February 27, 2010.
Another beautiful day with bright sunshine and temps in the upper 50’s. We got up early looking forward to visiting with our friends Rocky and Gloria whom would be driving over from Spanish Fort, Alabama. Rocky and Gloria have been stationed at Keesler A.F.B. during Rocky’s military career and now during his civilian career off and on for about 10 years. They are obviously familiar with the area before and after Katrina. They offered to show us the town and take us to a casino.
I took Maggie and Rico out for an extended walk knowing that they would be spending the greater part of the day home alone. I swear we worry too much about them. After all, they are dogs and when we were working we had to leave them 8-10 hrs. a day alone without a potty break. Now it’s a lot like having kids with us!
Rocky and Gloria arrived about 12:30 and after a light lunch, we headed out. Rocky took us for a tour of old downtown Ocean Springs along the water. We saw house lots where Hurricane Katrina had scoured away the houses and left shells of buildings in other places.
We took a ride over the new US90 bridge connecting Oceans Springs with Biloxi. The old span had been destroyed in the storm.
From across the bay in Ocean Springs and especially after crossing the bridge into Biloxi, the predominant feature of the skyline was of course, the casinos.
Formerly the Isle of Capris, it was known locally as the "Pile of Debris" after Katrina! Now it is just called the Isle and it's the first casino on the West end of the bridge.
The Hard Rock Casino with its trademark guitar.
We drove though the area noting the damage from Hurricane Katrina was still evident on the roof of the building across the street from the recently rebuilt gigantic casinos.
The historic Biloxi Light House situated on US90, survived the storm. It's made of cast metal.
The Biloxi Lighthouse built in 1848 is the only lighthouse in the United States to stand in the middle of a four-lane highway. The lighthouse survived Hurricane Katrina and is reported to be the most photographed landmark on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
After checking out a few local marinas and fishing piers, rebuilt
and still damaged...
It was time to visit the premier casino. The Beau Rivage! A goliath amongst the giants.
The interior was absolutely beautiful and decorated to impress.
But we were here for the buffet! At about $25 a head, we were gonna make the best of it.
The food was very good and of course we over ate. We were all so full we jokingly asked the 4 rather large ladies at the table next to us if we could have some of their Pepto Bismal. We all had a good chuckle as they explained they are "professionals" and have been coming to the buffet for 10 years! We waddled out of there and the girls decided to try their luck at the slot machines.
After losing $10, it was time for Joyce to give up her attempt at a gambling career!
We walked around and made our way up to the rooftop pool.
The moon was nearly full and bright.
A few moments later and I was able to capture four full moons!
After leaving the Beau Rivage, Rocky drove us onto Keesler A.F.B. We checked out the beautiful base marina facilities. Afterwards Rocky and Gloria checked into there billeting on base. It was getting late so Rocky and Gloria drove us back to our campground at Davis Bayou. We sat around talking and eventually called it a night. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and the guided tour of the area. We said goodnight and planned to see Rocky and Gloria in the morning before they drive back home.
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