***CAUTION***CAUTION***CAUTION***LONG READ AHEAD***
Recently traveled to Biloxi Mississippi to visit my sister and brother-in-law after their recent move there. They secured retired military housing on base in one of the nicest ones I've seen, which can be a rarity from what I'm told. Getting on base was quite the ordeal though, as it was 100% ID check type status and it was Sunday. In laws had prepared the pass applications in advance and we had that paperwork, along with Real IDs, passports, Social Security cards, and birth certificates. Still took over an hour in the lovely 95F/10000000% humidity to get through the gates. And then, it was only a TEMPORARY pass. We had to come back Tuesday (Monday after the holiday on the 4th was a "down" day on base for some reason) and secure our "permanent" passes, which fortunately took only a few minutes to accomplish. Not complaining, I'm just glad our bases are secure, but still took lots of time and paperwork as the Gov'ment is known for.
First stop after we unloaded was Boomtown Casino for one of the all-you-can-eat buffets. I WAS hungry, and they had AYCE crablegs included too for a senior/military/first responder/educator (wife) discounted price of $36. I easily got my money's worth and the food was actually quite good for a huge buffet style. My son was the one who actually made the restaurant manager weep when he stacked up 17 buckets of crab leg shells. I got to 9, wife got in 5, and stopped before we made a gastric mess. Rolled out of there and back to the house for a well deserved nap and air conditioning. Even with temp passes, spent another 15 minutes getting back on base. Had some bourbon and a cigar with my boy and the BIL to finish out the day and then it was Taps for this old guy. They do play this, along with Reveille, Recall, and the Star Spangled Banner at the appropriate times over the loudspeakers on base. Pretty cool.
Next day we traveled over to the Foley Alabama area to look around. It is one of a handful of spots in that region of the country that we may call home someday. Foley is a neat place in downtown proper. Had coffee at the Drowsy Poet's Society which was in an old converted gas/service station. Couldn't tell which brand, but most of the patina was intact. Including the slight pungent smell in the men's room
. Took a look around some of the newer communities and found a couple we liked on the south side of the city near OWA water park. 2 were on golf courses, even though I don't play the cursed game. Drive the cart and drink beer? Sure. Try to hit a little white ball around and beat the ground with sticks? Thats witchcraft. Nope. Afterwards we ventured about 15 minutes south to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Super nice beaches, wide white sand, and clear (well, much clearer than Biloxi) blue/green water. Threw our suits on and stayed in the water until we all looked as pink as the crablegs we ate the previous day. Stopped in at Vallarta Mexican Restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner on the way out of town. Good food and fairly authentic, not like the commercial Americanized Mexican food offerings you see everywhere. Of course there was a Buc-ees in Loxley AL right before we got back on I-10. Found pump #22, and fueled up. Pump #21 was conquered at the Auburn Buc-ees on the way down.
Next sunrise found us sleeping in a bit, but up for the early lunch buffet at Treasure Bay. This one included crab legs AND lobster AYCE. Yummy. Another stuffing had me contemplating why the H I ate so much. Back home and a nap took care of any musings I had. Later on, we had tickets to the Biloxi Shuckers baseball game. The Shuckers are the farm team for the Milwaukee Brewers and there were LOTS of Brewers fans in the stadium. Beer tap trailer had a deal with souvenir cups. Buy the cup and 16oz worth of liquid gold for $13. Refills with the cup were $7. Lots of Fly IPA was refilled. Shuckers played a good game but ended up losing by 2 points. Oh well, at least the beer was cold. Afterwards, went across the bridge to the Beau Rivage. Haven't played Black Jack since Vegas some years ago but walked away with $680 on $100 worth of chips initially. Guess Lady Luck took pity on out of town visitors.
Wednesday we were scheduled to go to McElroy's Harbor House for breakfast and then to Gulf Port to drop my son off at the airport to fly home. Glad his mother checked flight info, because he was NOT flying out of Gulf Port. He thought MSY was for Mississippi and Gulf Port was closest. Of course, MSY is Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans LA. Glad we had factored in the breakfast time, it took us that hour to get to NOLA on time. Ended up being good for me as I've never been to New Orleans, so we made a day of it. Started with some of the best Po Boy sandwiches I've ever had at a little hole in the wall place called Mahoney's on Magazine St. The mufelletta egg rolls were quite tasty also. Then onto the French Quarter and Bourbon St. Everyone insisted on Hurricanes at Pat O' Brian's and who was I to argue? Matt the bartender was super friendly and mixed a mean 'Cane. Walked over to Cafe Du Monde for some cafe au lait and beignets. Forgot that I didn't care much for chickory, but the 5lbs. of powdered sugar on the 6 beignets made up for it. Walked on over to St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, and generally saw the sights. Came on back to base and sat on the porch for a bit, then called it an early night even before Taps sounded. Good day we had.
Return trip was not so early and hit some traffic. Stopped to have lunch with my nephew in Montgomery AL. He is a MGySgt USMC stationed at Maxwell AFB and is assigned in the admin recruiting division. He was assigned as a rifleman sniper on the base special response team at Camp Lejeune for years before transferring to Maxwell. I'd like to take credit for teaching him to shoot, but he was a natural. Good to see him again and spend some time together. I-85 N right into some of the worst traffic around Atlanta that I have ever experienced. Took 3 hours of my life that I'll never get back. Oh well, got home safely, albeit a bit late and frazzled. Have to clean the bugs off of Tiggy tomorrow. All in all a good visit. Didn't get to McElroy's or Shaggy's (sorry @PandaBear, tell Summer next time), but that will be for our next trip down there. We are already planning it. Seems somewhere near the Gulf Coast will be home soon.
Recently traveled to Biloxi Mississippi to visit my sister and brother-in-law after their recent move there. They secured retired military housing on base in one of the nicest ones I've seen, which can be a rarity from what I'm told. Getting on base was quite the ordeal though, as it was 100% ID check type status and it was Sunday. In laws had prepared the pass applications in advance and we had that paperwork, along with Real IDs, passports, Social Security cards, and birth certificates. Still took over an hour in the lovely 95F/10000000% humidity to get through the gates. And then, it was only a TEMPORARY pass. We had to come back Tuesday (Monday after the holiday on the 4th was a "down" day on base for some reason) and secure our "permanent" passes, which fortunately took only a few minutes to accomplish. Not complaining, I'm just glad our bases are secure, but still took lots of time and paperwork as the Gov'ment is known for.
First stop after we unloaded was Boomtown Casino for one of the all-you-can-eat buffets. I WAS hungry, and they had AYCE crablegs included too for a senior/military/first responder/educator (wife) discounted price of $36. I easily got my money's worth and the food was actually quite good for a huge buffet style. My son was the one who actually made the restaurant manager weep when he stacked up 17 buckets of crab leg shells. I got to 9, wife got in 5, and stopped before we made a gastric mess. Rolled out of there and back to the house for a well deserved nap and air conditioning. Even with temp passes, spent another 15 minutes getting back on base. Had some bourbon and a cigar with my boy and the BIL to finish out the day and then it was Taps for this old guy. They do play this, along with Reveille, Recall, and the Star Spangled Banner at the appropriate times over the loudspeakers on base. Pretty cool.
Next day we traveled over to the Foley Alabama area to look around. It is one of a handful of spots in that region of the country that we may call home someday. Foley is a neat place in downtown proper. Had coffee at the Drowsy Poet's Society which was in an old converted gas/service station. Couldn't tell which brand, but most of the patina was intact. Including the slight pungent smell in the men's room
. Took a look around some of the newer communities and found a couple we liked on the south side of the city near OWA water park. 2 were on golf courses, even though I don't play the cursed game. Drive the cart and drink beer? Sure. Try to hit a little white ball around and beat the ground with sticks? Thats witchcraft. Nope. Afterwards we ventured about 15 minutes south to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Super nice beaches, wide white sand, and clear (well, much clearer than Biloxi) blue/green water. Threw our suits on and stayed in the water until we all looked as pink as the crablegs we ate the previous day. Stopped in at Vallarta Mexican Restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner on the way out of town. Good food and fairly authentic, not like the commercial Americanized Mexican food offerings you see everywhere. Of course there was a Buc-ees in Loxley AL right before we got back on I-10. Found pump #22, and fueled up. Pump #21 was conquered at the Auburn Buc-ees on the way down.Next sunrise found us sleeping in a bit, but up for the early lunch buffet at Treasure Bay. This one included crab legs AND lobster AYCE. Yummy. Another stuffing had me contemplating why the H I ate so much. Back home and a nap took care of any musings I had. Later on, we had tickets to the Biloxi Shuckers baseball game. The Shuckers are the farm team for the Milwaukee Brewers and there were LOTS of Brewers fans in the stadium. Beer tap trailer had a deal with souvenir cups. Buy the cup and 16oz worth of liquid gold for $13. Refills with the cup were $7. Lots of Fly IPA was refilled. Shuckers played a good game but ended up losing by 2 points. Oh well, at least the beer was cold
. Afterwards, went across the bridge to the Beau Rivage. Haven't played Black Jack since Vegas some years ago but walked away with $680 on $100 worth of chips initially. Guess Lady Luck took pity on out of town visitors.Wednesday we were scheduled to go to McElroy's Harbor House for breakfast and then to Gulf Port to drop my son off at the airport to fly home. Glad his mother checked flight info, because he was NOT flying out of Gulf Port. He thought MSY was for Mississippi and Gulf Port was closest. Of course, MSY is Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans LA. Glad we had factored in the breakfast time, it took us that hour to get to NOLA on time. Ended up being good for me as I've never been to New Orleans, so we made a day of it. Started with some of the best Po Boy sandwiches I've ever had at a little hole in the wall place called Mahoney's on Magazine St. The mufelletta egg rolls were quite tasty also. Then onto the French Quarter and Bourbon St. Everyone insisted on Hurricanes at Pat O' Brian's and who was I to argue? Matt the bartender was super friendly and mixed a mean 'Cane. Walked over to Cafe Du Monde for some cafe au lait and beignets. Forgot that I didn't care much for chickory, but the 5lbs. of powdered sugar on the 6 beignets made up for it. Walked on over to St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, and generally saw the sights. Came on back to base and sat on the porch for a bit, then called it an early night even before Taps sounded. Good day we had.
Return trip was not so early and hit some traffic. Stopped to have lunch with my nephew in Montgomery AL. He is a MGySgt USMC stationed at Maxwell AFB and is assigned in the admin recruiting division. He was assigned as a rifleman sniper on the base special response team at Camp Lejeune for years before transferring to Maxwell. I'd like to take credit for teaching him to shoot, but he was a natural. Good to see him again and spend some time together. I-85 N right into some of the worst traffic around Atlanta that I have ever experienced. Took 3 hours of my life that I'll never get back. Oh well, got home safely, albeit a bit late and frazzled. Have to clean the bugs off of Tiggy tomorrow. All in all a good visit. Didn't get to McElroy's or Shaggy's (sorry @PandaBear, tell Summer next time), but that will be for our next trip down there. We are already planning it. Seems somewhere near the Gulf Coast will be home soon.
