Biloxi / New Orleans

The night before the trip lasted much longer than I had intended it to. As we planned on leaving Thursday morning at 5am, I wanted to go to bed at 8pm.  I got home, did some laundry, played with the cats, did the dishes, packed, cooked sausage balls and mini muffins for the road and by the time I got to bed it was after midnight. That was definitely a mistake.

The alarm went off at 3:30am and I felt like I had only been asleep for 20 minutes.  We got up, finished packing, took care of the kittens, and got ready and loaded up the car.  We said our pre-trip prayers and hit the road.  The first few hours of the trip were the most difficult because we were tired.  On our way through Alabama we saw the destruction from the recent tornado.  The amount of damage was terrible.  The entire tree line looked like knocked over toothpicks.

Once we got a little further down the road, we got hungry.  Lee made fried bologna sandwiches the night before the trip, so at lunchtime we pulled them out of the cooler and let them heat up in the window.

After many hours of driving, we finally made it to Biloxi, Mississippi.  We drove down the strip for a little as it was too early to check-in to our hotel.  

After we got a ways down the strip, we turned back and stopped off at the beach.  It was a bit too chilly to put on bathing suits and swim, so we just played on the beach, walked in ankle-deep water, and took plenty of pictures. Once it was late enough for us to check into the hotel, we went over to the pier to wash our feet off.  Lee couldn't find a place to do it, but a homeless guy pointed out the hose down on the pier.

We checked into our hotel - the Isle of Capri Casino.  The city was full of old people and the casino was pretty dead.  I didn't mind it. We went up to our room with the wonderful view of construction and crashed.  After a long day of driving and sight-seeing, I was definitely ready to go to sleep.

The next morning we had reservations for the Honey Island Swamp Tour, but we had a couple hours to kill, so we checked out of the hotel and stopped by the Biloxi Lighthouse.  Tours were only held for one hour each day and were $5 a person.  We made our way to the top - following behind the very old man leading the tour.  We were the only ones there and he gave us a very long, very slow story of the history of the lighthouse.  He was nice, but the awkward part was the fact that he never took his sunglasses off, so we never saw his eyes.  Once at the top, he continued telling the story as we took pictures.  It was a nice, breezy day out, but in the top of the lightouse it got hot very quickly.  We stayed long enough to take all the pictures we wanted, hear the end of the story, and then headed back down.

In our research before the trip, we found out that airboat tours in the swamp are extremely expensive - $60 a person.  We didn't want to spend that much, so we read some TripAdvisor reviews and found a place much cheaper that gave pontoon boat tours.  My hopes weren't extremely high, but it turned out to be much more fun than I thought.  The pontoon boats were covered, so we were in the shade and not burning up.  The guys driving the boats were knowledgeable about the area and pointed out any wildlife they saw.  

We saw several birds, turtles, and smaller alligators (a few feet long) and I was satisfied with the trip.  Then we went to see Big Al. Big Al was 12-13 feet long.  Also, Big Al apparently liked hot dogs.  We were told to keep our fingers in for that reason.  Other tour groups had tried throwing marshmallows to him, but he wasn't a fan.  Our guide made an alligator noise to call Big Al over, then started tapping the water with a hot dog on a stick.  

As our pictures show, Big Al certainly came out of the water for the hot dogs.  It was pretty creepy because he was only a few feet away at times.  After we were done taking pictures, we headed back to the dock.  I would say the tour was well worth the money.  It was amazing to be that close to such a large alligator!

After our tour, we decided to drive down to the tip of Louisiana.  It was an interesting drive.  We passed several refineries.  We also passed a few churches.  We drove right to the end and then turned around and headed back. It was a nice, calm way to end the day.  

While in Walmart the day before, we saw an ad for an airshow in the paper.  It was free, so we decided to go.  We drove to the base and waited in line to get it.  It was pretty cool because we got to park on the tarmac.  I didn't realize though how far the walk to the actual show would be.  They had buses taking people over.  

Once we were through the doors, the show had already started.  It was so hot on the pavement, every little bit of shade was occupied by people seeking relief from the heat.  We just found a spot good for taking pictures and endured the heat.  The shows were pretty impressive for the most part.  Lee enjoyed the older planes and their pretend dog fight.  The only one that was terrible was the wing walker.

The wing walker didn't walk the wings, she just stood in one spot attached to the plane putting one arm in the air to wave and then alternating to the other arm - not very exciting.  Once Lee was done watching the show, we made the long walk back to our car to head to New Orleans.

We arrived in New Orleans, parked the car not far from the French Quarter, and proceeded to explore the area.  I had forgotten from previous visits the terrible smell of the city.  The smell of trash, horse poop, and vomit wafted through the streets as we walked around.  While the smell was terrible, the area was quite beautiful.  The architecture and flowers made me want to just sit on a balcony and enjoy my surroundings.

We stopped in the shops and viewed the local art vendors on the street.  There were several talented artists, and several not quite as gifted.  Before we left the French Quarter, we stopped at Cafe Du Monde for some beignets and chocolate milk.  They of course were delicious. After leaving New Orleans, we stopped at Loyola University to check out the campus.  Lee took some pictures and we headed home.

On our way home, we stopped in Tuscaloosa to see the damage from the recent tornado.  It had been a couple weeks, but the recovery effort was still in full force as the damage was extensive.  It still shocks me to see how one house can be completely destroyed while another just a few feet away remains unharmed.  We prayed for those in the area and continued home.  We arrived home after our long weekend and crashed before having to go to work in the morning.  It was a short weekend in time, but a long weekend in activity.