Mississippi and some interesting beach history

Wednesday, January 9
After a week in Alabama we packed up and headed a bit west to Mississippi. Staying south of Interstate 10 meant we'd remain close to the Gulf of Mexico and all those long white beaches.

Heading west across Mobile Bay.

City of Mobile skyline

I10 heads under the Mobile River.

I10 heading out over the Mississippi bayou.

Want to take a shot at the pronunciation of this river??

Nice river.....even if I can't pronounce the name!

The tower isn't crooked......just the photographer!

We turned off I10 and headed south on Menge Ave near Pass Christian.

Here's our home for the next 7 days!

That's us backed in and set up.

Not a long site but enough for us.

This is a very pretty campground with lots of long-needle pine trees. This little bayou is just off of the Wolf River.

They do have a pool, but it's closed and terribly dirty.

This is the laundry....shed. Four washers and four dryers. Don't bother to select hot water as they only have one tap.....cold. Doesn't look like the place has been cleaned for weeks. Only $1.50 per load though.

Lots of seasonal and permanent rigs here.

Thursday, January 10
We are only 4 miles from the Gulf so naturally we had to go take a look. We turned right at Hwy 90 and headed east. This would take us down the scenic highway to Bay St Louis. It's gorgeous today, but back in 2005 a hurricane named Katrina came calling and left a disaster.

Some beautiful homes along the road.

The sparkling Gulf of Mexico

Beach maintenance equipment. They don't mess around with a truck pulling a harrow here. This is one big beach!

Beach front home

The bridge across Bay Saint Louis to the town of the same name. 

The railway tracks run parallel to the highway.

Bay St Louis town entrance.

Our first stop was the Visitor Center at the old Train Depot. It also contains the Mardi Gras Museum and a Blues Museum. All free.

Some beautiful Mardi Gras gowns. These are from 2015.

Mardi Gras King cake. This is a fake of course. King cakes have a plastic baby hidden inside. Whoever gets the 'baby' in their cake gets to host the next party.

We continued down the beach to the small town of Waveland. It's gorgeous today, but back in 2005 a hurricane named Katrina came calling and left a disaster. Waveland and Bay St Louis were ground zero of landfall for the hurricane.

Planting palms on the beach.

Look closely and you'll see a bent antennae. Damaged in the hurricane.

This old school survived Hurricane Katrina and has been restored. It now serves as the 'Ground Zero' museum commemorating the hurricane.

Inside are many articles on the hurricane. Note the waterline mark. This is how high the storm surge came. Waves were higher than this. The storm surge was about 35 feet above sea level.

Railway lines were destroyed. So was the bridge over the Bay.

Highway 90 was obliterated. That plowed trail was what remained.

Even after 14 years the scares from Katrina have yet to heal. We drove past dozens of 'For Sale' signs along the beautiful beach front. You would see concrete steps remaining but nothing else. The property had been cleared but no sign of reconstruction. It was explained that FEMA no longer offers flood insurance. This means if you build a new place you can't get flood insurance and if you want a mortgage.....forget it as the mortgage company needs flood insurance. It's very sad.

.....and that was Our View From Here!