I am writing this from the Birdcage Lounge at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama. I'd heard about this area for many years from my friend Dolly, who has a condo down the road. Now I don't know why I didn't come sooner.
There us a lounge singer doing "Heard it Through The Grapevine," as Mobile socialites play bridge and dance with martinis in hand. Outside visitors sit around fire pits, listening to the Bay waves lap. Spanish moss hangs over the boardwalk and the fireplace burns behind me. I like sitting on this red leather couch and watching these characters.
Earlier in the day, the queen of Mardi Gras was feted on the porch, surrounded by men in Sunday suits with beads around their neck. A Dixieland band marched through the building and bridge partners discussed how the inaugural dresses of Republican presidents seemed to be better than those of Democrats' wives.
The Grand was renovated in 2007 - it has been here since the 1800s. Once a hospial for the Confederancy, it is now part resort, part country club. Each day at 4 pm a cannon is fired at the Bay to commemorate the Battle of Mobile.
Fairhope is just down the road, lined with shops that sell evening gowns, antiques, and art. Sometimes in the same store. Women were picking out Mardi Gras ball gowns when I was there, debating what "full length" really means. The shops shutter their doors at exactly 5 pm.
Only four hours from Birmingham, it is a different world. I do believe I will return.