Thursday, February 3, 2011 (Davis Bayou, Ocean Springs, Mississippi)

As usual, I was up bright and early this morning...6:00 a.m....I don’t like to waste my morning coffee time! It was cold outside...the space heater didn’t seem to shut off at all through the night. I was working on our travel blog when Steve finally crawled out of bed about an hour and a half later.

We enjoyed a leisurely morning and after exercises, showers and breakfast we were finally ready for the rest of the day...it was almost noon by this time! We thought we`d go for a hike on one of the many trails here in the park but first we decided to take a drive into Ocean Springs to pick up a few things at the grocery store.

Serena directed us to a local Winn-Dixie store and after I`d picked up the groceries, we decided to take a bit of a drive around Ocean Springs rather than head right back to the campground. We were driving along the main street (which was actually highway 90) and next thing we knew we were on a huge bridge crossing the inlet into Biloxi. Well, we hadn`t planned on going into Biloxi! Rather than drive around not really knowing where to go, we decided to turn around...we`ll research Biloxi and have a plan before we go exploring.

This is a picture of the bridge (in the distance) over to Biloxi...

So we crossed back over the bridge into Ocean Springs and took the first road to the right. This was Front Beach Drive and went along the inlet...it had a beautiful beach. As in many places along the Gulf, the destruction caused by the hurricane is evident. But they are rebuilding...here is a picture of the waterfront where work is being done....

Across the street though, is the shell of a house...remnants of Hurricane Katrina...

We tried driving through the quaint streets of Ocean Springs but unfortunately the clearance under the old "Live Oak Trees" is too low for us. Many of the streets are under a canopy of trees...very beautiful but better suited for strolling through...in nicer weather! So we headed back to the highway and our campground.

Well, I must say that I envisioned our new lifestyle of wintering down south as needing nothing other than shorts, t-shirts and sandals. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I’d be searching my drawers for turtle-neck sweaters, long-johns and heavy socks! But that is precisely what I was doing...we needed to bundle up to go for our hike. It was only 37F (3C) and the windchill made it well below freezing...the wind was brutal! However, we were going to get out for that walk!

First of all...a picture of our campsite...

The wind was brutal...

The short trail we went on...

A little info on the area...

A picture from one of the lookouts...

We had a great walk and after stopping to chat to other hearty souls out braving the cold, we returned to the warmth of the trailer. We had planned on barbequing kabobs for dinner tonight but neither Steve nor I wanted to stand outside cooking them...so I had to go to ‘plan B’. Steve would have to be a guinea-pig for a stir-fry...ala ‘’Dianne’’! The sauce part was a bit tricky (no cornstarch...and little soy sauce) but I managed to make it palatable...it actually wasn’t too bad.

After dinner, we watched TV while I did a little banking on the laptop. We seem to have a pretty good signal with the rocket stick so downloading went quickly. Rain had been in the forecast and sure enough we started to hear the pitter-patter on the rooftop just before we headed to bed.