Our first Mardi Gras Parade

The first two pictures are from our drive on our 38th anniversary, we went to Bay Louis, one the places hit quite hard by Katrina.

This was the old train depot that today is the visitor center

And their old oak tree, they call it the Shoofly tree. There was a tree down by the beach that had 3 angels carved in it, they represented three people who found safety clinging to the tree during Katrina.

So our first Mardi Gras parade was to have been a night parade in Ocean Springs and we were going to go early, went out and got in the truck and sure enough it would not start. After some persuading it started and back to the shop we went and this time they put a new starter in even though they are not sure that is the problem.

Anyway today we went to Gulfport which is just down the road for their parade and it was a hoot, it was small, they say the big one is in Biloxi on Fat Tuesday. But we had fun and I got a haul on beads, good thing I have grandkids, I know one especially who will enjoy all the beads. And no I did not have to flash my boobs, so you can hold your head up high Tanya, I did not embarass you.

Look at all the beads just on this one float that they are getting ready to throw out.

And here is my haul, 89 strands of beads.

Biloxi RV Mardi Gras Decorations

Hello everyone, we have arrived in Biloxi and our park is all decorated for Mardi Gras, there are 6 different parades this weekend so we have to pick which ones we will take in.

We have had a bad couple days, Ron had an oops and spilt a full cup of coffee on the laptop and so we had to replace that. Then this morning he took the truck in for an oil change and 600.00 later we are back on the road almost, they could still not find out why every once in awhile it just does not want to start. Oh yeah...

Oh well life goes on and the scenery and weather are good so we will make the best of it. I will send pictures of the parades.

Our last day in Florida

Yes it is time to leave Florida, so tomorrow morning we head through Alabama to Mississippi where we will spend the next two weeks.
We spent our last day the way we would want to remember our time here, we started off with breakfast out at the Golden Corral and then headed for the beach. It was a absolutely beautiful day for the beach.



And we had some company from above.


It has been a good winter in Florida, we met many new friends, Ron had a great time with his music and the weather was warm enough to be comfortable what more could you ask for.
See you in Mississippi.

Fort Pickens

Today we drove west toward Pensacola as we wanted to visit Fort Pickens.

Fort Pickens is on Santa Rosa Island in the National Seashore. The roadway splits the island in two with white white sand on either side.

Fort Pickens was started in 1829 and was actually a Union Fort during the civil war. The fort was used right up until 1949 protecting Pensacola Bay. Below is Battery Langdon, which housed two 12 inch guns, the walls are 10 feet thick and the overhead masonary is 17 feet thick to protect the guns and crews..

The park is so quiet, we look lonely in the parking lot as we climbed Battery Worth.

This is inside the fort grounds.

Looking down the double archways.




To the north of the island is a pier and you can see across the bay to Pensacola

Battery 234 is hidden beneath the pile that looks like a hill, a whole area used for plotting and planning where to aim.

The beach was beautiful, it is like this for at least 25 miles that we drove.

Here is some of the big machinery cleaning up after the oil spill.

By the way I have quit looking for the sea turtles, I finally asked and they do not come for another month. Oh well, next time.

Our drive today was 50 miles from DeFuniak Springs to Destin, and because we had to be out of one park by 11am and not into the other before 1pm we found a spot along the bay to pull in and relax, here are a young couple out enjoying the sun.

Our park is very nice, Henderson State Beach, we have a big private spot and even managed to get Canadian TV in the trees.

The walk to the beach is about a quarter to half a mile along this cement path then up onto the boardwalk

Look at all the little tracks in the sand, I really am looking to see a sea turtle but not sure if this is the right time of year.

The beach is spectacular, the softest sand I have felt since the Bahamas and so white and clean.

The park has miles of the beach down to the condos on one end and the city of Destin on the other.

We were seeing some brownish spots in the water and they turned out to be oil spots, I guess still coming in from the spill, not quite sure.

We took a long stroll along the beach and walked in the Gulf water it was cool but not to bad, there were lots of people on the beach down where the day park is, it is of course Sunday and the weather has been so perfect.

On our way back we found this little fellow sunning himself.

The area is very built up and we will have to go out tomorrow and get used to the city.

3 Florida State Parks and Alabama

Yesterday was busy we took in 3 Florida State Parks and drove up into Alabama.

The first state park was Ponce de Leon ( The fountain of youth).

It was a very little park but the spring that was to have been what drew everyone to the area in the olden days had been made into a little swimming area.

With some trees right in the middle

This is just a picture of a road that I thought looked interesting just outside the park, the picture still does not do it justice as the road was deep red in color.

The next park was Falling Waters, it was a short walk to Florida's tallest waterfall. It was only so tall because it fell into a sink hole, there were lots of sink holes in this park.

The most exciting thing about the Falling Waters Park was that when we went back to the truck it would not start, now we are 10 miles from town. It seemed we had lots of electricity and Ron tested the battery and it seemed good. Anyway along comes the sheriff and he is going to give us a jump, to bad I was to concerned as to what was going on, that would have made a good pictue. But that was no good as it certainly was not the battery, just about ready to call for help when I(note it was I) said perhaps a fuse is gone, so Ron switched the mirror defogger fuse for the starter fuse and whoopee it started, off to Autozone to get more fuses, oh so lucky we were.

Okay now off to the next park, Florida Caverns State Park where you guessed it a cavern.

This fellow stood at the enterance



It was a very good tour, we have been in a few others but always fun to go have a look.

After the tour but still in the park we took a little drive and some of the land was very swampy.

I tried to tempt Ron for a swim but he declined.

Then a quick trip into Alabama, except for all the litter on the side of the roads it looked a lot like northern Florida, can you imagine

I wanted to go see the Boll weevil Monument but by now it was 5pm and I thought I had pushed my chaufeur to his limits. Next time.

Eglin airforce base

Yesterday I took Ron to the Eglin Airforce Base, one of the largest airforce bases in the free world. They have a wonderful museum and we spent a couple of hours looking around, alot was outside and it was very warm so I sat on the benches enjoying the sun and trying to give him time to look around.

Front entrance




A Drone


A mustang and the Fat Boy the second nuclear bomb they dropped on Japan




One big helicopter


Ron admiring the B-52


The Mother of all Bombs.

An F-16

I think he enjoyed the museum.