Hey y’all, it’s time for another edition of This Week on the Road. It’s going to be a short one this week because I only really spent the first couple of days of the week on the road. Since Saturday I’ve been relaxing here in New Orleans, spending time with my friends and enjoying the Mardi Gras weekend. I did have a great few days along the coast to wind up my time in Mississippi though, and wanted to share what I got up to out there.
My week started in Pascagoula in the rain, but I quickly moved on to Ocean Springs. I really liked this quaint and quiet seaside town with its thriving artists community, pleasant bars, and good restaurants. It seemed like a vibrant and livable place. My first stop was a restaurant I’ve wanted to get to for a while: The Shed Barbecue and Blues Joint. The Shed is a South Mississippi Institution, and occupies a huge, ramshackle building just north of the interstate. The Shed is the kind of place that chains have been trying to emulate for a long time, but with little success. The place is full of old beer and traffic signs, mismatched furniture and dollar bills hanging from the ceiling. It’s the real deal though with great food, wonderful employees and an all around good feel to it. I went with the ShedHed Sampler which came with all seven of their smoked meats and three sides. For $26 I didn’t expect too much, but what came out was amazing. It was a tray piled high with food, enough to fill me up that night, and also for lunch and dinner the next day as well. It was a great meal and experience and I will definitely come back to The Shed in the future. After dinner, I went for some live music and a few beers at the Glory Bound Gyro Co. on Government Street. It was a little chilly, but not too cold to enjoy the outdoor seating area which had a beachy feel to it. I sat by the palm tree and enjoyed some acoustic music there, and later popped in for a quick beer at a place called The Juke Joint. I really liked this divey bar in a hundred year old house a mile or so from the main part of downtown as well.
Thursday it was raining and I had a ton of work to do, so I tucked myself into the library and stayed there most of the day. In the evening I went across the bridge to Biloxi to check out the casinos. I was pretty tired, though, and it was still raining out. I played keno for a little while, won a whole dollar, and left that night a winner.
Friday dawned bright and sunny. I spent the morning taking photos of Ocean Springs which was even nicer in the sunny weather. I had a nice time at the beach and on their pier and then wandered around downtown for a while. I had a late breakfast at a little bakery called French Kiss Pastries which had about the best quiche and scones I’ve ever had. Both were delicious and I was only sorry I wasn’t hungry enough to get more. That afternoon I went back into Biloxi and took a little wander around their downtown. There is a nice little historic area with some real history to it, and a touching Hurricane Katrina Memorial, but it seemed like the main focus these days is on the casinos, which I think is a real shame. I stopped at the lighthouse and visitors center on my way out of town though, and really enjoyed them and the nice people that worked there.
Then I headed off to Gulfport to meet my friend Mrs. Palmer, who is the mother of a girl I used to work with in the Virgin Islands. It was a beautiful day out so we met at a place called Shaggy’s which had a wonderful outdoor seating area and a view out over the Gulf. We had a few IPAs and talked until long after the sun went down and it got too cold to be outside. It was wonderful to see her.
That night I headed back to Ocean Springs for their big Mardi Gras parade. Unfortunately, I went down a narrow street which I really shouldn’t have gone down in my big van. It turned out to be a dead end, but I found a patch to back up into and turn around. There were a lot of people who came up behind me, and we wouldn’t be able to pass each other, so I left my van parked there hoping I could sneak out of the parade early and slip out the way I came in. I went and enjoyed the parade which was actually pretty good for a small town and got me in the Mardi Gras spirit. I did leave early but when I got back I found someone had left their truck half out in the road creating a pinch point I just couldn’t get through. I met one of the men that lived on the block named Jim, and he was sorry he’d forgotten about the parade and to block off their properties from people parking there. He was really nice though, and had family members who lived in Washington D.C. He kept me company until the parade was long over and seemingly the last person to return to their vehicle was the one creating the blockage. I was glad to have been able to speak with Jim though, and it kept my mind off of the terrible parking job the guy had done.
Saturday I was up early and on my way. I wanted to be at Beauvoir right when it opened at 9. Beauvoir was the last home of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It was where he wrote his memoirs and where he was living when he passed away, although he actually died in New Orleans. His wife sold it to the Sons of Confederate Veterans to be turned into a retirement community for Southern Civil War veterans and their wives. Later it was converted into a museum to Jefferson Davis and is open for tours. I’ve spent a lot of time with Jefferson Davis in my travels, from his birthplace in Kentucky to where he was captured in Georgia and where he lived and was sworn into office in Montgomery, and it was fascinating to see where he spent his golden years. Beauvoir took a pretty serious beating from Hurricane Katrina, but they have done a great job of restoring it, a process which is ongoing. My tour was excellent, and the guide had a lot of fascinating information about not just Davis, but the other people that lived there before him. He was a particular fan of Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey who had invited Davis to stay in the first place, and then left Beauvoir to him in her will. Dorsey was apparently quite an interesting woman for her time. She was a novelist, a historian and a scientist, none of which were generally done by women, and especially not Southern women of a certain stature during her lifetime (1829-1879). I had a great visit to Beauvoir, and really enjoyed it.
From there, I hot-footed it out to Diamondhead for their annual Mardi Gras Parade and to meet my old friends Millie and Dawn. Millie and I used to work together when I lived in New Orleans at Francis Gregory Elementary School, and Dawn is her daughter. I taught at Gregory and Millie was the school counselor in the two years after the school system reopened after Hurricane Katrina. It was a tough time in all regards, but we did our best and made it through. Millie was definitely one of the rocks I leaned on in those difficult days, and I think I was the same for her. It was great to see her, her daughter and grandson, and to enjoy a small town parade under sunny skies.
After the parade, I headed down to Bay St. Louis on the coast to take one more set of photos before leaving Mississippi. Bay St Louis is a wonderful little community with a charming downtown, some great old buildings and a nice beach and pier. I enjoyed wandering around and taking photos in the afternoon sun, and spent most of the rest of the day there. I wanted to get to New Orleans before dark though, so I packed up and headed down the road, bidding farewell to the Magnolia State as I did.
And here I’ve been since Saturday, catching up with old friends, enjoying a few beers and having a great time through my 5th Mardi Gras in the Big Easy. You can read all about my Mardi Gras day, which was awesome in every way, in a post I wrote about it HERE.
I’ll be here in New Orleans for at least a few more days. I want to catch up on some of the photos I need to get to and try and finish up as much as I can from my time in Mississippi before I move on. By the time I write this post for next week, though, I hope to be beginning my 2 month stay in Texas, the Lone Star State. It’s a big place, and I know not even 2 months will be enough time there, but I should be able to have a good look around. If you have any suggestions or tips for things I should see or places I should go in Texas, please leave them in the comments below.
That’s it for this week. Thank you, as always, for following along on this journey. I hope to see you right back here next week.
-Mike