After a night in Auburn, we headed to Mobile for a few days. During this leg of the trip, we had a real “welcome to the South moment,” stayed at a lovely, quiet campground, and saw some amazing trees.
Where We Stayed
This small, gated RV park has 41 sites. It’s in a mostly residential area, so it’s pretty quiet. We got lucky and were assigned the nicest end spot at the back of the campground. We had a lovely view of the pavilion, pool, and dog park. It wasn’t warm enough for the pool to be popular when we were there, but it’s possible this site would feel busy during the middle of the summer.
Much like the rest of the campground, the dog park is simple, but nice. My only recommendation would be to add a bench.
When you check in, the campground gives you a booklet about the area and a sheet of paper with recommendations for local restaurants, which I thought was nice.
| Campground Name | All About Relaxing RV Resort |
| Location | Mobile, AL |
| Dates | March 30-April 1, 2024 |
| Site Number | Site 20 |
| Site Surface | Gravel (mostly level) |
| Hook-ups | Full hookups + 50-amp electric |
| Cost | $68 per night (including taxes) |
| Water Pressure | 40-45 psi |
| Voltage | 115-120 V |
| AT&T Speed Test | 12 Mbps down, 14 Mbps up |
| Verizon Speed Test | 206 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up |
| T-Mobile Speed Test | 146 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up |
| Campground WiFi | Yes |
| Campground Amenities | outdoor pool (not heated) laundry dog park and dog wash small camp store indoor rec area pavilions (with bench swings) |
This is when it really felt like we were in the South…when you can buy gumbo by the quart or gallon at the local Mason’s Lodge.
What We Did
USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
This is a neat place to stop for several reasons. Any family members who like vehicles, machines, etc. will love this. The good news is that even if that’s not your thing, it’s a pretty interesting place. You can board a WWII battleship (USS Alabama) and submarine (USS Drum). You can see more than 30 aircraft and military vehicles. There is a coastguard helicopter, planes from several eras, a flight simulator and more. Jesse was really excited to find an A-12 Black Bird (one of 15 ever built). There’s a B-52 bomber, several different tanks, and more.
My only caution for visiting would be to think hard about the age of your kids if you plan to tour the battleship and/or submarine. Submarine “doorways” are tiny (maybe 3 ft tall by 2 ft wide?) and start ~18 inches up from the floor (see photo below). Also, the stairs on the battleship and submarine are very steep and are really more like ladders in my opinion. If you’re planning to visit with very young kids, keep this in mind.
There is parking available for large vehicles, so if you’re going to be passing through the area with an RV, you can still visit! As of April 2024, there’s a $30 parking fee for vehicles with three or more axles.
Medal of Honor Park
We stuck to the paved trail around the park, but this place has an incredible dog park! If you’re in the area and your dog needs some room to run, check out this park. (Be sure to check local regulations first. We didn’t go to the dog park, so we didn’t research whether you had to be a resident or have a license of some sort.) The playground also looks amazing, so this would be another good place to go if you’re traveling with kids.
Fort Gaines
This historic site is dog-friendly! You enter through a small gift shop to pay the admission fee ($10 per person when we went). That threw us off since we’re not used to being able to bring dogs inside, but they were welcome to come right through. You get a brochure with numbered paragraphs and take yourself on a self-guided tour of the fort. There are stairs and ramps to climb, and it’s mostly outside, so it feels like a great place for kids as well as dogs.
We drove around Dauphin Island for a bit. There was a nice beach there, but what caught our attention was the pools on stilts at a few of the beach houses. Because they’re on the coast, most of the beach houses are built on stilts. Of course, we’ve seen beach houses on stilts before, but a pool was new to us.
Municipal (Langan) Park
This city park is about 25 minutes from the campground. It’s also the site of the Mobile Tennis Center, which has 60 tennis courts! There’s a paved path around/through the park and a lake in the middle. There’s a playground and a bunch of small shelters, each with a roof, a picnic table underneath, and a grill nearby.
The unsolved mystery of this park is the number of trees with short, numbered posts in front. A few also listed the type of tree, but most just had a number. I assume there’s a list somewhere with the species of tree that corresponds with each number, but I haven’t found it yet.
Where We Ate
We tried to visit the campground’s recommendation for best burger. Unfortunately, it was Easter Sunday, so it was closed. We ended up at Baumhower’s Victory Grille, where we ordered burgers and their homemade fried mozzarella. We like mozzarella sticks, so we thought these were a no-brainer. But these were less stick and more square, about 2 in. by 2 in. They were much harder to eat than expected. The burgers were good, as was the service. The food came out quickly. We wouldn’t have a problem coming back again, but we’d probably skip the mozzarella squares.
We also looked up one of the ice cream shops on the campground’s list. Google says it’s permanently closed, so be sure to do your research before you go anywhere.
Wildlife
Not much wildlife to speak of, but we did see a few critters. We saw an egret and several ducks at the municipal park. At the campground at night, we would watch the toads hop across the cement part of our site. Of course, the squirrels were everywhere, but they were never happier than when they were hanging out of a bird feeder at the campground.
Also, apparently this is the Land of Good Trees. I have never seen as many big, beautiful trees as I did in Alabama. There’re everywhere. In pastures, in front of apartment building, in front of churches and businesses, and even in the campground’s dog park. I won’t include every photo I took, but I have to include a few. (If you’ve read our other posts, you know how I feel about good trees.)
Happy travels!
