trips blog series. 
My mission is to show off some of the natural wonders as well as inexpensive family outing options within an ~2 hour drive from Pensacola, FL. Over the past couple of years I've found that many of my favorite places are completely unknown to many, and I want to share them with you in hopes that you share them with generations to come.

I decided to kick things back off with a visit to a Florida State Park that's been on my personal bucket list for a couple of years - Florida Caverns State Park. So, this past Saturday, I rose before the sun and headed east with adventure and exploration in mind.

Formation of the park's caves have a history beginning about 38 million years ago when this part of the Unite States was still submerged undersea. While in the cave the tour guide will point out a nautilus, shark tooth, tube coral, shells, and fish vertebrae. The land compromising what is now the state park was acquired on October 11, 1935 with much of the development being done by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a part of President Roosevelt's New Deal. Florida Caverns State Park officially opened to the public in 1942.

If you follow the drive to the very back of the state park, you'll end up at the "Blue Hole" (pictured above) and Equestrian Facility. There's a large picnic area here as well as access to the 6 miles of Chipola trails which are available for use by hikers, bicyclists, and horseback riders.

Leaving Blue Hole and heading back towards the visitor's center you'll come to the next point of interest - the Chipola River Sink. Here the Chipola river heads underground for about 1/4 mile until it pops up again further downstream. During the spring and summer, kayaks and canoes are available for rental. As the pictures below show, strolling through this section of the park really felt like going back into pre-historic times.

After wandering around the Chipola sink for a bit, it was time for me to meet up with my group to head into the namesake of the park itself - the caverns!

Per www.floridastateparks.org:
"Guided tours of the cave are offered year round except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Tours depart near the Visitor Center where participants learn the precautions of the tour including having to stoop many times to pass through areas with a ceiling height of 4 1/2 feet for distances as far as 15 feet in length, passages as narrow as 2 feet, and ascending steps, slippery walkways, and the importance of not touching anything inside the fragile cave environment as there are not handrails inside the cave.  The cave maintains a year-round 65-degree temperature.  The tour moves at a leisurely pace through a dozen cave rooms where the visitors pause for information and about the cave's history, early uses, and interesting geological formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and flowstone."

The ~1/2 mile long cave tour took a leisurely 40 minutes where our knowledgeable guide pointed out many formations and fossils as well as discussing the geological make-up of the cave itself. I had no problem traversing the narrow and low passages - though I did get a good thigh workout. After leaving the cave, your guide gives you directions for the 3 different that take you back to the visitor's center. 

After my final hike, I headed back to the visitor's center where I ate my picnic lunch and enjoyed the scenery.
I would highly recommend Florida Caverns State Park to any and all nature lovers. The park is well designed to accommodate people of varying ages and ability. I do highly recommend bug spray as the mosquitoes were huge and unrelenting.
All information shared here was obtained directly from ​www.floridastateparks.org/park/Florida-Caverns

All photographs contained in this post were taken by and are property of Finding Beauty in the Ordinary Photography.