Have you ever been to Branson, Missouri or Pigeon Forge, Tennessee? On a Vacation? Did it remind you of your State Fair on a Friday night? Shops, Ice Cream Parlors, Ripley’s Museum, Shops, Show Palace, 7-11, Traffic Lights, Shops, Outlet Mall, etc. . . At one point in my life going from t-shirt shop to t-shirt shop was pretty fun, as was buying seashell necklaces, eating funnel cakes, and paying to see a VW Bug made out of toothpicks. I’m not sure whether you get wiser as you get older or whether you just get tired of the stuff you used to do, but please don’t make me go to a place like that during the summer, again.
Fortunately, I’ve been pleasantly surprised twice in the last few years with places that have the potential to be Pigeon Forges and turned out to be just the opposite. A few years ago my family (much smaller then) lived in Phoenix, AZ and were attracted to the idea of going to Mexico for the weekend. Not just across the border, but right on the Sea of Cortez – the closest real beach to 4 million people in Phoenix, Tucson and Nogales. You’ve all seen pictures of Tijuana and those other beach places close to the border – well this place is just as close. Mexico calls it Puerto Penasco – and of course we renamed it Rocky Point. I’d heard many folks talk about their beach house in Rocky Point and knew we were in for a commercial drubbing.
Rocky Point is the opposite of commercial, however. It’s real, genuine Mexico. I think Holiday Inn had just finished a hotel there – but it wasn’t even on the beach. And that was the only name brand hotel there. Everything else was run by locals to serve, basically locals. There were a couple streets set up with craft vendors for the Gringos – but that’s it. The beach was just a beach. Restaurant menus were written in Spanish, and no Ripley’s Museum in sight. The best part about Rocky Point is the shrimp. They have these blue shrimp that measure only 5 – 6 per pound. They’re enormous and great on the grill.
This year I had another experience like that, but I didn’t have to leave the country. The story starts the same . . . everyone goes there for vacation, they have beach houses, it’s the closest beach to all of Alabama, some of Florida, some of Mississippi and most of Tennessee. That’s a whole lot of people bearing down on this one town – Gulf Shores, Alabama. Unlike Rocky Point however, Gulf Shores is somewhat developed with Walgreens, malls, shops and hotels. But the closer you get to the beach, the less development there is. Maybe one major chain hotel on the beach – otherwise it’s all cottages and condos. You can actually bring your own food, rent a condo and spend your entire vacation hanging out on the beach without ever having to pass a t-shirt shop, ice cream parlor, mini golf place or surf shop. My kids got to play with hermit crabs, we saw a seahorse, got to see some jellyfish and lots of cool shells. You want to get away from it all, drive south to Gulf Shores – then drive a little bit farther and park yourself on the beach.
I don’t remember it as clearly, but I think Wells Beach in Maine is the same way. For the locals that live there – it’s a great place to get away from it all.
Dan – Clippershiptravel.com
