Family Vacation

My husband and I and our silky terrier, Tilly, spent a wonderful week at Elizabeth and Sam’s “Salty Dog” beach house in May. The house is great. It is equipped with everything you could possible want and has wonderful views of the gulf. Watching the sunset over the golf course from the top level deck was a delight. There are many things to do on the island, but our aim was to do as little as possible—so we walked on the beach, took pictures of the shore birds, read books and ate lots of sea food. It was perfect!!

Elizabeth supplies restaurant guides and menus. We particularly liked the Pelican Reef and at the Common Loon we had the best oyster poboys ever.

We enjoyed exploring the Audubon Bird Sanctuary and learned that Dauphin Island has been designated a Globally Important Bird Area by the American Bird Conservancy. The spring migration had ended when we were there but I would love to go back sometime during the fall migration.

Both this year and last, my girlfriends and I spent an extended weekend around May in this fantastic home away from home on the beach. We had a phenomenal time eating, drinking, and generally being merry the whole weekend. There is plenty of room, the beds were extremely comfortable, there were ample linens, towels, and cooking ware, making this vacation home perfect in that all you have to bring is yourself. The accomodations were perfect and we have sworn to make it an annual get away. I will be vacationing at the Salty Dog again this year, likely with my family this time.

The Salty Dog beach house on Dauphin Island was more than we could have imagined It is comfortable and spacious and very well-kept by the owners.
The best thing was being able to ride the two bicycles provided by the owners all over the island. What a treat to ride along on the bike paths and explore the neighborhoods and listen to the birds sing.
Rides to the Lighthouse Bakery for decadent cinnamon rolls and croissants was a morning ritual. A long swim in the wonderful pool after breakfast and my morning was done.
Afternoon walks on the beach and golf course watching the blue herons and beavers completed our stay. Saving the best for last was watching the sunset from the top deck of the house.
A great restful, weekend retreat for anyone that needs time to collect their thoughts in a beautiful setting anytime of the year.
We all enjoyed our trip to Dauphin Island and hope to have many more.

This is really a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. We were worried that our small children would be bored after a few days, but it turns out that they had so much fun and never once turned the T.V. on!!! The beach house was well stocked with everything! We wanted to pack our wagon to pull the kids to the beach but we didn't have room in the car. Guess what? There was a wagon there with an add-on cart on back. This was crucial to getting our 3 kids (3, 3, 5 years old) to and from the beach. Also, don't forget to pull out the hammock from the utility room!!! If your children like to swim in the ocean, I would suggest that you take them to the public beach area where there are sand bars. We just found that the waters got very deep at the edge of the water at the beach area near the house. We ate at all of the restuarants on the island and the Oar House was by far the winner. If you like crab cakes, be warned that this area has their own style of making crab cakes. We didn't like them and every single restuarant prepared them the exact same way. If you need any supplies, the Ship and Shore is the place!!!! If you plan to take your family out on the boat tour from the marina, you need to make your reservations several days in advance. We were not able to do this and we called two days in advance. The ferry ride over to Gulf Shores is great, but you need to do this during the week. The island is packed with surrounding area locals on Saturday and the line for the ferry could be painful. The bird Adubon trail is also worth doing. It is completely shaded and a very nice leisure walk. Bring some bread to feed the monster turtles! All in all, we absolutely Loved Dauphin Island and this Beach House. I would highly recommend this Beach House for your next get away!

My 5 friends and I recently got together for a weekend get-away at Sam and Elizabeth's new condo. It was fabulous. It was plenty of room for 6 girls with lots of clothes/gear. The decks (upstairs and main level) and screened-in porch were perfect for catching up. It was a super short walk to the pool and beach. The bedrooms are very spacious and there were just the right amount of showers for all of us to get ready in a flash. We had 2 of the best seafood meals any of us have had in a long time - even better than Destin seafood restaurants. We all agreed that we'd be back just as soon as we can get away again. I want to bring my family sometime this summer, too.

I highly recommend Dauphin Island, and highly recommend this house. This was our first trip to Dauphin Island, and we enjoyed every minute of it. The house is lovely and is located in a gated community, with all the amenities -- always a plus.

The house itself is tastefully decorated, and comes fully equipped with everything from a fully stocked kitchen to beach toys and board games. If you need to go online and surf or check your email, the house is equipped with wireless internet which seemed to work well - never lost a connection.

The house is on the same side of the Island as the Estuarium, Bird Sanctuary and Fort Gaines, and don't miss the ferry ride to Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores if possible - a great day trip. Although this was our first trip to Dauphin Island, I would think this side is the nicer.

Lots of great seafood too of course. We especially enjoyed Barnacle Bills. They had crabby patties! You have to be a Sponge Bob Fan.