Tar Balls

Oil on a sea shell

Tar Ball



Tar Balls



Posted Oil signs.

They are still cleaning the beaches of the oil,  down here on the Alabama Gulf.  We have seen quite a few workers with bright yellow or orange jackets, with tools in their hands picking up tar balls. They also have marked off areas that they have been with red flags.  We also see parking areas that they have set up to have as a command station. They have their ATVs,  Ditch Witch, Porta-Potty, and other equipment in that area. I'm sure they aren't as abundant as it first was, but they still are evident.
When you look out into the Gulf, you can see many oil rigs.  It is so sad to see those.  By the BP commercials down here, things are looking up. But by the news reports, businesses are still suffering and are not getting paid by BP. It's a long process, I'm sure. 
This is a slow time of year down here, but we still see people on the beach having fun and fisherpeople fishing. So, we are down here, trying to help the economy by eating! Oh, yeah and Vel bought a t-shirt.-M

Workers on the beach

On to Alabama

Going through tunnel with Rig in Mobile!

 We are now in Alabama, down by the Gulf Coast. I knew we had a tunnel to go through to get there, It wasn't my favorite part of the trip. Thank goodness the traffic wasn't too heavy.


Lulu's Restaurant in Gulf Shores Alabama

One of our first choice's to eat was Lulu's. She is Jimmy Buffett's sister and  has a very successful restaurant down by one of the marina's. The food was very good. I had a Blackened Mahi Mahi sandwich and Vel had Lulu's Famous Fish Sandwich with an order of Fried Green Tomatoes. Yum!! 

I bet this place is hoppin in the Summer!

Next we stopped at a trail area and picked up a couple brochures. When I opened the top of the holder, this little guy came out. What a surprise.       Then on to Fort Morgan. This is the site of the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay. The fort was completed in 1834 and was quite interesting. Vel, of course, loved all the history. I'm sure she could of stayed longer.

This little guy popped out of a brochure holder.

Fort Morgan



Gulf Shores Beach

On the way home we had to stop at the beach for a quick picture and a geocache, which was an easy find. It was a fun day-Later -M

We ate, where Guy ate

Blow Fly Inn

 We stopped at Ocean Springs, MS for a couple of nights. It's one of my favorite towns.  It has a nice little downtown area and I love the Beach Drive Road.
I asked the gal who cut my hair, where she liked to eat. She said the Blow Fly Inn, it was featured on Guy Fieri's show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. So, we had to check it out. Vel and I both had fried catfish and shrimp, and it was delicious! Then to top it off our lunch came with banana pudding for dessert. (No, I haven't weighed myself lately!)  The original restaurant was destroyed by Katrina, so this it the new building. Very nice!

Blue Light Special Geocache

We also did a little geocaching in the area. We didn't find the geocache between the two cemeteries we went to, but we had to check out the tombstones. They can be very interesting. Then the blue light special geocache was fairly easy to find, the only problem was the ants that started to climb up us and bite, as we were standing there. Ouch!, boy did we move out of there fast!

View from the Blow Fly Inn, Back Bay

We had to make a short stop at a Casino, while we were there. Vel picked the Beau Rivage. She didn't do too bad and I just did my usual walking around.  Then on our way out, we walked by the little coffee shop and it had a sign saying "Hot Beignets". Guess what, we stopped and had a cup of coffee and an order of beignets. Yummmmmm!

Looking from Beau Rivage Casino, towards Gulfport

The new Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge sunset,from Beach Drive.

Then with a detour to Beach Drive to see the sunset, we headed home. Later-M

Moving on

I-10 driving over the Atchafalaya Basin

 We're moving on down the highway.(interstate) We stopped in Mandeville, LA at a very nice state park on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain.  There is the remains of an old Sugar Mill within the park and also alot of nice trails.










You can see the Causeway that goes into New Orleans from the beach, we also could hear a low humming .
I wonder if that wasn't the traffic going across it.


Shore of Lake Pontchartrain



Fontainebleau State Park Campground



Abita Brew Pub

  Of course we had to go out and check a local eating establishment that  was recommended to us, by a fellow traveler, The Abita Brew Pub.   We tried their Chicken Wings and  Oysters Brochette. They were both tasty, with a glass of their Amber Beer.   The Pub looked to be in the middle of a neat little downtown area of Abita Springs. We didn't hang around, as it was dark and we needed to go home and feed the "furry kids"


Pontchatrain Causeway



Still Eating!

Bayou Boudin & Cracklins Cafe & Cabins

We stopped in Breaux Bridge, LA for a couple of days. And tried out a couple of eating places.  Vel had been wanting to try Cracklin so we found a neat little place by the Bayou Teche that had Cracklin. The Gentleman at the counter gave us a taste, that's all we needed!  I know someone who would probably have a seizure if she even got close to it. It's similar to the package of fried pork rinds that you can find at the Grocery store. YUK!  We also got some Boudin, which is rice with either pork or seafood in a casing. It's kind of good. We were told everyplace makes it a little different. 


The cabins were cute, it was a neat little area.

Bayou Cabins

Back of our Rig at Poches Fish and Camp



Eggplant with Red Fish and crawfish creole cream sauce, with rice dressing and corn macque choux!



Blackend Shrimp Skillet Creole.

We also went to a popular restaurant called  Prejeans.  The food was very good. I had the Eggplant and it had a little sweetness to it, which surprised me.  It's so fun to try new foods!



Morning-out our back window!

We did a little geocaching while we were there, we are up to 190 finds.  Later-M