Six days of food fit in two coolers, four grocery bags and the space under Harper's feet. I know because I packed all of it at 6 a.m. on June 13 while Ben loaded the car and Harper loaded her books (nine of them, for six days).
We booked the condo in January, and that one decision made the whole week possible. It's a two-bedroom unit across the road from the beach in Gulf Shores, not on it, and six nights came to $1,450 with the cleaning fee and taxes included. Out of curiosity I checked the same week in April. Prices had gone up, and the places in our range were mostly gone.
Gulf Shores is about five and a half hours south of Decatur on a good day, straight down I-65 past Birmingham and Montgomery, then south toward the coast. With stops it was closer to six, which is fine. Harper read the whole way and looked up only to ask whether the water would be warm. (Yes. Very.)
How we kept it under $2,400
We ate breakfast and lunch at the condo every day. The $240 grocery bill covered six breakfasts, six lunches and five dinners for three people. Most of it came from Aldi in Decatur the day before we left ($165), and we topped up at a Publix down there midweek ($75) for milk, bread, fruit and the things I forgot, like coffee filters.
We planned around one dinner out. We picked the night early (Wednesday), picked the place (a seafood restaurant on the water my parents like) and went at 5 to beat the wait. Lunch that day was light so we would be properly hungry. Harper ordered fried shrimp, Ben ordered fried shrimp, and I had grilled fish and stole from both of them. With tip it was $118. It was the best meal of the week partly because it was the only one, and I think that's the whole trick.
We rented chairs and an umbrella once, for the week. Paying $200 up front for five beach days was less than what the daily rate would have added up to, and it meant no one hauled anything across the road but a cooler and a boogie board.
We kept the extras to beach things. Our one paid outing was the pier at Gulf State Park, where we paid a few dollars each to walk out over the water at sunset and watch people fish. Harper saw a stingray glide under us and talked about it until Friday.
When to go: we went the second week after school let out, which is peak season. If June is your only option, like it is for us with two work calendars, book in January. Our one tip is to check the beach flags every morning. Gulf Shores flies colored warning flags for surf and rip currents, and on Tuesday the red flags were up, so we spent the morning at the pool and went back to the sand after lunch when things calmed down.
On our last night, Ben looked at the receipts I had been collecting in a zip-top bag all week and said, "Same week next year. Book it in January again." I already have a reminder set for January 5.
Moose spent the week at Carol's in Hartselle and came home a little heavier and very pleased with himself.
What it cost
- Condo, six nights, booked in January (cleaning fee and taxes included): $1,450
- Gas, round trip plus driving around: about $110
- Groceries: $240
- One dinner out, with tip: $118
- Beach chairs and umbrella for five days: $200
- Gulf State Park pier: about $12
- Ice cream and shaved ice, four trips: $54
- Sunscreen, a boogie board and a sand bucket: $62
- Harper's souvenir sweatshirt and a stack of postcards: $46
- Road snacks and drinks, both directions: $38
- A thank-you for Carol, who kept Moose all week: $30
Total: about $2,360. That's our beach week, line by line, for three people and six nights. It is still a big number for us, and it came out of months of saving, but it was $40 under the line I drew in January, and nobody spent the drive home wishing we had stayed somewhere fancier.
