Free is always a good thing, especially when you’re organizing fun activities for a vacation. Alabama’s Coastal Connection Scenic Byway is chock-full of free fun that will keep the adventure going as long as you have fuel in your tank.
Start your free byway tour by using the Alabama Coastal Connection interactive map to build your own Free and Fabulous Scenic Byway Tour. First stop on your tour is the Audubon Bird Sanctuary on Dauphin Island. Explore the beauty of Dauphin Island as you use the handy trail guide and checklist to search for specific birds.
Keep your binoculars handy and the camera battery charged as you head across Mobile Bay. Depending on your ultimate destination, you can either head down U.S. Highway 98 toward the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Fairhope or the Baldwin Beach Express to the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail in Orange Beach.
Weeks Bay is a public research and education facility complete with an interpretive center with an indoor display, live animals and forested boardwalk trails. There’s also a native pitcher plant bog and guided tours.
Bring your bike or stroll along the paved paths at the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail in Orange Beach that encompasses seven trails among six distinct ecosystems. Freshwater marshes, a butterfly garden and coastal hardwoods are just some of the features of this 15-mile trail that has been designated as a stop on the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail. Don’t worry about having a place to rest, as there are plenty of benches along the way to stop and smell the wildflowers.
Are museums a necessary ingredient to your vacation plans? These free and fabulous places to stop along Alabama’s Coastal Connection feed the brain as well as the senses. Discover pieces of our early history, rural history, railway history, Native American history and medical history. Along the Eastern Shore, visit the Old Methodist Church Museum in Daphne and see collections showcasing Baldwin County’s past. The Fairhope Museum of History is housed in Fairhope’s 1928 Mission-style City Hall. The display includes the jail, mayor’s office, town council chamber, and a fire station that boasts an original 1935 fire truck.
Love trains? Chug on over to the City of Foley Museum Archives and Model Train Exhibit to get a taste of the way Baldwin County residents lived and worked during a time when railroads breathed life into the area. The Holmes Medical Museum, also in Foley, is housed in the first hospital in South Baldwin County (1936-1958). Each room depicts a different era in medicine.
Continue your museum tour at the Orange Beach Indian and Sea Museum that houses local artifacts and memorabilia from the county’s Native American and fishing heritage. Many of the displayed items were donated by the families of early settlers.
One of the best free activities for any day on the Alabama Gulf Coast is a day at the beach. Delight in the powdery white-sand beaches on Dauphin Island, Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Take a dip in the turquoise waters and enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of nature at its best.
Guess what? You saved so much on your Free and Fabulous tour that there should be plenty of money for ice cream treats!
Leave A Comment