Monday 25th September 2017

Today was a travel day.  We left Memphis at 08.15am to travel down the I-55 and the I-49 [331 miles] to Gulfport.  We made a few stops along the way.  The first was at ‘The Huddle House’ for coffee – a run down fast food restaurant with really awful washrooms.  The second was at ‘The Cracker Barrel’ for brunch.  The third stop was at MacDonald’s just for  a comfort break where we decided to try to video call the Keynsham Brass Band [where we are long standing members] who were practicing at that time. Rob didn’t let us down, he answered promptly and we were able to say “Hi” to everyone and listen to what they were practicing. It was really nice to see everyone all be it briefly. Keep up the good work everyone!  Finally we stopped at Walmart for provisions before heading to our airbnb accommodation for the night.

We have booked a room in a beautiful house that sits on the Bernard Bayou just North of Gulfport.  After finding our room, which was situated at the top of a beautiful wooden spiral staircase, we headed outside to take in the view and our surroundings.  We were led by our host – Rick – out through the garden and along a pier onto a beautiful sitting area where we sat watching the Mullet jumping, listened to the insects singing and watched the sun retreat behind the clouds.  We also indulged in a bottle of Bud! [Sorry Rick!]

Tuesday 26th September 2017

Today we visited New Orleans.  Our first stop was ‘Cafe Du Monde’ inside the original French Market area in Decatur Street. A couple of musicians were playing on the pavement just outside so we decided to begin our day with ‘cafe au lait’ [coffe with milk] and Beignets – a square piece of fried dough, covered in powdered sugar which is always served in sets of three.  It was all delicious.  The guitarist and trombonist entertained us with jazz standards like “Oh when the saints” and “La Vie En Rose” – just the sort of thing we were expecting.

We walked along a good stretch of Bourbon Street and then along to Jackson Square where we listened to a street band who were also singing jazz standards with some jamming in between.

2. New Orleans 26.9 (24)

We visited ‘Dutch Alley’ for some art where we spent some time in a beautiful gallery full of things we would like to buy but can’t. We did, however, find a couple of statues to pose with!

Finally, for no reason at all, because we were not hungry in the slightest, we visited ‘The Gumbo Shop’ and indulged in Gumbo – a stew popular in the state of Louisiana.  Julie had seafood gumbo served with okra and rice and Jacqui had chicken andouille gumbo again served with rice. We mixed in some garlic hot sauce just because we could! We were also provided with the biggest bread roll ever to share. What a feast.

Before heading home we stopped at Gulfport Beach for an evening stroll along the beautiful white sand, whilst watching the skimmers fish for their tea.

Arriving home ready to cook up some tea – Jacqui is always hungry – we were invited to join our hosts [Rick and Tonya] for green Thai Curry and rice all washed down by some proper beer which they had purchased for us.  It was called ‘Southern Pecan – The Original Pecan Nut Brown Ale and it was delicious.

4. Beer bought for us by our host 26th Sept

Wednesday 27th September 2017

We began today with a kayak on the Bernard Bayou.  Rick and Tonya had kindly offered us the use of their kayaks. Once the kayaks were in the water and we had ungainly settled ourselves onto them – not the easiest task in the world – we headed out onto the water.  The Bayou was very quiet and all we could hear was the sound of the oars cutting through the water. We observed some birds from a distance – an Osprey, a blue heron and an egret – and jumping mullet. We sculled for some time and finally returned home to find Rick sitting contemplating his next project – an easier way to launch and get into his kayaks.  He kindly helped us out of the bayou -a little easier than getting in – and together we all carried the kayaks back along the pier and stowed them in the garage.

We would like to thank Rick and Tonya for a wonder two days stay, their kind hospitality and interesting conversations and for the wonderful gift of ‘fools gold’ excavated locally by Rick.

5. Canoeing Gulfport 27th Sept (17)5. Gift from Rick-Fools Gold - Gulfport 27th Sept (19)

Clean and dry we headed onwards to Axis, Mobile, Alabama to stay with Jacqui’s friend Janie, her partner Lebaron and Harley the dog. After much conversation we all headed out to ‘Dreamland BBQ Ribs’ for the best ribs in Alabama!  They were preceeded by bread and a delicious spicy sauce.  We were able to watch the ribs being cooked over the BBQ from our seats.

We then were treated to a drive through Downtown Mobile and some of the places we will visit over the next few days.

We finished the day with a Pecan beer over a game of ‘Mexican Train’ – a domino game that Janie had introduced to Jacqui all those years ago when they met in Thailand.