By traveler 
(Really, the trip’s only 45 minutes each way, but you get the point of the title–I hope–and if you don’t, you should watch more 60’s television.)
Friday was thankfully another glorious day, this one in Gulfport, Mississippi. And I appreciated this because I’m traveling in an area that can get some very fierce storms at times.
As Gulfport is, well, a port on the Gulf of Mexico, it seemed logical to see if I could get on one of the excursion cruises available. I waited until the last moment to buy a ticket–my vacation trips tend to be too “up in the air” to want to purchase any more in advance than necessary–so I was glad that I was successful in getting one for the noon trip out to Ship Island despite it being a mid-summer Friday afternoon.
In addition to the island having tons of beautiful, sandy beaches, it is the home of Ft. Massachusetts, which was engaged during the American Civil War and is now part of the National Park Service. Well, I’m not interested in fishing, scuba diving, sitting on the beach for hours at a time, etc., but I do really enjoy boat rides, so I decided to hang around the dock area and return with the ship rather than waiting for its passenger pickup at 5 p.m. (some folks literally opt to go out on the 9 a.m. trip and spend the day on the island).
I’m afraid I was not lucky enough to capture pictures of the occasional bottleneck dolphins that played near the ship. However, the scenery was arresting, so I hope at least that sense is discernible below. Again, the bulk of the pictures I took are located at https://flic.kr/s/aHskEhM13K:
BTW, the crew evaluated the quality of the hats we wore boarding the ship, and my 7-incher got the “thumbs up” for the best hat!! (Actually, I lost count of the number of compliments and “where did you buy that hat?” questions the hat got over the entire trip–truly a keeper!)
After we returned to Gulfport, I was in the mood for a seafood dinner (when am I not?), but it was too early for dinner. So, RB and I wandered the roads off of the beach areas, and I took a few more pictures:
The White Cap Seafood Restaurant was nearby, and since it had gotten very high ratings from Tripadvisor, I drove there for dinner. As this was a Friday evening, I was prepared for a long wait to get a table and for service to be a drawn out affair once I was seated. Plus, the wonderful smells of the food that greeted me before I even opened the restaurant’s door certainly should have encouraged a lot of customers to fill its confines. Imagine my astonishment when I was seated immediately upon entry! My thought was, please, not another dud!! (See yesterday’s entry.)
On the contrary, I don’t know what was better, the food or the service! I ordered the Gulf jumbo shrimp, and, instead of the salad I’d declined, the server brought me a soup that had my taste buds dancing a jig . Then, I barely started the soup when she arrived with my meal, which I’m picturing here to stir envy in the hearts of anyone looking at it.
With doggie box by my side, RB and I made one last current of the beaches since I have no idea when I will be this close to big water again, then we headed west, passing New Orleans, which had originally been one of my stops but time was now becoming a factor. Fortunately, the evening rush was over, and the weekend traveling traffic was fairly light. We made Vacherie, Louisiana, in very good time, so I settled for the night and awaited the next day’s adventure.
I’m going to close with a political thought here, so bypass it if you rather not read it. I spent the day in a place that should have been overflowing with tourists but wasn’t. I can’t help but wonder if the impact of Mississippi’s “bathroom law” isn’t being felt very significantly, even in Gulfport.
I thought I’d accidentally left the playlist running while on the excursion, somehow missing all of the G’s and H-I folder contents, because the player started in the J’s. My remote couldn’t be found, so I was forced to enjoy James Brown, James Taylor, and others. What a way to pass the hours on the road!