Gulf Coast

Today I left Louisiana with the destination of Alabama. I took the scenic route along the coast. I had no idea that Biloxi had that long stretch of beauiful beach!! This is my first time seeing the Gulf of Mexico, I'm hoping it won't be my last!

I came across the St Louis Bay bridge and stopped at the first beach I saw, which was Harrison County Sand Beach. Not much for original names I guess. :) The sand is really fine, nice to walk on. The beach was not crowded like they would be in Cali, and it was around 90 so you would think you would see lots of people out. I think because there is such a long stretch of beach there is plenty for everyone! For the picture to the left I was walking and just put the camera at my side pointed behind me and took the shot. Not bad for not knowing what I was shooting at!

When headed east the right side of the road is all beach and on the left side is beautiful houses like the one picture here. Although, there are quite a few empty lots right now. Katrina definitely has left it's mark along this stretch of Mississippi. I asked a lady to take my picture and then she told me about how much more beautiful it was here before Katrina hit. The road was lined with century old beautiful homes and lots more trees. She had just moved 7 miles in shore and if she would have stayed in the place she was living she would have drowned. The water that came into her previous residence was at 32 feet. She said the eye of the storm came in right about over St Louis Bay, and it came in at a catagory 5 then came back down as a catagory 3 storm. The new house being built are put on stilts like the one you see here in this picture.

Thankfully, it's less humid here then in New Orleans. It was a georgous day to be at the beach, walking in the water.

I also stopped at Ken Combs Pier. Many people out fishing on the pier but they weren't have much luck. I had to take this picture of the Xtrerra at the Gulf of Mexico. I'm so proud of her, I love that truck. LOL I've put almost 1800 miles on her since leaving Minnesota on June 3rd. And that's with driving only a few miles the 5 days I was volunteering.

I hate my picture taken but I figured I need to have a few...

I continued on to Alabama since I have never been there before and it was so close. Not sure where I should go there so I tapped into my GPS for some advice. Right there under attractions was Dauphin Island. On the island is Fort Gaines. I thought that would be a good place to go with my fastination with old things. Plus, it's an island, you can never go wrong with going to an island! The lady at the gift shop told me they consider themselves the edge of the southern world.

For all you history buffs out there... Dauphin Island was named Massacre Island in 1699, because of the large pile of human skeletons that were discovered by a French explorer. A colony was built there at that time and later rebuilt after a pirate raid in 1711. Six years later a hurricane almost destroyed the settlement. In 1813 the United States seized the territory around Mobile Bay which is where the island it.

The war of 1812 proved that America needed adequate defenses for its long coastline. Construction of a fort on Dauphin Island began in 1819. Ok, thats enough of that history stuff, I'm getting bored! LOL I was never much of a history buff. If you're into war history this fort has plenty of it, all the way up to WWII. So, if this interest you and you're in the area you would probably be interested in visiting Fort Gaines.