By Shelby
Sunday evening, we drove from the Gulf Islands National Seashore to Malbis, Alabama. We stayed at the Planet Fitness there for the night. Monday, we worked from the library in Spanish Fort. After work, we did laundry, ate dinner, and went grocery shopping. We were planning on having salads for dinner next. Tuesday, we worked from the same library.
Wednesday, we went to the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, where we toured a battleship preserved as a museum. The battleship was interesting. It was really big. We got to see pretty much all of the ship. The ship was like a small city. There was a dentist office, two cafeterias, machine shops, a carpenter, a tailor, and so much more. It was a maze. We even got to see the massive turrets for the 16″ guns. Spencer really likes ships, so he loved seeing all of the battleship. After we finished exploring the ship, we went back to the car to eat lunch.
The park also had the USS Drum submarine we got to tour. We read a sign that said it took days to restock the submarine with food when it was at port. They stored food all over the submarine wherever there was room. That reminded me of us, since that’s pretty much what we do too – store food where we can in the car.
When we finished with the submarine, we went back to the car where we cut up vegetables for dinner. It was cold out, so we cut them up in the car. From the park we could see a few skyscrapers in Mobile Alabama, we didn’t realize the city was big enough for skyscrapers. To end the day we drove on out of Alabama to Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Thursday morning, we worked from the library in Pascagoula. It was really cold in there for some reason. I really wish I knew why most libraries are always really cold. The library was pretty cool. They had a few arcade games like Pac-Man for anyone to play. We played a quick game of Chutes and Ladders on an interactive touch screen table.
After work, we drove to the Davis Bayou Area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. We walked a 2.5 mile hike through the Bayou. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any alligators, but we did see a few snapping turtles. We also saw a couple of interesting birds, like the ones we had seen in Florida. The landscape was unique. There were lots of vines hanging from the trees. The sun had come out, and it was a little warmer than it had been. That was nice.
Our next stop was Biloxi Beach. We were considering going to a Blues restaurant that had live music, but it was $15 per person just to get in. We ended up skipping it. The beach was nice. Spencer went for a walk, while I stayed in the car. There was a nice sunset over the water.
We drove on to Planet Fitness in Biloxi. Unfortunately, there was a no overnight parking sign, so we moved on to another Planet Fitness 20 minutes further. For dinner, we had salad, but were still hungry. We went to Whataburger, a well known southern burger fast food chain. I thought it was good, but Spencer wasn’t a huge fan of it. That night, we slept at a Cracker Barrel, which allows overnight parking. We were a little worried about the predicted very cold weather that night. The arctic air was supposed to bring it down to the 20s. But we were fine. We ran the car with the heat on and were quite warm.
Friday morning, we went back to Planet Fitness and showered. It was cold, but sunny outside. Then we drove on to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We got an Airbnb for the next couple of nights for Christmas. The weather was going to be very cold the next few days, so it was good that we wouldn’t have to sleep in the car. We decided to hang out at a library near the Airbnb until we could check in.
For the Airbnb we just had a private room in a shared house which was a little interesting. Our room was cozy and warm. It was filled with Christmas decorations which was nice. It’s been very difficult to get in the spirit of the season since we are on the road and so busy. Plus the warm weather wasn’t helping, although the arctic freeze was in full effect now.
Saturday, we mostly relaxed at our Airbnb. I went to the Mall of Louisiana to do some shopping, while Spencer stayed back at the Airbnb. The mall was very busy with people doing last-minute shopping. After I got back from the mall, Spencer and I played Christmas-opoly and watched Christmas movies. We had planned on making jambalaya, but we felt too awkward using the shared kitchen. We had salad and mac and cheese for dinner instead.
Sunday, we made sugar cookies and banana bread muffins. We would have preferred to make them from scratch, but that wasn’t really practical. We used box mixes instead. This Christmas was kind of a bummer. We missed our families, there wasn’t any snow, and I think we would have preferred to have the place to ourselves. For dinner, we made jambalaya, which originated in New Orleans. Next week, we plan on visiting New Orleans and further exploring Louisiana before moving into Texas.
—In memory of Roy Betteridge—
Fun Facts from Week 35:
- The Gulf of Mexico usually has one low and one high tide per day, while most other coastal areas have two tidal cycles per day. This is due to the abnormal shape of the Gulf’s basin.
- Apollo 13 astronaut, Fred Haise, was born in and grew up in Biloxi, Mississippi. There is a statue of him at the beach in Biloxi.
One response to “Week 35”
Miss you on Spencer on Christmas tooo!