We had a short day at the build site and decided to run down to Gulfport, MS, which is a quick hour and a half drive from here. We arrived at the beach already slightly tired from the work day but mostly excited to spend a day at the beach, go shopping, and have a nice diner. It was a cool spring day and the sand felt wonderful on our feet as we walked out toward the gently rolling waves. There was the usual lingering clean ocean smell and circling gulls and sand pipers. We divided up into several groups to play with the football, soccer ball, and frisbee that we brought with us and a few people continued to the waters edge to take couples pictures. After about 15 min we had enough people in the soccer group to start a game which lasted through several intermissions, aka walks to the water line to cool our feet. It wasn’t until my first walk to the water line that I noticed some of the environmental damage that had been left behind by Katrina. There were small pieces of plastic floating in the water and under the sand. As I walked further out into the water my feet began to sink into the sand which, having been in the ocean a time or two before, I figured was normal. When I pulled my foot out of the mud I noticed that it was far stickier than usual. It seems that it was more of a tar like substance. As I looked around in the shallows I noticed that other that the circling birds there was no other sign of life. There were no minnows, no sand crabs, no living things in the shallow water going as far as knee deep. On my way back to dry land for the next round of soccer Paul pointed out a jelly fist that he had found washed up on the beach. Upon closer inspection we found that it was probably what was attracting the birds since it was now dead, just like most of the sea life that once inhabited the shallows along the cost of Gulfport, MS.
As we drove in to the outlet malls we were encouraged by the observations of Clayton and Amanda who had volunteered in the area only a short time ago. They described the destruction they witnessed and the vacant foundation that made up block after block of the new construction we were now driving by. This was very uplifting for me because it signaled the returning and redeveloping of the area and hopefully the cleanup of the environment and reintroduction of the plant and animal life in the shallows along the cost.
After shopping we headed out for diner at Steve’s Marina Restaurant, which was recommended by several of the workers at the shops. From personal experience I know that the Fried Green Tomatoes and Spinach & Artichoke Dip are wonderful. As is the Crawfish Etouffee which comes with either Louisiana hot sauce or Tabasco sauce or, as I had it, with both. The Stuffed Flounder Chandelier was amazing, it consists of multiple flounder fillets stacked with shrimp stuffing between them and a mushroom gravy poured over the top of it all and is served with fresh sauteed vegetables. All together this was a great trip and a wonderful meal to end the day.
Below are some more photos of the trip.
