Beautiful Gulf Beaches

After Panama City, we moved on to a quieter beach area and had 2 fantastic days in Destin, Florida.  The weather has been picture perfect and the beaches... crystal white sand that feels like you're walking in icing sugar!  We've really enjoyed slowing down a little and taking in all the natural beauty - pelicans flying in formation, little sandpipers running along the shore and really big surf. 
Well, that really only lasted one day and Jim was going crazy, so after his early morning jog .... it was time for another bike ride!  This one was through a state park forest where little geckos and lizards were constantly darting across the path.

 We started off being very quiet, hoping to see some wildlife, but after the coyote tracks became more and more numerous, decided it would be better to ring our bells and scare them off first!  Such naturalists...

We had record high heat (35 deg.) and humidity, but that didn't deter us from continuing the ride in a more civilized area.  Seaside is a gorgeous little town with exquisite homes.  Once again we considered a move, checked out the real estate and found out we could get a little shack for $500,000 or go big - $4.5 million!

As we couldn't agree on a particular house, we'll just have to keep searching.
After another great seafood dinner (we can't get enough) and some outlet mall shopping the next morning, we started driving again, only to discover we had crossed over to Central time 2 days earlier and didn't even know it.  We were an hour ahead of everybody else and wondered why it was so dark in the morning.  Duh!
Off to Mobile, Alabama for a quick stop through their downtown.  It was very southern with French and Spanish style architecture...

and visited a plantation (that's Jim ready to descend the Scarlett O'Hara stairs)

We arrived at our next destination, Biloxi, Mississippi and after watching the news, realized how fortunate we were not to be anywhere near the devastation further north of us.  These are strong people and there are still many reminders of Katrina.  Biloxi was actually hit harder than New Orleans.

Lots of boarded up windows and

empty lots where buildings used to be.

We stayed on the waterfront which is filled with Vegas style casinos - all brand new rebuilds after Katrina.  As we're not really gamblers, we checked out a great band playing soul/jazz in one of the casinos and then had a field day people watching.  We met a great guy who, "Started out pickin' melons and haulin' hay," complete with cowboy boots and a slow Mississippi drawl.

The next morning we hopped on a working shrimp boat tour and had a fabulous time.

Our deckhand Steve, first serenaded us with his own composition - something about a woman from Mississippi who left him, and continued with funny comments interspersed really interesting information.

 We actually got to identify all the catch, including some huge shrimp which sells for $3 a pound off the pier!

But the highlight was the dolphins that surrounded the boat hoping for some of the throwbacks!

It was a great way to end the first half of the road trip!!!  We are taking the next week off from driving and leave from New Orleans for a 7-day Caribbean cruise tomorrow.  We are really excited as it's our first cruise and are looking forward to only unpacking once during the whole week.  The blog is on hold for the next week, but we'll look forward to reconnecting next Sunday with lots of pictures.   Thanks again to everyone who is following along and sending us emails.  We love it!  Bon Voyage.