The Itinerary: Our Family Gulf Coast Road Trip: Gulf Shores, Mobile, and New Orleans

6 days ago

8 min read

This fall break road trip had a few fixed anchors and intentional space structured in between - something I'm not always great at doing. We sprinkled in a first concert experience for the twins, time on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, a stop in Mobile for some history, and several days exploring New Orleans. And the most important piece: making sure the driving and trip were manageable for driving and momming for three boys.

Our route was Knoxville → Montgomery → Foley and Orange Beach/Gulf Shores → Mobile → New Orleans → Birmingham → Knoxville, October 2–9, 2026. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach were our Alabama experience; New Orleans was the Louisiana portion of our trip.

Friday: Getting part of the drive behind us

We left Knoxville around 4:30 p.m. after a speedy house cleaning, meal prep, and dog drop-off, making it to Montgomery in under five hours, with just one rest-stop break. Homemade ham-and-cheese hot pockets cleared out the remaining items from our fridge and filled our bellies for dinner while road trip treat boxes had desserts covered. To pass the time, we started a new audiobook series, Nevermoor, and broke into the envelopes to reduce the boys' time on screens.

I had been questioning the positioning night in Montgomery, but it definitely made the next day easier on me. Rather than driving the entire distance to the coast in one stretch, we could enjoy a more leisurely drive down, stopping as we saw fit.

Saturday: Foley discoveries and a first concert

We stopped at the Coastal Alabama Farmers & Fishermen’s Market, where we picked up Cajun boiled peanuts, pickled beets, honey sticks, and lemonade. Visiting a veteran-owned boiled peanuts stand resulted in free hot dogs for the boys and a nice conversation. It was a simple way to sample something local before reaching the coast and to top off everyone's tummies.

Always trying to find N something, the railroad museum and model-train display in Foley were a lovely free discovery. Foley Railroad Museum and Model Train Exhibit is a cute, smaller museum, but the exhibit at the back was pretty amazing. I was surprised, though, that the outside play train was a bigger hit with the boys. And, see if you can find why I had to take a picture of the railroad nails (if you're a parent to an elementary/middle school child, it may be more obvious)

Our coastal base, once we arrived in Orange Beach, was SpringHill Suites Orange Beach Gulf Shores; not really a Marriott girl myself, it was the best fit and location for us - free breakfast, a very large room that slept 6, and fridge/microwave combo for snacking. We had downtime on Saturday to watch some football before dinner at YoHo Rum & Tacos and the concert at The Wharf.

Weird Al and Puddles Pity Party made the boys’ first concert a memorable one. We made it to the very end, minus the encore, to hear White and Nerdy and Amish Paradise - songs, among the many that have been on repeat since returning home. It was also a late night, so we kept Sunday gentle.

Sunday: rain, a playground, and a DIY tasting tour

No alarm Sunday meant we fully embraced sleeping, had a late breakfast, and then headed to Gulf State Park. Our wildlife-bingo idea met a rainy reality. We managed about a mile and a half before retreating, and the playground became the big energy outlet for L and N.

After rinsing off and some gym time, we started our self-made food tour. At DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen, we shared hush puppies, fried green tomatoes, alligator bites, fried oysters, and coconut shrimp. It let us try several foods without ordering a complete meal for each person. And when in the land of Bushwakers...you throw in a boozy praline milkshake to top mom off.

We continued at The Beach House Kitchen & Cocktails. L preferred the coconut shrimp here to DeSoto's, and travel Connect Four earned its spot at our lunch and dinner tables moving forward. Dessert was Del’s Ice Cream, where one of the boys and I split a massive banana split.

Monday: Mobile made the drive an experience

After breakfast and checkout, we departed the now-sunny Orange Beach area to visit the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and tour the battleship and submarine. It made the transfer day more interesting than a long stretch of highway, sprinkled in some history, and got our legs moving.

Before leaving Mobile, we had lunch at Hammered Cow, a restaurant participating in MobTown Burger Week, a fitting choice since Mom has a thing for smashburgers. We ordered three burgers, including a pimento cheese, a brisket, and a peanut butter version, plus potato salad. The Burger Week brisket burger was a date-specific event, but the pimento cheese and peanut butter burgers seemed to be menu anchors. We all but demolished lunch, taking just a bit with us.

We continued to our New Orleans base, Hilton Garden Inn New Orleans French Quarter/CBD. We wavered about attending a New Orleans Saints game, and likely should have, but ultimately didn't. We instead followed the crowd to the Superdome and took in the atmosphere. We did catch the game in the room while snacking away on the rest of our burgers and hotel grabs.

Tuesday: exploring New Orleans at our own pace

Given that mom is a snob and hotel room coffee just doesn't do it for me, we, of course, started the food tour with a coffee fuel-up of a banana latte (yes, way outside my sweet and flavor wheelhouse) and pastries at the French Food Truck, then visited Café Beignet for beignets and an iced coffee more up my alley. The Historic New Orleans Collection gave us a free history stop in the French Quarter and provided a nice foundation for our future explorations.

At the historic Napoleon House, we split a quarter muffuletta and jambalaya, and I had a Pimm’s Cup. N wasn't feeling it until the very end but was thankful he tried the muffuletta given its load of all the meats. We then walked through Jackson Square and along the Mississippi River before another beignet stop at Café du Monde, this time with street music....and one final café au lait.

The French Market area added browsing, paintings, and fruit-shaped souvenir soaps. We meandered through until everyone had decided on their final selections, walking away with several pieces of art for their rooms and my cocktail room. The streetcars and the ferry were a hit - not only because they gave us a chance to rest our feet but also because they allowed us an opportunity to view a large swath for a total of $6 for the 24-hour period. Use the RTA Le Pass information and Jazzy Pass page to plan your own rides; routes and service should be checked for your travel dates.

One would have thought we were fooded out, but we wrapped the day's meals with a nearby sushi pickup order and hotel lay around before a final night ride on the St. Charles streetcar to see the Skeleton House decorations. But the return ride was a rather long wait, feeling like an eternity to my poor screen-deprived boys.

Wednesday and Thursday: our two Go City days

The following days were the result of a Go City pass find - 'cause you know I love a good deal! I purchased the 2-day option so that we could maximize the main attractions I had been considering. Wednesday paired Ultimate Swamp Adventures with the Creole Queen historic cruise and was our "water" day.

I was thankful that we had booked the 9:45 am swamp tour as it was pretty toasty by the time our adventure was over. Our guide was as unique as the creatures and land we toured and gave a wonderful history of his experiences with alligators over the course of 50 years and how it has been shaped by the economy and politics. When the tour wrapped and the boys got to pet a 1-month-old alligator, we stopped for a sweet treat and coffee refuel at Joe’s Café prior to grabbing lunch at Lefort’s.

The river cruise was a standout for its narration. We heard about Louisiana’s history and cultural influences, stopped at the battlefield, and learned about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath on the return.

That evening concluded with Southern Candymakers—and my cheap-ass reaction to two $10 candy apples—followed by Creole House Restaurant & Oyster Bar. We tried a Taste of New Orleans selection, mac and cheese, and raw oysters. We missed the happy-hour offer we had hoped to use, so confirm the details directly if that affects your dining options and budget.

Thursday began with about three hours at The National WWII Museum. The immersive settings, videos, and audio made it easier to engage without reading every placard. Every turn was an experience, and there were several massive exhibits that we just couldn't squeeze in. The Road to Tokyo exhibit was particularly interesting to me because that side of the war had received less attention in my own education.

We rounded out the day and our last hours in New Orleans as we collected the car and went to the New Orleans School of Cooking demo with meal at 524 St. Louis Street. We knocked out two birds with one stone - a history lesson through food. We had chicken-and-sausage gumbo, creamy crawfish pasta, and pralines; I also had a local beer. All three boys loved it, and we brought seasoning and hot sauce home.

Birmingham and home

We headed toward Birmingham after the cooking demonstration, watching the weather as we left. We thankfully skirted any more rain or inclement weather but Hurricane Isais was ready to make landfall as we drove North.

We finished our audiobook on the five hour drive and stayed at Spark by Hilton Birmingham Colonnade. The room was large, the breakfast worked for the boys, and it served its purpose as an easy overnight before tackling the last hours to get home.

What I would repeat

I would repeat the split drive at least on the drive down to maximize the fun stuff on vacation the next day; we likely could've made the trip back in one day, but I wasn't feeling it - that is more of a personal preference, if you have multiple drivers and/or budget allows.

We're still working on the shared tasting approach: sometimes one boy is more stubborn and not feeling open to new experiences, and sometimes it's just stubbornness of not wanting to share or not understanding that there will be more food options.

I really had to INTENTIONALLY focus on letting the natural discoveries happen, trust in my co-pilot's ability to use his phone and find activities with his 13-year-old lived experience and logic, and even more so, the mixture of active days and slower evenings.

New Orleans is a revisit on my list and one I would like to more fully and slowly explore on a solo trip to taste more foods of my preference, to navigate more historical sites and actually fully read information and devote more time to the vast experience that was the WWII Museum. We were aware of our surroundings but never ventured anywhere that felt unsafe, and the people of New Orleans were loving - I have never been babed in a conversation as much as I was there - by both males and females.

We thankfully didn't have too many snafus; the majority of sites and experiences were 8 & 13 year old friendly, and mom didn't lose her shit every day, just a two times. I would compare parking options more carefully and scout for cost-effective places rather than just using the assumed hotel valets in New Orleans ($200 of our stay was for parking, $50 of which was taxes alone) and confirm happy hour pricing before sitting down. Those were useful lessons from a trip that gave us plenty to remember but didn't take the wind from our sails!