Gulfport Small Craft Harbor Gulfport, MS

Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS at Christmas

La Strada's safe harbor

Our solar star Christmas lights

We arrived in Gulfport, MS expecting to pay for a month and stay a few weeks to visit with my family and hopefully have my Dad (Bill James) repair our A/C and charge our 12-volt refrigeration.  He and Linda came down to spend the weekend and took the skid unit back with them.  The couple of weeks turned into a month when it took our new compressor 3 weeks to travel from Tupelo, MS to Meridian, MS.  My Dad received it and silver-soldered it onto our skid, changed out the capacitors and then Nitrogen tested it for leaks.  He then delivered it and while Rob bolted everything back into place and hooked up the electrical my Dad and I got to do some shopping and visiting.  When we returned to the boat they hooked up the evacuator pump and then recharged the unit and guess what?  It all works GREAT!  Woo Hoo!  We got rid of the window unit and were lucky we got it all fixed in time to have real HEAT on the boat.  These 30-degree nights have been COLD!  So what else have we been doing while in Gulfport?  We spent Thanksgiving in Quitman, MS with my Dad and Linda and most of Linda’s family.  They rented the old train depot (circa 1910) in Quitman and everyone brought a dish or two to share.  We ate lots of good home cooking!  We also made another trip to Quitman the Sunday before Christmas on 12/23/2012 to spend Christmas with my Dad and Linda, my two Stepbrothers Benny and Shawn and their families and my little Brother Blake.  We made four rental car trips back to Houston, TX for Rob’s dental implant procedures.  The last appointment was on 12/27/2012 so we were able to go a few days earlier and spend Christmas Eve at my Mom’s house and Christmas Day at my Brother Alan’s home.

Nobody wanted their picture taken ....NOW you see why there are so many Levi photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had LOTS more good home-cooking… we are going to have to start a diet.  It was so much fun to be with family for the holidays.  Levi loves his Granny’s house and Doodle cat.

Granny's patio with Doodle Cat

Granny's sofa

Poor Baby Kitty has to run and hide from him.  The days that we were actually IN Gulfport were spent on the beach or in Jones Park with Levi (he learned a new trick of going down a slide.)

Sliding

 

and AGAIN

Row, Row, Row your boat.....

 We also checked out the many casinos and lost a little bit of money.  We would set a limit and we left our ATM cards on the boat so each visit didn’t break the cruising kitty.  We enjoyed eating in the many restaurants the casinos and coast had to offer. If we did not have a rental car, we used the Coast Transit Authority (CTA) buses to get around.  They have a bus stop right on the marina road (20th Avenue) next to Jones Park and a transit center with many buses across Highway 90 from the park.  Within walking distance is Big Mike’s Speakeasy (across Highway 90 next to the CTA transit center) with great food, drinks and free WI-FI.  We also walked to the Island View Casino in Gulfport.
We had some excitement one day as Rob was bringing Levi back aboard from a walk he noticed some smoke under one of the trees at Jones Park.  I came out into the cockpit with my camera and caught a few pics of one of the ATVs that the city workers use in landscaping was on fire.

From our cockpit towards Jones Park

The firemen saved the tree!

 The workmen and the “convicts” were running away from it and the fire trucks showed up pretty quickly.  Levi enjoys talking to the “convicts” (I use this word because it is what is plastered across the back of their jackets and they wear bright green and white striped pants.)  Mississippi uses them for labor and it gives them a break from sitting in a jail cell all day.  We were reluctant to talk to them at first because we didn’t want to get them in trouble… but we see them daily and if you know Levi he isn’t shy or scared of anyone or anything and he figures “Hey… there are PEOPLE over there….let’s go say HI!”  Another highlight of our trip was our first full weekend (November 7-11, 2012) in Gulfport they had the Sun and Sand Mississippi Film and Music Festival at Jones Park.  We could sit on the boat and listen to 2 stages of music.  They had The Blues Brothers, Kevin Costner and Modern West, Soul Asylum, Galactic, Dr. Dog, Spyro Gyra, and my favorite Gregg Allman.  I grew up in the late 60s and early 70s with Brothers who are 7 and 9 years older and they influenced my taste in music.  Here is one of my favorites written by Gregg Allman and preformed by The Allman Brothers.

Allman Brothers

On January 4, 2013 we heard the same song performed by Michael Grimm at The Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi.  I will be the first to admit I never watched America’s Got Talent which he won in 2010 and I have only recently discovered his music.  He has a GREAT voice, is an excellent songwriter, and is super talented playing guitar.  He is a Mississippi Music Man and grew up in Waveland, MS.   If you have the chance to see his live show you will not be disappointed.  Here is a video of his cover of “Whipping Post”.

Michael Grimm

We enjoyed watching the Christmas boat parade on December 15, 2012 from our cockpit.

I LOVE this beach & birds!

Kiddie Pool

Running FAST after BIG BIRD

Lots of BIRDS!

Where did the BIRDS GO?

Sand Brakes... I want to walk the other direction!

Rick Springfield?  HUH?  Cassette tape?  HUH?

The closest Levi will ever get to palm tree tops

We have to end with a happy dog in the GRASS... should we stay for Mardi Gras?

We are looking forward to the rain ending next week so we can move on down the road… to Alabama!

Santa brought me a new camera for Christmas so I am hoping my photos will be much better in the future!