Forrest Gump wasn't lying!

There really is a Bayou la Batre for Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory!

So, we're driving home a couple weeks ago from our stint in TN, and decided to go see Bellingrath Gardens south of Mobile on the western shore of Mobile Bay.  For the 25 years that we lived in New Orleans, I promised Sue that we would go to Bellingrath in the spring when all the azaleas are in bloom.  So we finally went & saw the gardens that Mr Bellingrath built after he made his millions from being the Coca Cola distributor in Mobile.

After that, we decided to take the back roads towards home, and wouldn't you know it, but we came upon Bayou la Batre, Alabama & discovered that Forrest Gump could very well have had a shrimp factory here!  When I heard that town's name in the movie, I thought that there was no way that a real town was named Bayou la Batre.  Well, guess what??!!

As we drove "down da bayou", we saw shrimp boat after shrimp boat, and one shrimp processing plant after another.  The town is also filled with ship building & overhauling business.  The boats are the larger one which go many miles into the Gulf to shrimp, and many of them are painted quite nicely.  Many Viet Namese immigrants run the boats and the businesses.  All in a day on da bayou!