My daughter's been requesting that I read her my "stories on the internet" a lot lately. Especially the ones that involve... her.
So it was not surprising when, as we gathered together (PILED) everything that we were going to take with us on our annual trip to MS gulf coast, she told me I needed to bring the laptop, so I could write stories about our trip. While I didn't bother with the laptop, I did take copious mental notes....
Trip down was uneventful. Fiona showed everyone her bear, and told them that I had gotten it for her, and I felt like a great dad. While waiting to disembark the plane in Gulfport, she told everyone within ear shot about the St. Patrick's day party. Glad she doesn't know grandma's address....
First day of spring, and we spent an hour or two on the beach, later in the afternoon, while grandma napped.
68 and cloudy, and it was 4pm, and I didn't even think about sunscreen for my bald head.
oopsie.
Lots of detrius down by the water's edge.
Shell fragments and driftwood and various sized vertebrae (no idea...) - Oh My!
Closer to the beach hwy, the sand was criss-crossed with bulldozer tracks, from the annual "rebuild the beach before spring break" efforts.
Fun fact - if they didn't bring sand in and re-build the beach every year... there'd be no beach. it would be silt and plants, thanks the row of barrier islands that line the water a short distance from the mainland, all the pretty sand stays well away from coast, and all the silt from rivers and such stays close to shore.
Do NOT swim in the gulf from shore, if you happen to be visiting. Look, but don't touch. You can, if you really want, but it's shallow, silty bottomed, crazy warm and... kinda ew-y.
Pockets full of "treasures", we walked back to grandma's and... sat around.
Day two... nothing. Li'l Ray's for lunch at least. If you find yourself in Long Beach, MS around lunch time, you can do worse. They'll probably screw up your order, but once it's sorted... Fried pickles and po' boys and gumbo.... Oh my!
Day three - New Orleans. I love New Orleans. For a few hours, on a nice day...
Great to see the French Market fully re-opened and operational. And up-scaled! gone are the hot sauce stands and the boxes of random produce, replaced by... dining options and decent seating. The back half is still a flea market full of tacky tourist crap, of course. A gen-U-wine baby gator head will cost you $12.99, but you can get a plastic one for about 1/3 that amount.
Gatorheads, offensive T-shirts and cheap-ass sunglasses - Oh My!
Jackson Square has gotten seedier, though the gardens are still beautiful. Fewer street performers and fortune tellers and such, and more... un-washed, un-friendly people loitering on benches.
"Your bird's really pretty" Fiona said to one of them, who happened to have a pet macau.
She received no pleasant answer. Step away from the scary man, sweety,...
As we walked away, a N.O. cop came up to the bird man, and started talking to him. We walked a way a bit faster...
Audobon Aquarium - our first time there. Can't believe we've never checked it out before. Seemed a bit pricey, for the size, and for what they have, but it was actually really cool. It's designed to lead you from beginning to end, very organized in lay out. Penguins were a big draw, as they liked to swim to the edge of the glass and stare at you. Seems only fair.... Fiona's (and my) favorite - There was an owl. Just kinda hanging out on some rocks near the end, where they were featuring local fish and flora.
Fish and penguins and Owls... Oh my!
And that's pretty much it. There was a very quiet, sparsely attended St. Patrick's party that weekend. Elderly irish nuns hollered out requests to Betsy, the musician from New Orleans that comes over to play the party every year. Betsy's fantastic, but doesn't play music full time any more, so has forgotten some of the songs...
Everyone was gone by 9:05, sober and well fed.
How times change....
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