Sunshine State

Oh yeah!

Of course Florida means beaches :-)

Dogs are not allowed on many beaches on the gulf coast and not on any state park beaches (we know why). Fortunately there are a few places where dogs can be beachcombers. We especially enjoyed Henderson State Park in the panhandle of Florida - beautiful campsites, boardwalk, and beach...but no dogs on the beach so off we went sooner than we'd have liked.

Apalatchicola is famous for oysters - we had to give them a try.

Oysters are harvested by hand in the gulf and this view of oyster fishermen coming in with their catch was taken from the restaurant - don't get much fresher than that!

Ochlockonee State Park is pine forests with saw palmetto underneath - an odd combination for northerners to see.

Highway 98 from the panhandle south is gorgeous and surprising. There's lots of land set aside for for wildlife and parks and not too many people. It was great to see so much natural landscape in the 4th most populous state.

This beautiful blue spring at Manatee State Park was lovely for swimming although I guess there are sometimes alligators and of course manatees.

Florida does get fall color...there were two manatees in the water lounging in the water but they stayed mostly submerged and a bit camera shy.

This boardwalk at Manatee Springs follows the Suwannee River - as in way down upon.....

I hope your Thanksgiving was fun and tasty (I hear it was a little nimpy :-)

Mississippi & Alabama Coasts

It was hard leaving New Orleans but we consoled ourselves with boiled peanuts. I guess they're not for everyone but we like 'em. The pod next to the peanuts is from a Magnolia tree....love the plants around here.

Gulf sand is soooo sugary - beautiful! We stayed at Buccaneer State Park in Waveland, Mississippi. The park just re-opened this summer after being wiped out by Katrina in 2005.

Katrina leveled an 8 mile wide swath from the shore to about 16 miles inland. The congregation of St Clair left the foundation of their old church...we could tell it was something of a shrine for them.

There were miles of empty shoreline with skeleton piers. In nearby Bay St Louis we talked with the curator of the local historical society. His home was a 1804 stone mansion on the shore and when he was able to return after the storm there was nothing left but the front porch stairs. Before Katrina there were over 700 homes on the National Historic Registry in Bay St Louis - nearly half were lost in the hurricane.

Holiday time is feels strange down here but these decorations were lovely.

Biloxi is home to some huge casinos but also some beautiful beaches and this shrimp boat harbor.

This Southern live oak is thought to be over 400 years old - it was definitely an amazing tree. It stands on the grounds of the Southern Mississippi college campus in Biloxi right across the highway from the beach. The building behind it and several others were boarded up (Katrina damage) but the tree survived.

Thunderstorms and rain in the forecast convinced us to trade our tent for this little cabin in Ocean Springs, Mississippi - our hillbilly home away from home.

When the weather cleared we spent two nights on Dauphin Island - a barrier island of the Alabama coast just south of Mobile and north of the oil spill. The beahces looked gorgeous - we did see crews out watching for tar balls, etc. Unfortunately the island suffered from some really poorly planned development. Luckily the Gulf Islands National Seashore encompasses some of the other barrier islands in the area.

New Orleans continued...

We took a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking...just an excuse to eat again. Our instructor was a lifelong resident of New Orleans and the class was part history lesson part stand up comedy. The gumbo, etouffe, & pralines were yummy and the beer was cold.







At the cooking class there was a variety of hot sauces to try which reminded me that before we left Cajun Country we toured the Tabasco factory on Avery Island. This family owned company bottles all of the Tabasco used on the planet...700,000 bottles/day!

While visiting New Orleans we camped at Bayou Segnette State Park. A great spot just a 15 minute drive to park all day for $5 and then take a 5 minute free ferry ride across the Mississippi to the French Quarter. We passed through the Algiers neighborhood each day and I kept making Reed go around the block so I could get another look at the bungalows & shotgun houses.

Rosco & Daisy even got to stroll the French Quarter and Riverwalk.

Rainy weather was coming and our campground was lowland so we crossed the 24 mile Pontchartrain causeway and headed east.

New Orleans!

Memphis and beyond

Memphis was great but rainy...we still spotted Elvis.......

Visited Beale Street - birthplace of the blues and lots of BBQ.

Percy-Quinn State Park in southern Mississippi....we saw this sign after we pitched our tent (visible in the background).

Bienvenue a Acadiana! Cajun Country is amazing!

Gumbo, crawfish etouffe, and catfish......oh my!

We camped at Poche's (Po shays) Fish'n Camp - so wonderful we didn't want to leave.

Louisiana is full of suprises....like this Zydeco band going full tilt at 9:30 AM!

And the dance floor was hopping. We sat with two lovely ladies from Baton Rouge who helped us get our feet wet on the dance floor......we provided the comic relief :-)

Acres of sugarcane fields were being harvested

Lawn ornamentation Cajun style

Banana trees behind our tent made us smile

We toured a Bald Cypress and Tupelo swamp on Lake St Martin - the largest White Ibis rookery in the world.

Beautiful!

Spanish moss

Adieu for now!