Fairhope Alabama

Fairhope Alabama

The Ladies at Lunch

What a charming city!  We went into town to sample beignets for brunch at an outdoor café that had been recommended.  We arrived too late for breakfast and so the plans for the whole day evolved.  The gentlemen would stay and have coffee and the ladies would go look in the shops.  After an hour, it was decided that there were enough shops for an entire day and the gentlemen were asked to come back and pick us up around 5 pm.

We had a fine time.  Retail therapy was exactly the right antidote to many, many days of driving down the TennTom rivers.  Not to mention we hadn’t seen any nice stores since I can’t even remember.  Fairhope is an upscale boutique shopping area that reminded me of Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, or St. Armands Circle in Sarasota.  We found every single merchant to be friendly and warm and accommodating.

Kindergartners Trick or Treat in Downtown

This was also the day the youngest school children paraded around the downtown district for trick-or-treating.  It looks like making costumes might be a group art activity in advance and each school group looks distinctive in their spooky gear. The shopkeepers were also in costume, and stood in the shop doorways handing out candy.  All the streets in the district were bountifully decorated with marigolds and coleus and flowers of all colors.  There were almost no empty shops or storefronts and there was plenty of stylish and trendy merchandise.  We managed to take a little of it home with us. 

At every shop someone inquired where we were from and a description of the boats and the Loop followed.  We have now tried three of the area restaurants and were never disappointed.  Tamara’s was great for dinner last night.  Panini Pete’s was the brunch/lunch stop and we had an early supper at Pinzone’s.  We would highly recommend any of them.

Lots of shopping

The French Quarter in Fairhope