Thursday, April 6, 2017

March 4, 2017 - Ocean Springs & Biloxi, MS

Erwin woke me up early this morning, pulled up the shade for me to see how beautiful the civil colors in the sky were. I just did not feel like getting out of the bed and went back to bed fast.

It was very windy and nippy this morning. I decided to wear two layers along with the denim shirt.  I wasted my time styling my hair for the wind really messed it up the second I stepped out of the Lil’ Home.  
I made a list of places to visit today: Ohr-O-Keefe Museum of Art, Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, Water Anderson Museum & Art, The Garden of Hope Cemetery in Gauiter, unnamed cemetery in Biloxi and three other places.

First stop was to visit Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, since it opened at 9 am.  The admission for seniors (60 and up) was $8 per person.  The museum was established in 1986 to preserve and interpret the maritime history and heritage of Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The building was destroyed on August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina blew ashore and unleashed the destruction, including the priceless belongings.  After rebuilding it was open to the public in August 2014.
Battered Flag from Hurricane Katrina
The museum has galleries, exhibits, artifacts, photographs, theater and library. It has replicated 65’ masted schooners.  It has hundreds of one-of-a-kind artifacts and a vast collection of shrimping, oystering, fishing, etc.  
After the museum we took a drive around just to see if there was anything interesting for us to pull over and take a look.  On our way to the unnamed cemetery on Irish Hill Drive I pulled over to get a picture of the water tower.  I love taking pictures of water towers in cities/towns. Biloxi/Gulfport has over 8 water towers!

Old Biloxi or Biloxi City Cemetery is at 1166 Irish Hill Drive in Biloxi, MS.  There is no mark or signage.  There are headstones dating back to the 1800’s.   Some very well known locals are laid to rest here.  There are two separate burial areas and we visited only one.  If I was by myself I could easily spent several hours checking out and taking pictures of headstones.  
We decided to check out Boomtown Casino Biloxi that is on Bayview Ave.  Erwin applied for player card because he wanted to play Pai Gow Poker.  While he was playing I went outside, walked to where the shrimp trawlers were docked at.  
We brought lunch along, so I had my salad while waiting for Erwin to come along after the game.  It was about 1/2 hour before Erwin came over and had his lunch.

I wanted to see more shrimp trawlers and remembered there were a lot at a different shipyard, so we drove over there.  Yeah, that is the shipyard I was thinking about.  It looked little different, but there were lots of boats at the dock.
We then went to Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art.  We had been to Biloxi several times in the past, but never had a chance to visit this museum.  $8 per person for seniors (60+).  One of the buildings was closed to the public for renovations.  The first building, where you pay the admission, has ceramic studio and class.  There is a gift shop where you can buy pottery, etc. 
The museum is located on a four acre campus and was designed by Frank O. Gehry.  It took four years for the design process.  Hurricane Katrina destroyed the building which were 1 1/2 year from completion.  Rebuilding started in 2008.

Next building was Pleasant Reed Interpretive Center.  Pleasant was born into slavery in 1854, moved to Biloxi with his family after the American Civil War.  He became a carpenter, built a sidehall shotgun house for his growing family.  Hurricane Katrina destroyed the house, but the curators were able to save the materials and photographs.  After rebuilding the house was open to the public in September 2008. 
Icebox in 1935
The IP Resort Spa Exhibitions Gallery had woodturned vases and bowls made from different kinds of trees.  Again, photography was prohibited, so no pictures 😔

Katrinia exhibitions, photographs, video, etc.  It was sad to see how much destruction Katrina unleashed. Photography was prohibited, so I was not able to take pictures.

We drove across the bridge to visit Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, MS.  However, we found out there is an admission fee, and both of us did not feel like paying more for rest of the day.  Besides that, both of us were starting to feel no energy to continue sightseeing, so we turned around and left. 
There were few places left on the list to visit, but we had enough for today. We went back to Golden Nuggets RV Park, rested a bit.  Erwin decided to take the Jeep to go to Boomtown Casino to play Pai Gow.  I stayed behind to edit pictures I took today.

It was half an hour before the sunset that I started walking to the dock behind Golden Nuggets Casino. The clouds started to thicken up.  The sunset was so-so.  

Erwin and I went to the Lighthouse Pier to take long exposures of the lighthouse and the traffic.  

I was planning on fixing tacos for supper, but I was feeling too tired and wanted to eat out.  I suggested Raising Canes, which was about 5 miles away.  As always, their chicken tenders are moist and juicy. Their dipping sauce was delicious!

When we got back to Golden Nuggets there were 18 RVs dry camping here for the night.  Last night there were maybe 8.

~Edith

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