Part 1: Florida Caverns and the USS Alabama
I’m going to try something a little different with the next couple of posts. Usually, I review a single place or product, but this time I’m going to give you a trip diary of sorts. This will be a multiple-part series covering the adventures we recently had on a road trip from Florida to Texas and back. Let me know what you think.
My husband recently had to go to the Houston, Texas area for work. Since we are a homeschool family, we decided to pack up the family and make it a road trip. We were able to travel on the weekends and had an entire week in Texas while Hubby worked. With two weeks to prepare, I scoured Pinterest for fun, educational things for my 3 homeschoolers to experience. I usually spend months preparing for our road trips, so two weeks was very rushed for me. Everything worked out beautifully!
Florida Caverns State Park
Our first destination was Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna, Florida. My sister had lots of great things to say about Florida Caverns so we were eager to visit. After paying our $5 entrance fee, we headed back to the caverns tour area to purchase our tickets. They were $8 for ages 13 and older, $5 for ages 3 to 12, and under 3 was free. We ended up on the tour with about 20 to 25 people. The cavern tour was slow-paced and not strenuous at all. There were steps, slippery areas, and a few watch-your-head moments. Tall people beware! Our tour guide was wonderful, she kept all our kids engaged throughout the tour.
After the cavern tour, you can take a couple different trails back to the visitor center or parking lot. The visitor center is very small and has a few exhibits. There is also a small gift shop and restrooms downstairs. From the parking lot, we took a trail for about 5 minutes to a short walk-through cave. More head ducking. Our kids loved it! You could take this trail from the cavern, too. I definitely recommend stopping at Florida Caverns if you are passing through the area. A cavern in Florida, say no more!
Bonifay, FL
Our first night we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Bonifay in Bonifay, Florida. This is a great hotel for larger families. They have suites with 2 queens and a sofa bed. There is also a small frig and microwave in the room. We had to try Bonifay’s Castaway Seafood for dinner. It is a hidden gem located behind a Shell station. If you weren’t looking for it, you wouldn’t know it was there. But don’t let that fool you. Lots of people rave about this restaurant. The food was excellent. Fresh gulf shrimp and fried pickles; so, so good!
USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
The following day we continued our road trip across the Gulf Coast. Our next stop was the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama. There is a $4 entrance fee to the park. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day but God was watching out for us and the rain stopped just as we arrived. Nonetheless, the battleship was wet and slippery. But this just added to the adventure. Tickets are $15 for age 12 to 54, $13 for seniors 55+, $6 for kids 11 to 6, and under 5 is free, as is the active military. There is also an AAA discount.
After purchasing our tickets in the small gift shop, we boarded the battleship. The ship has 3 color-coded guided tours. You choose which order you want to go in and then just follow the numbers. There is a brochure that further explains what you see at each number. Our kids loved exploring the ship and looking for all the numbers. There were many stairs and ladders to climb. The rain made these very slippery. Our youngest even slipped down one ladder. No injuries, thankfully! We visited 2 other ships on this road trip (see future posts) and the USS Alabama had to be our most favorite. It is a must-see attraction!
Also, in Battleship park, there is a small airplane museum and the USS Drum submarine. You can climb aboard the submarine. Talk about tight quarters! Again, the kids loved climbing all over the submarine. More head-ducking moments. Outside the ticketed area, there are multiple tanks and planes to explore. You can’t climb on or go inside these. There are also picnic tables and a fishing pier.
Covington, LA
Our road trip continued a bit further before settling down for the night in Covington, Louisiana. During my 2 week rush to find things to do and book hotels, I had a really hard time finding a decent hotel in this area. We came to find out that there were 2 large events going on and most of the hotels in the area were booked solid. The Country Inn & Suites in Covington was one of the only hotels left with rooms that would fit our family. It turned out to be perfect. Again, the 2 room suite fits our family of 5 well with 2 queens and a sofa bed. There was also a small frig and microwave. For an added bonus, there was a Chick-fil-a right down the street. We don’t have a Chick-fil-a in our hometown so we seek them out on our road trips.
Coming up in my next post, we’ll continue on our road trip into Texas.
- Roadtrip Florida to Texas, Part 2: Seawolf Park & San Jacinto Battleground Site
- Roadtrip Texas to Florida, Part 3: Space Center Houston & Infinity Science Center
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are strictly my own. I did not receive compensation for this post.
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