Summer 2024 is officially in the rearview with October bringing visions of Fall, Festivals, and Football. Dramatic sunsets paint vivid hues of red, orange, yellow, pink, and sometimes purple across the sky, as Autumn days grow shorter and the sun sinks lower. Sun rays have a larger distance to travel before reaching our eye, interacting with more air molecules, while the dryer, cooler fall air allows more of these colors to pass without being scattered by water molecules.

For eight days, from one side of Mississippi to the other, antique cars and trucks, celebrities, food, music, and contests await you along the Gulf Coast. Any day and every day is a good time to go and see the spectators lined up and down U.S. Highway 90 watching a steady stream of all the cars and trucks you have ever loved!

It’s late September, my weather app says the wind is blowing 17 MPH out of the Northeast, it's 76 degrees and it feels chilly. (Full disclosure, a hurricane in the Gulf exacerbates these conditions.) My first visit to May Day Park at the end of College Avenue in Daphne blows my mind and the wind blows my hair and the Spanish Moss in the ancient oak trees. 

If you live in or around Fairhope and want to enjoy a pizza without buying a whole pie, and maybe fit in a great salad or soup, you’re in luck! On the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Bancroft Street, Nini Squares (named after owners Chris and Rachel Cullen’s daughter, Nina) has offerings to satisfy the pickiest eater. 

Jennifer Knight, owner of End of the Live Café in Pensacola, is wrapping up a three-year renovation and expansion with a full bar offering, and a new kitchen, and is bringing back many of the events and community projects that make End of the Line Cafe more than just a great restaurant. You may remember Scenic 98 Coastal’s story from a year ago.

Perdido, Alabama sits at the Northeast corner of Baldwin County, Alabama, near the Northwest corner of Florida to the east. The headwaters of the Perdido River are nearby. The river that runs through this area’s northern exposure toward the south is clean and cold and empties into Perdido Bay near Lillian, Alabama.

Some people were born to be restaurateurs. Count Bo Hamilton, owner of Ox Kitchen Fairhope, and newly opened Ox Kitchen Pensacola, located at The Garden at Palafox and Main, as one of them. Both restaurants serve a limited menu, including a perfect burger. Bo’s food philosophy is simple, fresh, and delicious, and his story is an interesting one.

Almost 2000 years ago, the first frozen milk and cream served with honey and flavored with fruits were brought to the Roman Emperor Nero. Thus, the summer edible delight, ice cream, was popularized and perfected. In the Scenic 98 Coastal communities, the delectable ice cream of choice is Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream.