The Flip Flops Are On!

Biloxi, MS
October 19-21


Arriving Biloxi the sun is out, it's 70 degrees and the flip flops are back on! We're going to head to the beach as soon as we get some housework done....some of which is not your usual tidying up!


Driving to the beach, we take a little side trip to see what are known as The Tree Sculptures. These trees were left dead in the wake of Katrina and have been transformed by various artists into sculptures, that to me seem to signify a degree of hope and rebirth.

The beach is deserted of people, but throngs of birds line the sands in a rather Hitchcockian manner. At first it kind of freaks me out, but then we learn to respect each other's territory and we're okay. The beach is narrow but hard-packed at the waterline and is great for a nice long walk. When the birds take off, it is truly a spectacle.

Spent the evening at the Beau Rivage Casino, an MGM facility, beaurivage.com and quickly lose quite enough on the slots. But the good news is that drinks here are complimentary...haven't seen that in years! Figure we can deduct about $20 from our losses!

Take a break and pop into Jia, an Asian restaurant (and the only nice restaurant open this particular evening). We opt to graze on appetizers, having a terrific chicken/noodle mixture that is to be wrapped in lettuce and some good pot stickers. This is a very attractive and staff attentive place. One thing we thought odd...all the prices end in 88 cents! We asked the hostess and she told us that it is a good luck number in China. Probably should have gone directly out and played it on the roulette wheel! Instead go back to the slots and I have a bit of a come back to bring our losses within reason!

Driving around Biloxi the next day we begin to understand the devastation that has occured through both Hurricane Camille and Katrina. This is a pretty down and out town, seemingly solely surviving on the revenue produced from about a dozen casinos.

We stumble on a piece of land that is still wreckage strewn, but what looks like it was a dock for cruise ships. We ask a gentleman who's fishing what was there and he tells us the President Broadmoor Casino. There is nothing left.

Find Quality Poultry and Seafood, a funky looky warehouse with a retail storefront on Division Street. Lots of shrimp and fish for sale, but kind of shrimped out at this point. See a whole totally deboned chicken stuffed with crawfish etoufee....have never heard of such a thing and must try. It will have to be for another day because it's in their freezer case, but look forward to it down the road.

Tomorrow it's on to New Orleans where we'll celebrate Rick's birthday.

Are We There Yet?

Orange Beach, Al
October 16~19

We got our toes in the sand, but we should have had boots, earmuffs and mittens on! The temperature was in the mid 60's and quite sunny, but the winds were whipping over 30 mph. But we braved it out for about an hour!

The beaches are white sugar sand gorgeous. But the surrounding landscape shows a striking contrast with new highrises lining the beach alongside some of the wrath that Katrina wrought.

The Buena Vista Luxury Motorcoach Resort buenavistaonthebeach.com is going to be wonderful. The reason I say going to be is that it is still under construction with 11 lots in place. When we visited the other day to find a place closer to the beach, we thought they weren't open yet. When we spoke to the sales person she indicated they weren't really open but they would love us to enjoy a complimentary stay for a few days. What made this really attractive, besides being free, it's right across from the beach and the lots have one bedroom casitas on them with a kind of great room and screened porch which we were welcome to use. A truly wonderful concept, particularly to use as a guest house for visiting family and friends. There were about seven other coaches, most who had moved from the Bella Terra Resort, also taking advantage of the offer.

The next day is even windier..can barely walk, let alone ride our bikes which was what we had planned today. We end up doing errands, grocery shopping and other odds and ends.

But we need a treat at night. Go to Cobalt cobaltorangebeach.com, a very good restaurant with a killer sunset view and a great terrace (which of course we couldn't use because it's about 40 degrees.) I had a terrific grouper over risotto with sweet peas....Rick a good blackened redfish.

Not quite ready to go back yet, we ask the waitress for a fun place with some music. She steers us to Floribama floribama.com situated on the Alabama/Florida line in Perdido Key. She warned us it was a dive and this woman did not lie! It had the raunchiest band I think I'd ever heard, but it was great people watching and good for many a laugh!

Sunday is our last chance to get a great beach walk and this time Mother Nature semi-cooperates. It's still only low 60's but the winds have died down to about 15 mph. It's just us and some jellyfish that didn't quite make it on the beach.

Almost at the Beach

Foley, Alabama
October 13~16


Getting my toes in the sand turns out to be much more difficult than I had thought. The resort we have booked, Bella Terra, bellaterrarvresort.com, has been highly touted in the press and their advertising looked great. While it is nice and they have built a very beautiful clubhouse, it is not nearly as nice as the Blue Ridge Mountain property and it is in the middle of nowhere. They can't be blamed for the nasty cold and rainy weather,but the whole situation manages to put us in a rather surly mood. They wouldn't honor a promotional price they had online, but offered us a pay for two nights, get one free price. We changed our original plan to stay eight days to those three nights. It was enough.



The first full day there we set out to find another place to stay closer to the beach. We find Buena Vista and make arrangements to move there in three days. We are longing to feel a little beachy and look for that perfect beach shack of a restaurant...Bahama Bob's on West Beach Blvd in Gulf Shores, fits the bill nicely.


We managed to exhale just a bit. Asked where the best place to buy seafood off the docks was and we were directed to Billy's Seafood on the Bon Secour River. It is a long way, but everybody must know about it....it was mobbed at 3 p.m. Pick up some extra jumbo shrimp and Royal Reds which look to me like Florida Pinks, but must be named differently in Alabama.

















Grill the shrimp for dinner and since we are in the deep south, I make cheese, garlic grits which my good Georgetown friend, Cecelia from Arkansas, has helped me bring this to near perfection by telling me to ignore all instructions to use water in the preparation and use milk...I now love grits!

We bought the "Diners, Drive-ins and Dive's" book by Food Network's Guy Fieri. And there happens to be a listing in nearby town of Fairhope which is on our intended itinerary anyway. It's in a cute little cluster of shops called The French Quarter.

Panini Pete's paninipetes.com is touted in the book as a must do. If you intend to go, be aware it is only open for breakfast and lunch, closing at 2:30. I have their special panini, Rick orders their special burger. He wins big time! They should call this place Burger Bob's or something. The Angus beef burger with a gorgonzola spread was fab! My panini of turkey, aioli and greens was rather dull and flavorless.

Walk and drive the town of Fairhope. Numerous shops and a pretty little park on the water, but our only purchase comes from a used book store chock a block with perfect beach books should we ever get there!