The last time I had a week's vacation at the beach was 30 years ago when we took our two young sons to the Outer Banks of NC. I was more than ready for another beach vacation.
To celebrate my "retirement" from H&R Block, last winter I told my husband I was going to spend a week at the Gulf coast. If he wanted to come with me, that was fine; if he didn't, I was going by myself with my sewing machine, and that was fine too. He is no fan of the beach. He decided he would go and we had a wonderful, relaxing time.
He has family who live in Gulfport/Biloxi/Ocean Spring, MS, so that was our destination. I found a great condo to rent at the Legacy Towers. The Towers are right on Hwy 90, Beach Blvd, and it was easy to cross the street to get to the beach. Three swimming pools, spa, fitness room, fully supplied kitchen, full size washer and dryer--just like being home except there's a BEACH out the balcony.
We drove the 7 hours down the Sunday before Labor Day and got settled by late afternoon. Then we headed out for dinner along with everyone else who was enjoying the weekend at the beach and had to wait a while for our first seafood meal. No worries, we're on vacation!
The next day I learned I really had picked a great week for the beach--everyone left. For the rest of the week, I was the only person on the beach, the only person in the pool after that, and we never waited for a meal again. The weather was perfect, the Gulf water was warm, it was all good. We relaxed all week, reading, napping, the biggest decision each day was where to eat. We met up with family twice for dinner. We went to a movie. We just took life easy at the beach. Lovely!
We made one trip, a boat excursion to Ship Island, 11 miles off-shore. There is an old Fort there, Fort Massachusetts, and it's part of the National Seashore. A park ranger accompanied us on the one hour boat ride out there and then gave a tour of the Fort for those interested. The first tour was for 3 couples, and of the six of us, four of us had served on active duty, so we kept asking questions, and he kept giving us info. At the end he said we held the record for the longest tour ever--an hour and a half--he usually wraps it up in 45 minutes. Then we went to the beautiful beach beyond the fort and enjoyed the water there. I found a few shells but the two beautiful ones had live hermit crabs in them and it is a big No-No to take anything living, flora or fauna, from a National Park so I returned them to the sea. It was a great day, even though I got a little fried from the sun.
Though I took a lot of handwork with me, I didn't touch it until the last day when I had finished the book I was enjoying and really needed to get a small project wrapped up. All in all, it was a wonderful vacation, one I hope we repeat next year, and even my husband had a good time--he mostly just needed to relax as he is still working, way too hard and too long.
Here are a few shots: How I Spent My Summer Vacation:
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| Afernoon nap location |
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| View from our balcony of one of the 3 pools |
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| Comfy living room |
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| Lunch: hummus, crackers, chips, salsa and WINE |
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| One of several rays in the water at Ship Island |
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| A bunch of starfish floated by--near the ladies foot |
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| We didn't plan to both wear lime green shirts on the same day, really! |
Barbara
Looks like a fantastic vacation! I love the beach and warm weather!!
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