The last few days have been spent in the Ocean Springs, MS area. We are staying in the Davis Bayou Campground of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. This is a really nice campground with paved sites that are all equipped with electric and water and there is a dump station on site, too, so we feel like we are cheating a bit here. In fact, many of our campsites over the last few weeks have had at least some level of hookups. It almost feels like we aren’t camping!
We had planned two full days in the area to explore, but our first day here was a complete washout. We never went more than about a half hour at a time that it wasn’t raining, and we aren’t talking about light sprinkles, light rain, or even moderate showers. It rained harder than we have seen it rain in a very, very long time! Buckets! We were really glad to have a paved site, since the grassy areas around and between the sites looked more like the alligator ponds in the bayou than the lawn it is supposed to be.
Our second day in the area was much nicer, though, so speaking of alligator ponds, we hit one up first thing. We were excited to see one of the large reptiles through the grasses on the other side of the pond. We also saw several turtles and many birds around the bayou. There is a nice visitor center in the park, and a fishing pier where we managed to catch a glimpse of a few dolphins!
Finally, we drove into the town of Ocean Springs to visit the Front Beach area. Even the drive through town was interesting. There were lots of nice houses to look at and so many live oak trees. Live oaks are so spectacular and seeing them, along with the moss hanging from them, will never cease to be amazing! We found the Front Beach area to be really nice and had a great time walking along the sidewalk and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Mississippi Sound. We saw more dolphins from the fishing pier here; apparently, there is a rather large population of bottlenose dolphins in the Sound. There were also some beautiful mosaics along the Biloxi Bay Bridge. We were surprised to find that there was plenty of free parking along the beach and that it was free to walk out on the pier. After being in so many tourist areas that try to nickel and dime you to death, this was a nice change of pace!
Tomorrow we move a little further east. We are getting closer and closer to some time with family before we head for home!
Until next time!
What an amazing trip, right?
From alligator sightings in the bayou and Spanish moss draped over the branches of Live Oak trees, to watching humpback whales feeding and glaciers calving in the frigid water of Alaska!
So incredible!
It has been remarkable. We were just talking today about how varied our country is! It doesn’t seem like the bayou and the Grand Canyon should even remotely be contained in the same country!
This really takes me back. My first job out of college was in Biloxi, which is right across the bridge in the pictures from Ocean Springs. Only lived there a year and a half, but nice memories in that area.
You certainly have seen a lot of this country, an education in itself.
We really liked Ocean Springs. There was a great beach and sidewalk area there!