Battleship Memorial Park Mobile, AL

Driving through Mobile on I-10 I've driven by the park where the battleship Alabama is berthed and visible from the highway dozens of times and invariably said to myself "I bet it'd be cool to go tour that thing."  I never stopped though, always having a more pressing destination in mind.....well not this day!

The USS Alabama (BB-60) was a South Dakota-class battleship commissioned in 1942, that, after decades of service, the US Navy ordered scrapped in 1962.  The citizens of Alabama formed a committee to save the battleship as a memorial to the men and women who had fought in World War II and the ship was awarded to the state in 1964.  The big ship was towed to Mobile from the Pacific and became a museum ship in January, 1965.

From the bow looking at the huge 16 inch guns.

The Alabama served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters from late-1942 until the end of WW II.  Her 9 16 inch guns could shoot a 2700 pound shell (about the weight of a small car) 36,000 yards (20 miles) with pinpoint accuracy.

View of the massive ship from the shoreline.

 The park commission charges $3 for a vehicle to enter the park and then, to tour the ship, aircraft pavilion and the submarine USS Drum costs $13 more.  You enter the actual park through a store that sells memorabilia and also the museum pass.

That's the entry store in the background.  Front are anti aircraft guns.

In 1969 the park commission added another WWII veteran, the Gato-class submarine USS Drum to the park.  Originally in the bay behind the Alabama the Drum was moved to a land display to preserve it from the corrosive Mobile Bay waters.

The USS Drum.

The park commission has both an iPhone and Android app that provides detailed explanations of predetermined points of interest.  The spots are numbered and you type the number into the app and read the detailed explanation of what you're viewing.

Wonder how easy it was to sleep in those bunks atop a torpedo?

The park also has an aircraft pavilion with planes from several eras displayed.

An A-6 attack aircraft inside the pavilion.

 Planes too big for the aircraft pavilion are displayed outside.

Giant 8 engined B-52 bomber displayed outdoors at the park.

All those times I had driven by Battleship Memorial Park I had been right, it was very cool to tour it!  Anyone interested in history and naval ships and combat aircraft will find this park incredibly interesting and well conceived.  It's a great way to spend an afternoon.

Thanks for reading!

Campground Review: Rocky Bayou State Park, Niceville, FL

Preparatory to leaving the beautiful weather in Florida I spent 3 nights in Rocky Bayou State Park north of Destin and just outside of  Niceville, FL.  Rocky Bayou is a smaller state park within the Florida state park system with 42 RV camping sites that come with full hookups.

Right off Florida Highway 20.

Here's the Rocky Bayou data sheet:

Hookups:                                 20, 30 50 amp.  Water.

Fire ring:                                  Yes

Water Access:                         Yes

Dump station:                          Yes

WiFi:                                       No

Level sites:                               Yes

Laundry:                                  Yes

Store:                                       Just park memorabilia

Pool:                                        No

Shade:                                     Yes

Verizon reception:                    4g, 2 out of 4

Millenicom reception:               3 out of 4 bars

Cost:                                       $16 / night

Rocky Bayou State Park is located on the north shore of the beautiful Choctawhatchee Bay with 14 of the campsites having access or limited access directly to the water.  If you go try to reserve sites 29 - 37 for best water access.

Choctawhatchee Bay from the shore of the state park.

The campsites are shaded by large sand pines which are the predominant tree within the park.  I originally only signed up for two days but enjoyed my stay so much I extended my stay for a third night, although it involved moving to another site which turned out to be one of the sites with water access so no complaining here.

View through the sand pines from my "improved" third day site.

There are three separate hiking trails within Rocky Bayou, Red Cedar, and Rocky Bayou trails are smaller 6/10ths of a mile walks and the Sand Pine trail is a little over a mile in length.  All trails offer lots of opportunities to view Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Osprey, Hawks and Bald Eagles.  Binoculars and field guides are available from the ranger station at the entrance to the park.

The Red Cedar Trail.

Needless to say I stayed dry during my stay.

If you aren't able to bring watercraft with you on your stay at Rocky Bayou there are canoes and kayaks available for hourly rental.

Plenty of rental kayaks available.

 My stay at Rocky Bayou was extremely quiet and relaxing with simply perfect weather all three days.  Some of the more widely known parks in the area (like those on the Gulf) are tough to get into due to campsites being 100% reserved months in advance but Rocky Bayou State Park is somewhat of a "secret" and often will suffice as a fail safe if you need to camp in the area around Destin.  You won't regret camping there and I know I'll be back.

Thanks for reading!

Spring Training Lakeland, FL

One of the other fun activities we did while Camping Buddy Becky was accompanying the Tank in Florida was to attend a Detroit Tiger Spring Training game versus the Toronto Blue Jays at the Tigers' beautiful Marchant Joker (no idea where "Joker" gets into the name) Stadium in Lakeland, FL.

Sold out Marchant Stadium.

If you are ever in Florida in March I would strongly advise attending a game or two, it's a blast!  Our plan had been to attend two games but the first one got rained out but, as you can see from the photos, the game we DID attend had perfect sunny 78 degree weather.

We definitely weren't in the "front row".

If you do decide to go to Marchant Joker Stadium for a game our advice is to plan to arrive at least an hour before game time as there's somewhat an air of pandemonium regarding the purchase of tickets and which line is "Will Call" and which is for purchasing tickets.  Also, don't expect top-notch major league action as the managers play a lot of rookies to see who is going to make the trip north with the team for the regular season.  We left with the Tigers up 10-0, before the game was over the Tigers had scored 8 more runs, a real cliffhanger!

The Berm behind Left Field.  Work on your tan while you watch the game!

 Thanks for reading!