English: Gulf Shores and Bay St. Louis trip.

Beth, Hollie, and I had very nice mini-vacation to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We checked out some of the Mississippi Coast on the way back.

Beth had been to Gulf Shores before. She didn't want to duplicate the unpleasant stinky motel room away from the beach of her previous visit, so we both searched for options on line-- she wanted something right on Beach Boulevard. She decided to go with the Best Western, right on the beach. It's a bit on the pricy side ($200), but Beth said she wanted a bit of luxury.

Our drive was uneventful with pleasant conversation, taking the Interstate highway to the other side of Mobile Bay. The hotel was nice enough, with mini-fridges and microwaves in the rooms in addition to a fine view of the beach from our 5th floor windows. However Beth was a bit disappointed, expecting to get more luxury for that price-- more than I payed to stay in Cambridge or Miami Beach right on the beach. None the less, we were soon enjoying ourselves.

The beach is beautiful white sand. I'm told it's new; pumped in from the Gulf after the old beach was eroded away by Katrina. There were pieces of a ruined pier sticking out into the Gulf to the East; smashed by Ivan, Denis, Katrina, or a combination, I didn't find out. Otherwise, we saw little sign of problems.

As Beth went for her first dip in the sea, H & I enjoyed lunch at a place across the street from the beach that Beth recommended-- Gulf Island Grill, I think. The decor was touristy but the food good. We enjoyed a plate of hush-puppies. Good non-greasy hushpuppies are a favorite southern junk food of mine that has never caught on in New Orleans (occasionally seen at some of the West End seafood places, but seldom elsewhere). In the restaurant and at the hotel we were struck by how markedly the accent changed in a 3 hour drive. A gal at the hotel desk said we didn't sound like we were from New Orleans; assured that we were, she said maybe she could hear a bit of Cajun (!). Well, New Orleanians are strange foreign creatures to the folks of Alabama-- though not quite so frightening as Yankees, of course.

We enjoyed the beach -- it was just slightly overcast at times, which was fine by us, as we could stay out a long time with less concern of sunburn. We all splashed in the warm and clean sea, and I built a sand castle.

We tried going out for dinner in the evening, but the first few places we tried had long waits go get in. We'd hoped to avoid such crowds by going during weekday. We finally found a Mexican restaurant, but after nibbling chips (with pleasant conversation) for over an hour with no sign of other food, we left and contented ourselves with some provisions from a grocery store to eat in our room.

In the morning, flocks of gulls hovered outside the windows. After a morning beach & sea swim, a front of rain came in. We decided to call it a beach well done and packed up. We stopped at a souvenir shop, as Hollie spotted a Sponge Bob beach towel in the window she wanted, but they were sold out-- I did pick up a pair of beach towels with happy hopping froggies on them. We walked to another similar shop across the street. The amount of kitsch was such that within a minute Beth had to step outside with a tackiness overdose, but Hollie succeeded in scoring herself an absorbent Sponge Bob.

We headed north from the shore-- I liked driving Beth's new Honda Fit, and appreciated finding that the rear windshield wiper can be put to good use on such a rainy day. We stopped at a farmer's market in a covered building, which had a bakery-cafe attached where we enjoyed delicious fresh baked fruit cobbler (another dish not often seen here in the city). Back west on the Interstate, and somewhere in Mississippi we left the rain behind us. Beth suggested we check out Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on our way back home. H & I readily concurred, as we hadn't seen the Mississippi Coast post-Katrina and had wanted to. I headed back to the coast at Gulfport, and we went west, touring part of the now notorious stretch of Highway 90 across from the beach. This area formerly had miles with scenes ranging from ante-bellum mansions to modern condominiums and hotels, and most is now little more than rubble. We passed various crews still at work hauling away the debris, bit by bit, as they still are here in the city.

We crossed the new highway bridge to Bay St. Louis (the former one was destroyed; the new one still has only one lane of traffic in both directions open while still under construction.) Beth used to spend time Bay St. Louis before the storm. She pointed out former locations of things, including buildings and businesses that formerly existed on the other side of what is now the street closest to the Bay; other than a few pilings sticking up from the water one wouldn't know there had ever been any buildings.

Bay St. Louis: Edge of the destruction

We turned inland on to Mainstreet, and were pleased to see signs of life with a number of businesses back open a short distance past smashed structures. We stopped in a couple of shops (a proprietor in one mentioned the water was six feet high inside hers), an art gallery building (now housing some businesses Beth had known from elsewhere in town before the storm) and a book shop (where Beth picked up the new Harry Potter and was recognized by an old childhood friend).

Then back home. We had a fun trip. I brought my new iPod along, but never listened to it.