Garden Party

This Garden Party began at the beach. It was the first time we attended a beach wedding, and we liked it alot.

But, we're getting ahead of where this began. Well, we really don't know where it all began, but we're thinking from what we've heard that it began in Georgia a long time ago, and it culminated in their marriage and celebration today.

Like the "Garden Party" by Ricky Nelson, and the story it tells, it appeared to us that the bride and groom accomplished what the song tells us with its message of "you can't please everyone -- gotta please yourself," and had the kind of wedding on the the beach they planned together. As far as we could tell, everyone there enjoyed every minute of it from the beginning all the way through the reception.

The wedding itself was blessed with very nice weather for an outdoor event, but their Plan B involved the pavilion at Gulf State Park had God not arranged such heavenly weather.

As we were leaving the beach after the wedding to go to the Foley American Legion for the reception, we spoke with two nice ladies who had driven from Georgia to attend this happy event. Since they did not know the way to the place of the reception, they followed us.

A few people were at the reception who did not attend the wedding, but the friends and family we had seen on the beach filled the hall with quite a celebration afterward, with a buffet brimming with many delicious foods and music for entertainment and dancing.

One of the earlier songs played by Billy Pelletier at the reception gave us the title for this post. We always have to preface one of our amateur videos with the fact that they are all non-award winning videos and add that perhaps, as they say, they are only a little better than nothing. Here's a link to GARDEN PARTY - BILLY PELLETIER.

Kevin and Lynda did their dance together at the reception to Brad Paisley's "Then," which is very appropriate because of the story it tells with reoccuring words:

Now you're my whole life
Now you're my whole world...

We look forward to seeing their wedding photos. Like many others, we snapped a few of our own and even took some very amateurish videos, but we can imagine them looking at these and laughing at them. Just to give you a feel for the enjoyable, relaxed atmosphere of the beach wedding, here's a few photos on Flicker we have to share:
Our First Beach Wedding

Karaoke PLUS @ MRBG

Karaoke PLUS happens each Sunday afternoon at Magnolia River Bar and Grill in Magnolia Springs, Alabama. Denny Grisham and Billy Pelletier do a good job of entertaining with more than Karaoke. They both sing, and Billy performs on the guitar and harmonica -- have even seen him play the saw a couple of times. MRBG is at 14984 US Hwy. 98, Magnolia Springs, AL, 251/965-6801. Hopped up and recorded this video after the song was already underway when I realized it was Buffett's 1974 hit “Come Monday.”

You can view this amateur video on YouTube at:

COME MONDAY – BILLY PELLETIER

A video filmed at MRBG on another Sunday afternoon that included both Denny and Billy can be seen at:

ALL THESE THINGS

Choir Concert at Marlow Church

The flyer above tells it all. The vacation came to us today in three large buses required to transport the choir and their chaperons. Yes, when the young people comprising the choir have completed the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, chaperons are necessary, and we were so happy to have them all with their talent to entertain and inspire us.

We noted they were taping the performance as well as taking photos, and we do hope they have some of both that we can purchase to enjoy and inspire us whenever.

The Sonshine Choir was a treat deluxe!

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When I visited the Brentwood United Methodist Church website, I was surprised to learn this church is one of five others chosen to have a concert by Libera, a boys choir from England, on their Summer 2010 Tour in the United States.

This made me want to move the vacation to Brentwood on August 4. The places the choir will perform while in the United States are:
August 1st ~ Dallas, Texas
August 2nd ~ Fort Worth, Texas
August 5th ~ St. Louis, Missouri
August 4th ~ Brentwood, Tennessee
August 10th ~ Atlanta, Georgia

We first learned about Libera in November of last year when a friend shared a video by the choir, and I blogged about it on LIVING...MAEDEANS STYLE Blog at that time with a title of simply Libera.

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After posting this, I found a YouTube video of this choir which I have added.

Jimmy Buffett Concert for the Gulf

WHEN? Sunday · July 11

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama · find us on the map

WHY? "Jimmy Buffett and Friends" concert

"It's Five O'clock Somewhere" has become one of my favorite phrases, so it is only natural that after all this time of having my favorite performers, I finally really discovered Jimmy Buffett. I think I read somewhere that five o'clock was when the live performance at Gulf Shores today really got underway. And, it was definitely the time to have the typical beach atmosphere kick in and the crowds at the beach for the live concert to move into high gear.

For many of the concert-goers, today was an all-day affair with the first shuttles arriving at the concert site around 11:00 AM. It is good that many people parked quite some distance from the site, roughly located between Lifeguard Station #3 and #5. Since I wasn't there, I'm really guessing, but the 90-minute concert I viewed on CMT showed enough of this beach we have frequented for me to make a somewhat educated guess.

Since the Mobile Press-Register reporters and photographers were at the concert, let me refer you to Lawrence F. Specker's article they had online:

Jimmy Buffett brings joy: Son of a son of a sailor returns to Gulf Coast to promote tourism 7/12/2010

The above article mentioned several details I did not know, such as remembering the concert's other performers, but I will assure you Jimmy Buffett was on stage the entire 90 minutes of the CMT performance.

Buffett let several others take turns in the spotlight: Mobile native Will Kimbrough, Mississippi songwriter Jesse Winchester and New Orleans composer/songwriter Allen Toussaint.

He also made a point of dedicating "Come Monday" to Mobilian Milton Brown, who "kind of discovered me, all those years ago."

After a short break, what we didn’t see on the 90-minute televised portion was a 40-minute second set that focused less on Buffett's own music. Selections included Kimbrough's "Piece of Work"; "Southern Cross", a song made famous by Crosby, Stills and Nash; and Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", his last tune of the night.

Speaking of last tunes, I encourage you to sit back and enjoy Buffett's final televised performance of the evening. Superb!

When The Coast Is Clear

www.cmt.com/videos/misc/536045/When-The-Coast-Is-Clear.jhtml

• I really like this video because I think it has some very infectious elements to it that may infect you, like it did me, with the kind of music and performance he gives his many fans, referred to as Parrotheads.

  One Particular Harbour (Live from Anguilla)
  
  

• Since Alan Jackson was unable to perform at last night's concert because it was postponed from July 1st, I have included Alan Jackson: It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (with Jimmy Buffett)

A Perpetual Vacationer on HIS Soapbox

*And it's high time ...

One of us has been on HER soapbox in the past on our other blog, but now it's time for you to hear from the male vacationer represented by this blog.

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It's not often that I get on my soapbox, but today is one of those days. Here are a few thoughts I'm having today.

First, it’s the heat wave I keep hearing about on TV and reading about on the internet. Down here in my part of Dixie, (Lower Alabama) halfway between Fairhope and Foley, it’s just the opposite — no heat wave at all. In fact the high temperature on July the 4th was in the high 80’s. Yesterday the high was in the mid 80’s and the forecast for the next 6 or 7 days is for the high temperature to be no more than 92° — not too bad for this time of the year.

The next thing on my mind, and almost everyone down here, is the oil spill. The main industry down here in South Baldwin County is Tourism. With the oil spill the tourists have stopped coming. Lots of people here are losing income. What is it now, day 78 or 79? BP gets on TV and says they are going to clean up everything. My question, is How can BP clean something up that they can't stop?

I haven’t been down to the beaches in the last few days, maybe a week or more, but the last time we went to Gulf Shores the beaches were still the beautiful sugar white sand they were this time last year, but that was before the last Gulf storm that did bring oil into our area. In fact the Gulf was so rough and choppy all of the boats that had been out skimming oil had to come in to port. The sea was just too tough for their small crafts.

Now the news is that we have this big skimmer called the Whale out there and it can gather more oil than the spill is spewing out each day. Why did we wait over 70 days to start using this boat?

From what I’m hearing down here, several countries have offered to help us clean up this mess and stop the leaking, but we have not accepted their offer. WHY?

While I’m on my soapbox I have another thing that peeves me. BP has hired a lot of people to keep the beaches clean. Now get this, and it figures in with the cooler than normal temperatures we are having, the workers are being paid $25 an hour, but OSHA will not let them work longer that 20 minutes each hour. The other time they are sitting under cooling tents. These tents are equipped with electrical generators so they can run electric fans and air conditioners. I wonder what the construction workers in the Southwest and up the East Coast think about this?

— WDS

6th Annual Balloon Festival

WHERE? Foley, Alabama · find us on the map

We thought we'd get a brochure about this festival on Friday afternoon when we pulled into the festival grounds, but we found out the only way to even get into the festival was by shuttle. By that, I mean there was at least one location in Foley where people could park and the shuttle pick them up and take them to the festival and later pick them up at the festival and return them to their vehicles. We could have parked in an area that was quite far from the festival itself and wait possibly ten minutes for the shuttle to take us on into the festival. Since all we wanted was a brochure, we chose not to do that and just left. It was irritating to us to be met with the situation as it was.

No one but VIP's were allowed to park near the festival, park briefly, get a brochure and then go on with plans for coming back early the next day to attend the festival. We've experienced the VIP situation recently while touring Graceland in Memphis, but we pretty much knew the VIP's had purchased a higher priced ticket. We are assuming the VIP's in this situation were the volunteers, live entertainment, food booth caterers, arts and crafts, and children's village. We also got the idea they were planning on charging us to park, but we now believe admission and parking were both free of charge. We never did get the brochure we wanted, which would have helped us know where the hot air balloons were from, but we did get to see the balloons today. The festival attracted about 45 hot air balloons from across the country.

Today the conditions were perfect for a hot air balloon festival. As our photos show, there was no wind at the ground level. We got photos of just about all the balloons and talked to a few people. One balloon was from Foley, and the group with it did not know what their balloon was being called this year. Sometimes it was called the Blue Angel and other times it was called something else. It was the balloon that was all blue, and I don't think I got a photo of it. In the process of taking photos, I realized some things that I did not last year, I needed to be on the east side of the balloons to take good photos just as the sun was rising. Duh!

See our photos on flickr:

Balloon Festival 2010

To see some really professional photos taken on the same morning, see Brody J's photos on flickr:

Foley Balloon Fest 2010

You'll probably want to look at some more of his excellent photography while you are there.

The website for the festival is very informative, and we encourage you to visit it not only for information about this year's festival but also some facts about upcoming balloon festivals.

Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival

National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

WHEN? Monday · June 7

WHERE? Foley, Alabama · find us on the map

After traveling into Fairhope for the first dental appointment for a crown, we were listening to the Bill Mac Show on Willie's Place on Sirius Satellite Radio, when they made the announcement that it was National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, so we added that to our agenda while we were out.

First, however, our next stop scheduled was a photo session with Tom the Gator. I do wonder how many people have come within a few feet of Tom without recognizing he was there.

Then we naturally had to stop at the oldest drugstore in Baldwin County, Stacey's Rexall Drugs and Olde Tyme Soda Fountain in Foley, established in 1929. This certainly wasn't our first time to visit, but the lunch crowd was already gone and only a few fountain customers were there. They played some songs on the antique juke box, which were similar to this YouTube video. If you can dance to this video that is almost 10 minutes long, you are certainly more fit than we are.


We both had a dish of chocolate ice cream in recognition of National Chocolate Ice Cream Day.

We blogged about two other visits here. Any excuse will do. Our other posts are:

Old Fashioned and Delicious

Another visit to Stacey's Rexall.

After leaving Stacey's, we took note of the continuing saga unfolding at the intersection of Highway 98 and Highway 65 in Foley, so we had to stop and take a few photos. These very unrelated photos can all be viewed on Flickr at Out and About in Fairhope and Foley Alabama

The smell of oil

It may be our imagination, but we thought we smelled something different in the air. It was not very strong, and our smellers adjusted to it rather quickly, but we think it is here now -- although very slightly. We were listening to Don Williams on the screened porch when we both thought we smelled it.

The show must go on...

WHEN? Saturday · June 5, 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

WHERE? Fairhope Alabama

…and it did for the first ever Bald Eagle Bash to celebrate the return of the Bald Eagle to the Weeks Bay area.

The Weeks Bay Foundation hosted the event.

Even though the weather did not cooperate for this outdoor festival, the party for preservation was a good one. When the first torrential rain (accompanied by high winds and lightning) was over and the sun came out, NEW GROOVE cranked up and entertained the diners and the dancers. People did not allow the weather to dampen their spirits. A group of people started doing a line dance to the band’s music and eventually had the female vocalist out in the muddy parking lot hoofing it with them, or I should say leading them.

I was reminded of the optimistic lyrics of the Irving Berlin song sung by Ethel Merman and found at least three versions of it on YouTube. I liked this one the best.

The event was held at the new waterfront Tonsmeire Weeks Bay Resource Center (old Lulu’s location) at the Fish River Bridge on U.S. Highway 98 in Fairhope. The unique taste of coastal Alabama seafood prepared by local restaurants was under the resource center’s building, which was where most early arrivals took refuge from the rain. Each restaurant served up their top Alabama Wild Shrimp recipe to vie for Peoples’ Choice honors. At one point I let the Grand Hotel people know that drops of rain had totally obliterated their big jar where people were supposed to put their votes. One could no longer even read the restaurant’s name.

The event was well attended and was a great party with great food, great music, and, best of all, a great cause. It raised funds to continue the Foundation’s mission to protect the natural resources of coastal Alabama while supporting the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Even though the rain made it quite an “adventure” as some described it, it was a great success in terms of attendees and funds raised. It was obvious that many who came out had a great time.

America’s national symbol, as well as many other natural wonders are under continuous pressure due to habitat loss and increased human disturbance. Concerted efforts to protect wetlands and nesting sites will ensure the continued existence of the Bald Eagle as well as other creatures. The Foundation has been successful in preserving lands that provide critical habitat for many species of plants and animals.

Sponsors for this year’s event were:
American Foods
BancorpSouth
Bank Trust
Bay Radiology
Bayshore Title Co., Inc.
BBVA Compass
Coastal Land Trust
Colony Homes
Dr. Michael Houston
Eat Alabama Wild Shrimp
Faulkner State’s Gulf Coast Culinary Institute
Hampton Flooring and Design
IBERIABANK
Michael & Cindy McBrearty
Michael and Debbie Quinn
Miller’s Grand Events
Nall Printing
NBC15 WPMI
Rodney Hubble/Force 5 Walls, Inc.
Russell Thompson Butler & Houston, CPAs
Safe Harbor Financial/Jim Byrd
South Baldwin Regional Medical Center
Southern Capital Services, Inc.
Stephen Baker/Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Stone, Granade & Crosby, PC
The Conservation Fund
Thomas Hospital
Tonsmeire Properties
Volkert Environmental Group, Inc.

The ten participating restaurants were troopers and served their delicious cuisine to those attending with a pleasant smile as if every day they cooked while drops of water fell on them. All of us need to support these restaurants and let them know we appreciated their spirit and their food.

Big Daddy’s Grill
Bimini Bob’s
Blue Marlin Restaurant (winner of Peoples’ Choice honors)
Felix’s Fish Camp Grill
Jesse’s Restaurant
Saltwater Grill at The Grand
Tamara’s Steamer
Tin Top Restaurant and Oyster Bar
Wash House Restaurant
Wintzell’s Oyster House

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Postscript on June 6: My clothes were still wet when I checked them on the line on the screened porch so I just threw them in the washing machine for a short load. No wonder I felt like I looked like a drowned rat!

A Gorgeous Sunday Afternoon

WHEN? Mother's Day, May 9



If you don’t know where Big Daddy’s is located, Big Daddy’s website gives you directions from several places west of the restaurant, but on a beautiful weather day on a Sunday afternoon (or any day of the week), I would not hesitate to invite people from as far away as the panhandle of Florida to make a point to experience this at least once. You’ll probably be coming back once you see how relaxing and enjoyable it is. What I really recommend is that you call 251-990-8555 with any questions. Restaurants change their schedules when, for instance, no one turns out for breakfast.

We arrived at Big Daddy's as The Budz were setting up to play. Their first song was James Taylor's Fire and Rain. I told ‘em they couldn’t play too many JT songs.

The place was covered up with customers, but I did notice a few empty tables inside. We would have preferred outdoor seating in the shade – and discovered we weren't the only ones with that idea. We were prepared to enjoy the food, drink and live music, and felt lucky to find two stools together at the bar facing the Fish River, where we shared a Double Combo Basket catfish-shrimp basket with french fries, fried onions rings, hush puppies and coleslaw. Both of us had plenty to eat. Their portion sizes were so large that we even left a little. Miller High Life was our beer of choice at only $1.50. I noticed that Pabst Blue Ribbon was $1.50 also. It looked like the rest of the domestic beers were $2.50 and the imports were $3.00. They also served wine. I didn’t get the idea they served mixed drinks, but then those never interest me. Their soft drinks and such are $1.75 with free refills, and what will knock your socks off is the 50¢ coffee!

Attention: Carnival Cruising Buddies

Big Daddy's serves a dessert called Lava Cake. I think it's similar to the Chocolate Melting Cake we had on the Holiday and Fantasy.

The most boats I ever counted pulled up to the boat ramp at the back of the restaurant were 10, and that included a yellow kayak on the ramp itself.

Big Daddy’s also has live music on Saturday evenings. Don’t be totally disappointed like we were on our first try on a Monday. That’s the one day of the week when the restaurant is closed.

We weren’t through enjoying ourselves because we always like to stop by the Magnolia River Bar & Grill in Magnolia Springs on Sunday afternoons to hear Denny Grisham and Billy Pelletier do their unique version of karaoke. I call it KARAOKE PLUS. You’ll really have to see and hear it for yourselves.

The smiling ape on its ornamental Tiki Bar describes perfectly how I feel about this place. Remember Cheers on TV? Everybody (just about) knows your name at MRBG. Toby Keith's I Love This Bar also comes to mind.

Check out today's photos on flickr:
Mother’s Day of 2010

Weeks Bay Area River Cleanup

WHEN? Saturday · May 8

WHERE? Fairhope, Alabama · find us on the map

estuary: A semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries are often associated with high rates of biological productivity.

Because Wendell volunteers on Tuesday mornings at Weeks Bay Reserve, we decided to help with with the annual Weeks Bay Area River Cleanup, which involves cleaning up trash that may get into the rivers that feed into Weeks Bay.

While doing this and even afterwards we wondered if it is possible the exertion and endurance required to help in the cleanup may have approached being too strenuous for our "do-gooder" activities. A small group of people showed up for the cleanup at 8:00 A.M. at Weeks Bay Marina (old Lulu's location). Our assigned spots to pick up stinking trash were Manatee Point (east side of Fish River), Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog, and around and under the Roy Spivey Bridge near Kelsey's on Hwy. 98. The payoff was a free lunch at Weeks Bay Foundation on the north side of Hwy 98 just past the Fish River Bridge on the west side.

We already knew that the roads in this area have lots of trash on them, but we were certainly surprised with how much actual BIG junk winds up in these places. One group even had to call and say they didn't have enough room in their vehicle for all the trash they found such as tires — not just parts of tire treads.

Weeks Bay Area River Cleanup photos on Flickr

The plus side of this activity was that we now know where to get sacks to put such trash in and a place to bring them and even where to get the proper gloves to do this. God knows there's plenty of trash waiting to be picked up all over our area including County Road 9 and Highway 98. We can see some reasons for some of the trash along the highways and byways, but it is sad to realise that people who drive along them do mess with Alabama. Maybe this state needs lots of signs like Texas does. Just a thought.

First-time lunch at Fish River Grill #2

WHEN? Thursday · April 29

WHERE? Foley, Alabama · find us on the map

You'll note their little sign reads Kiss the Cook. Instead, I hugged one of their cooks who just went to work there.

We had heard good things about the original location of Fish River Grill at 8272 County Road 32, and then we began to hear about another location at 8272 Highway 59. We checked out the second location on Highway 59 today. Word seems to have spread that it's a good place to eat, and they were very busy.

Some of the specialties shown on their Facebook are SWAMP BURGER AND SWAMP SOUP and the BEST GOLDEN FRIED CATFISH ALL-U-CAN-EAT EVERYDAY. Also they have Seafood (WD had the fried shrimp) and PoBoys, BIG burgers and ALABAMA Chicken Melt. They also mention they have a FULL BAR AT FOLEY #2. All of us enjoyed the Swamp Soup. I thought their French fries were good with my fried catfish sandwich (it may have been called a PoBoy).

You might want to check our their Facebook page at:

Fish River Grill on Facebook

Another visit to Stacey's Rexall

WHEN? Wednesday · April 28

WHERE? Foley, Alabama · find us on the map

Click on the photo above to see why we went to Stacey's today while we had visitors. It's a good place for lunch, and the Key Lime Shakes topped the meal off nicely. The photos taken today are included with our previous photos at Stacey's. You can view them on Flickr at:

Stacey's Rexall Drugs and Olde Tyme Soda Fountain

Beach & LuLu'S

WHEN? Tuesday · April 27

WHERE? Gulf Shores, Alabama · find us on the map

We needed to go to the beach today while the weather was good and before Jerry left for Montgomery, Alabama to look up old friends and Air Force historical information. It turned out to be cooler than we would like, but we didn't have to share Gulf State Park with many people.

We stopped at LuLu’S on our way back for a couple of appetizers to curb our appetite until we had a real meal at home. To see a few photos from our day's activities, visit: 2010-04-27 Hatfield's Visit

USS Alabama Battleship Park

WHEN? Sunday · April 25

WHERE? Mobile Bay · find us on the map

Today's day trip occurred after Ella and I went to worship at Marlow UMC located four miles from our place on County Road 9. We stopped briefly to try our hand again at getting a better photo of the Malbis Greek Orthodox Church and went to a Mexican Restaurant for lunch before going over to Battleship Park beside Mobile Bay.

This is a very exercise intensive activity involving going up and down steep stairs and lots of walking. The women only made it to the deck of the submarine, so we only have a couple of photos to share on that part. You'll get some idea why we were "tuckered out" as you'll notice in our anchor photo (above) as we left the park to return home for some well-deserved R&R.

To view today's photos, go to:

2010-04-25 of Hatfield's Visit

A very full day

WHEN? Friday · April 23

WHERE? Bellingrath Gardens and Home · Theodore, Alabama

Since the Fairhope Pier was on our way to Bellingrath, we made a stop there and took a few photos and walked out to the end of the pier and back to get loosened up for all the walking at the gardens.

We knew we were missing the display of azaleas, which had already passed. You can read about this in an April 10, 2010, article by Bill Finch at Azlaeas of Bellingrath; Gardens welcomes city’s famed blooms

BUT, there was plenty to look at and take photos of, which also included lots of walking. We thought we were never going to find the the Japanese Garden, which is now called the Oriental-American Garden, but we finally found it. Once we were in it, we began to think we were being held captive and would never get out of it. Finally we exited at the entrance where we came in. By that time, we were "Bellingrathed out" and hungry. The Magnolia Cafe near the garden entrance was in the process of closing by the time we got there, but they still had tuna salad and chicken salad sandwiches, which our appetites were more than prepared for.

Wendell pulled a fast one on us as we left there, and we returned a different way. Boy, was it a different way. He figured out a way to get to Dauphin Island and take the ferry from there back to the Mobile area on the other side of Mobile Bay.

You will not believe how many photos we took as well as two videos, which you can view at:

2010-04-23 Hatfield's Visit

Do you know about this art form?

click on the image to see it better

WHEN? Anytime

WHERE? Republic of Panama

I'll give you a second or two to check your brain cells to see if you've ever seen one of these somewhere.

I am wondering how much these sell for nowadays. Also, do you know where you can buy some of these if you travel there on vacation?

It seems like I heard of someone who collected enough of these that they made a bedspread out of them. I'm sure I would love that because I love the bright colors.

Enough questions. Here's a Wikipedia article for you to read about the history of the art form.

Mola (art form).

We have not visited Panama, but we could have and in hindsight should have.

A picture...

A picture is worth a thousand words and it's possible a video is even better (see the side bar).

This three point sermon is missing at least one more part:

Stop in Ocean Springs

WHEN? Thursday · April 8

WHERE? Ocean Springs, Mississippi · (On Biloxi Bay)


On our return trip from Jackson to Lower Alabama, we were treated to a unique lunch along the way. Not only did we discover an interesting place to eat, but it's at a location that has many nearby attractions.

If you'll look at our Flickr photo album on this stop in detail, you can begin to realize what a vacation stop this is, whether you're an RVer or a regular traveler. We are always talking up how much better it is to be in a restful setting while on vacation rather than being in an urban motel, and this one can fill the bill for a more restful spot where one can relax while enjoying some typical attractions that will entertain all ages.

Check it out on flickr:
The Shed - Camp Journey's End in Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Spring Break

WHEN? Tuesday · April 6

WHERE? Jackson, Mississippi · find us on the map

We love the new route we take from Lower Alabama to Jackson now. There is a place in the Biloxi-Gulfport area of Mississippi, where we get off of Interstate-10 to Interstate-110 and get on Highways 15/67 that is a much better place to part company with the interstate than continue to Highway 49 in Gulfport. This is a fairly new stretch of Highway and eventually this allows access to Highway 49 further along in the trip, Hattiesburg can be bypassed, and the trip seems shorter. It may possibly be a safer way to travel on to Jackson as well. Landmarks along this new part are St. Patrick Catholic High School and the Tradition campus of William Carey University.

We're kidding about spring break even though some of the schools are taking this week as Spring Break. This trip was actually a TCB* trip for an eye appointment, but we did take the opportunity to visit with some friends. This may not include many photos, but such as they are, you can view them at Spring 2010 and come back later to see more because our Spring Break will continue on indefinitely — because we are, after all, The Perpetual Vacationers.
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*Taking Care of Business