Gulfport Mississippi, Uploaded by M+MD.
Well we thought it wouldn't be a holiday without going to a beach. According to the Internet there are no real beaches in Louisiana but if you want a beach you should travel East. Florida is only 3 hours away by Highway. Much nearer to New Orleans are the beaches of Mississippi at Long Beach, Gulfport and Biloxi. We settled on Long Beach. We left around 10 am and were at the beaches before 11.30. The beaches were beautiful with miles of white sand running beside the road.
The area was damaged by Katrina and we could see lots of evidence of recent repair though no evidence left of the damage. There were areas of the beach where the parking and the footpaths were being relaid and also there were some very small immature palm trees along the edge of the beach. We stopped and checked out the water - it was warm! There was also a funny looking fish swimming in the shallows. There was nobody on the beaches - it was a little eerie. There were lots of beautiful beachfront property. Of course schools in New Orleans opened last week. It seems like they must all be back in Mississippi too. We know that they are not back in New York yet - Senan checked his friend Kevin's school and it isn't back until the second week in September.
We decided Long Beach was too quite and drove along the beaches until we reached Gulfport. It was also quiet though we came to an area opposite a Marriott Hotel which had a number of sun beds for hire and a car park. There were even a few people around. That looked good enough for us. We hired 2 double lie outs for the day and got ourselves set up under a sun umbrella. We put on the sun cream and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. We read our books. The temperature was in the mid 90's but there was a lovely fresh breeze off the sea.
At about 3 we went looking for food. We found a strip mall leading back to the Highway, but nothing interesting in the line of restaurants despite driving all around. In the end we settled for a Subway. We all agreed that it hit the spot. In the afternoon we went in for a swim. The water never really went much above the waist, but we managed to swim after a very long walk out from the beach. What was most strange was these flying or jumping fish which started to appear p front of us. They were about the size of a large mackerel and they seemed to jump rather than flying. There were a line of posts which probably marked deeper water - we never reached out that far. On the top of each pole was a Pelican. They were not very interested in the flying fish - maybe they had just eaten! They were more interested in holding onto their perch on the post!
We packed up at 6 and were home at 7.30. We decided to try our luck at the bowling in the Rock N Bowl again. It was also a zydeco night. Zydeco is Creole country rock music with lots of dancing; button accordion and washboards. We had read about it but had no real idea what to expect. Well the first thing that we found was that the place was hopping - even busier than Saturday night with Kermit Ruffins. Everyone was on the floor dancing. The dance was a strange combination of two step and jive and lots in between. The accordian and leader of the group is Geno Delafose. His album was noiminated for a Grammy in 2008. You can see the washboard (worn around the neck; and the accordian as well as the dancing in the video clip taken that evening.
It was a great backdrop to our improving bowling. We were just a little hungry and we got some fries while we bowled. After the bowling we watched the music had a couple of beers and even did a little dancing ourselves. It was another great night at the Rock N Bowl.
Dancin' to Zydeco, Uploaded by M+MD.
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