Mardi Gras Parade

Big dog ready to party!

It's Mardi Gras season and the parades have begun.  New Orleans has several parades, but so do the smaller towns all around there.  We wanted to go see one in New Orleans but decided against it.  It's no fun driving around that city the way it is, but with the parades they expect extremely congested traffic, and you have to find a place to park 6 or 8 hours before the parade... yuk.  So, today we decided on a smaller parade in Gulfport, Mississippi.



Get your boiled peanuts!



 

We left early and found a place to park right on the parade route, but we were there, along with everyone else, only three hours before the parade started.  



Tossing Beads

This parade was quite different than the Hutch Water Carnival Parade at home.  We would never see a Boiled Peanuts vendor there!  Or street vendors selling Confederate flags.  It's a southern thing.

Street vendors

Nobody sits quietly on the curb and watches the parade pass by.  There is no "parade wave".  I heard people yelling: "Who Dat" or "Give me something" and wave your hands and jump up and down.  The more animated you are the more stuff you get tossed your direction.  It's a mad frenzy for beads.  There is very little candy tossed out, just beads, and stuffed animals, plastic cups, or little toys, and Moon Pies (huh? why??)

No sitting quietly on the curb.
"Give me something!!!"



Nobody goes empty handed



Old motor  homes never die,
the just turn into Mardi Gras floats.

Our Loot for the day

There was a Girl Scout who lived on the parade route.
Yay! I was afraid I wasn't going to get any this year.



  


 



 



 





Chillaxing

Nothing much to blog about the last few days.  We've just been hanging out in the RV, walking around the park or venturing into the casino, and just watching other RV's come and go which they do here all day long.  We don't mind because we have full hookups here including cable TV and Wi-Fi provided by the park.  We were able to take advantage of a special promotion offering the casino buffet for only $4.99, which was cool.  And we've been able to resist the temptation to blow our money at the casino.  We've only gambled away $2. 

The weather during the day is fabulous..70 degrees, blue sky, no bugs, just beautiful.  However, at night a dense Sea Fog rolls in but is gone by 9am the next day.

Bay St Louis

We have moved inland a few miles.  Once it warmed up where we were the little black flies came out and started biting us, so forget that. 

We are now staying at the Hollywood Casino RV Park in Bay St Louis.  So far so good.

The fog was literally rolling in from the Gulf but we went for a drive into town to have a look around.  There are some very nice homes as well as some remnants of Katrina damage. 

It's Mardi Gras time and people decorate their homes with beads and wreaths, etc. of green and gold and purple. 

Beautiful Day



Mississippi's idea of a 4-way stop?

 It's so great to have all that nasty weather behind us.  It was a beautiful sunshiny 70 degree day today.  We drove around the area looking at a few other RV parks to see what they had to offer.  The nicest one we found was a casino RV park.  Of course, while we were there we had to go in and use the bathrooms.  Somehow a $1 bill jumped out of my wallet and entered a penny slot machine, so I HAD to play it.  It kept us entertained for almost 5 minutes before it vanished.


Nature trail thru the woods 5 years after Katrina.

The RV park office gave us a breakfast coupon for a local restaurant in town so we went to eat.  How hard is it to make breakfast?  Worst I've ever had.  What I liked most about that place was a sign I saw on the wall that said:  "They say age is all in the mind.  The problem is keeping it from creeping down into your body."



View of the RV park from the nature trail
at Buccaneer State Park

 After a stop at Walmart for groceries we went back to Buccaneer State Park.  They (used to) have a nice nature trail in the woods around the park.   They had lost 8,000 trees when Hurricane Katrina came thru in 2005.  It is beginning to restore itself, but it will be a long time before it's woodsy again.


Buccaneer State Park



What's Left of the Water Slide

We were ready for a change of scenery so we moved almost two hours west to Buccaneer State Park at Waveland, Mississippi.  It is also right on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, about an hour east of New Orleans, Louisiana.

All of the new utility boxes and transformers
are on raised platforms.

Buccaneer used to be a popular place, it contained a water park with a wave pool as well as a big water slide, pools, and concession stands.  Hurricane Katrina's winds of 140 MPH and 28 foot tidal surge completely leveled all of Buccaneer's 15 structures, support facilities, infrastructure and the water park. 

Even the office is half-elevated.

It has been under complete reconstruction over the last four years only opening for limited camping last summer.   Everything is brand new!  When completed, they will have a total of 276 campsites.  It's pretty quiet here now, there are only 10 of us camped here today.

Elevated house inside the park.
Many many private homes are elevated
all along coast.

The French Buccaneer Jean Laffite and his followers used to hang out here in the 1700's when they were active in smuggling and pirating along the coast.

Here's where we are tonight.

Nice Day

It was such a nice day today we went out to a nice seafood restaurant for lunch.  I had flounder... excellent fish...mmmm, and yes, expensive.  Then we drove around the park some more and back into town and the beach.  These are just some more pictures I took today.

The Davis Bayou

We do see lots of red birds, I think they are cardinals, they're different than the ones at home.

A Pier on the Gulf of Mexico



The Gulf Beach at Biloxi



We decided to stay two more nights here at Gulf Island National Seashore since we like it and the weather is just beginning to warm up again.  There are some nature trails around the park, so we went for a hike around the Davis Bayou.  It was a perfect day for a walk, not too hot and not too cold.  The nature trail took us thru the woods and we could see so much of the damage that Katrina had done.  There are so many downed trees and tangled brush, yet we can see how the forest is recovering.

This park does not have a sandy beach but it does have a salt marsh.  This is where the fresh water meets the salt water.  The grasses act like a big water filter... and it's where the aligators live.  We looked but didn't find any gators.   We only saw a few birds and some turtles.

It was a nice walk anyway.  It's great to be able to walk thru the woods and marsh areas and have NO BUGS.  We've hardly seen any bugs at all this whole time we've been traveling.  We went back to the RV.. and wouldn't you know it... a wasp!  No clue where he came from!

Gulf Coast Outing



oops!

 The first thing I do in the morning is to check the temperatures where my family lives.  I had a good laugh, this has to be a big mistake, there is no way it was 122F in Mesa, Arizona, early this morning.  About an hour later it was corrected. 

It was freezing here over night, but once the sun came out it warmed up a bit and we decided to go out for a drive.  We found the park in Biloxi where there is the memorial for Hurricane Katrina.  In the park there is also another sculpture made from a tree that did not survive after Katrina.  A few feet from that sculpture is the memorial.





On Monday, August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, the worst national disaster in United States History, struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Now, almost six years later, there are still signs of the damage it did.  The memorial stands 12 feet tall, about the height of the water during the storm surge. 

At the Katrina Memorial is included a glass case.  This case contains a sculptural collage of found items donated by locals.  These items where collected, and the stories behind each item recorded as part of the Memorial construction.  Additional items that were donated but not used in the glass memorial case are buried in a time capsule on the site.

This small lighthouse is Biloxi's signature landmark and one of the most photographed sites on the Gulf Coast.  Constructed of cast iron, it was built in 1848.

While in the parking lot to see the lighthouse, we found this man and his van.  We talked with him for a while.  He says he is traveling around promoting awareness for male breast cancer.  That may be true, but I suspect he was probably just trying to support himself.  He let us write our names on his van and take his picture, so we gave him some money.

Just a few yards from the lighthouse and the man with the van is a sign telling about how this was the location for a big civil rights "wade-in" on the beach in 1960 demanding equal access to the public beach by both black and white people. 

All of the Mississippi Gulf Shore was also hit hard by that big oil spill last summer.  You can still see teams of people patrolling the beach looking for tar balls.  But the beaches are open to the public and they do appear to be clean. 



The Friendship Oak Tree



Further along the coast we stopped to visit a landmark tree that survived hurricane Katrina.  This historic 500-year-old tree dates back to 1487. 

 "Those who enter my shadow are supposed to remain friends through all their lifetime no matter where fate may take them in after years."

There is a big equestrian center near here.  We learned the "Gulf Coast Winter Classics", Professional equestrian competition was in town and was free admission, so we thought we'd go see it.  This was huge...there were at least eight big horse barn (tents), and maybe ten arenas where horses were being ridden, warming up, or competing.  One thing I learned is that this really is not a good spectator sport.  But we walked around and saw what we could.



Differences

The rain has stopped, the sky cleared, and the sun came out.  It's still cold, and supposed to be a hard freeze tonight.  It's strange hearing them say things on the radio like don't go out, keep your pets inside, check on the elderly, opening up warming centers for the homeless, etc., it's the big news all day.  It's supposed to get down to +28F here in Gulfport tonight, colder in the northern part of the state.  I'm sure Minnesota wishes it would warm up to that!

The southern Mississippi dialect is quite distinct.  I could barely understand the lady at the visitor center as her accent was so thick, and the security guard sounded like Goober Pyle from Mayberry.  I couldn't help but laugh when we were back in the car.  And now the campground host says to me: "you must be from up north, I can't understand you."  I thought that was odd since I could understand him just fine.

No pictures for the blog today.  We stayed in all day except we went out for lunch to a place called Martha's Tea Room.  Food was fresh and homemade, very good, waitress was awesome, prices were high.

Gulf Island National Seashore

Gulf Island National Seashore National Park

The last few days have been cold and quiet.  We're just killing time, waiting for the weather to warm up.  Yesterday we never left the campground.  We did find a little nature trail and hiked that, but nothing special to see there.  We spent most of the day just watching TV and cooking.  Cooking helps keep the RV warm inside.  I made chocolate chip cookies, my favorite.



You never know when a turtle might
leap out in front of you.



Today we moved a little further south, as far south as we can go in Mississippi.  We are now at the Gulf Island National Seashore National Park.  We'll be here for at least three nights.  More freezing cold is predicted for tomorrow, so it may be a few days before we go exploring.  At least we're not getting the snow everyone else is getting.



This is another nice campground.  We have a site with water and electricity for $8 a night...an excellent price.  14 day maximum stay.  There are 50+ sites here.  It's filled up and we are seeing several people being turned away.  Knock on wood...we've been lucky this year, we've never been turned away.  I probably just jinxed it now by saying that.

Ugh...it just started raining.