What a summer it's been. After last year's storms and the predictions for an even worse season this year we're all breathing a huge sigh of relief to have seen nothing of the sort.
In fact things could hardly be better.
It looks like we'll all be headed out to the Alabama Gulf Coast this weekend, the last hurrah for summer vacation 2006. If you're among them, don't go without checking ahead for lodging. Just about every condo in the system is booked up solid for the weekend. There may be the odd hotel room here and there. Don't give up. The beach is calling.
Coastal communities look for big Labor Day weekend business
With Tropical Storm Ernesto no longer a local threat, tourism officials in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach said they expect big crowds this holiday weekend, hopefully helping offset last year's Labor Day, when Hurricane Katrina turned Alabama's beaches into virtual ghost towns.
As Ernesto churned in the Caribbean last weekend, and early projections called for it to smash the Gulf Coast, officials feared the worst.
Once the storm weakened and shifted east over Florida, it signaled good news for the Alabama coast, a region that missed out on the traditional end of summer bonanza last year.
"We all breathed a little sigh of relief," said Marie Curran, the director of marketing and reservations for Brett/Robinson, a real estate conglomerate that manages more than 1,500 rental units.
"We hate to see the hurricane go anywhere, but we're happy it's not going in this direction. I think that's a common thought along the Gulf Coast."
Curran said all of the real estate conglomerate's 1,856 condo units are booked for this weekend.
Officials with some hotels and rental companies dealt with questions and cancellations when Ernesto appeared destined for the Gulf Coast. With the threat removed, officials prepared for an influx of visitors.
"That was real good news for us," said Connie Carlisle, the director of reservations for Kaiser Realty, which has about 600 rental properties on Pleasure Island.
Carlisle said she expects to rent about 80 percent of the company's units this weekend.
Some hotels along Alabama's Gulf Coast experienced spikes in reservations during the early part of the week. At the Hilton Garden Inn in Orange Beach on Thursday, a front-desk clerk said the hotel had only four rooms available for this weekend.