April 9 - April 12.  Bay Hide Away RV Park and Campground - Bay St. Louis, MS

Starting our trek eastward, we left Rayford Crossing on the 9th of April and stopped at Cajun Palms RV Resort in Henderson, LA.  

Part of the pool at Cajun Palms RV Resort

This resort/park was such a pleasant and wonderful surprise, that we extended for a second night.  It's a huge RV resort with beautiful swimming pools, very friendly people and as a bonus, it's sandwiched in between two fantastic cajun seafood restaurants (Crawfish Town USA and 

One of two great seafood restaurants

Landry's Seafood House).  Now you understand why we had to stay two nights...... so we could sample both restaurants.  Delicious crawfish and shrimp!  We enjoyed nice long walks thru the resort and visits with great neighbors.  We actually met one of our neighbors earlier on the 9th at the Flying J truck stop in Orange, TX.  

The kiddie pool at Cajun Palms RV Resort

While chatting, we found out he too was headed for Cajun Palms.  He offered to let us pull up beside him to eat our lunch, but we had already decided to stop for lunch at the Welcome Center just after we crossed into Louisiana.  In hindsight, we should have had lunch at the Flying J truck stop since parking was extremely limited at the eastbound Louisiana Welcome Center.  Surprisingly, when we pulled into our spot at Cajun Palms, our new friend from the Flying J was parked right beside us. 

On Friday morning the 11th of April we moved on to Bay Hide Away RV Park in Bay St. Louis, MS.  This was a fairly short drive for us -- only about 3.5 hours and it put us about an hour from New Orleans.  Since it had been a short drive, we were able to pull in, park, get set up and still had time to head for New Orleans.  We thought we'd drive into the city, walk around a bit and have dinner.  We had no idea the 4-day French Quarter Festival was in FULL-SWING.   

 

 

New Orleans street lamp

 

The steamboat in New Orleans

Jackson Square in New Orleans

A performer in the French Quarter Festival

Major crowds and craziness.  Thank goodness for the wonderful lady at the NOLA (New Orleans, LA) Visitor Center who gave us clear directions for where to park and all the info we needed to navigate the French Quarter Festival.  We enjoyed live music, street performers, dinner at a little French restaurant, walking on Bourbon St. and beignets at Cafe DuMonde.  

French Quarter Festival for 2014

Great jazz band we enjoyed

Bourbon Street

A violinist and a puppeteer with a marionette

 

Steetcar in New Orleans

 

Great restaurant for dinner

 

Bourbon Street - Galen the dog in a tuxedo t-shirt and on his back and lying very still.

Notes near Galen's coffin delcare "Need money for proper burial.  If it's worth a picture, it's worth a dollar! " and "His name is Galen, he is 8 yrs old.  You can pet him, please be gentle.  We take him to the dog park before coming.  No, he is not drugged.  Yes, he is alive & very healthy."

Bourbon Street

More Bourbon Street

Near Cafe du Mond

Bob enjoying his beignets

Jan enjoys her beignets

Saturday, the 12th of April, we opted to stay closer to the RV park.  First we drove to the nearby Silver Slipper casino in the outskirts of Bay St. Louis.  We were very pleasantly surprised to find a very nice RV park with concrete pads, concrete roads and full hookups of electric, water and sewer.  The park is provided primarily by the Silver Slipper casino for those RV'ers going to the casino, but that's not a requirement.  Further, this RV park is located across a rural road from the beach!   Sites ranged from $25-$35 per night.   

Welcome Center in Biloxi

 

Welcome Center in Biloxi

Staircase at the Welcome Center

 

Biloxi Lighthouse

We then visited Biloxi, MS where we spent the first 3 months of our married life.  After 44 years and a major hurricane, we barely recognized the place.  We couldn't find the trailer park where we'd lived or the bank Jan worked at while we were there.  The only piece still in place is Keesler Air Force base.  We toured the Welcome Center in Biloxi which is in a beautiful 19th century  home and across the street from the Biloxi lighthouse.  The area has built up quite a bit with casinos.  We ended the day by heading back to Bay St. Louis.  Along the way, we drove by the Hollywood casino and found that it too had a really nice RV park with concrete pads.  

 

Street performers for 2nd Saturday celebration

A wood sculpture near the beach in Bay St. Louis

When we arrived in Bay St. Louis we discovered they were celebrating the 2nd Saturday of the month with live music.  They do this every month to bring people to the quaint downtown and surfside area of the town.  Lots of people milling about enjoying the music and drinking.  There appeared to be no restrictions on walking around with open drinks so we ventured into a local establishment and grabbed a couple of brews to fit in with the regulars!  Dinner was at little restaurant (Trapani's Eatery) that served the best fish tacos Bob has ever had!  Jan's stuffed flounder was scrumptious, too and we splurged by splitting a dessert called Dinwiddie's Delight.

A blonde brownie with cream cheese icing, then topped with ice cream, toasted almonds and Amaretto.  Makes our mouths water just thinking about it.  

Dinwiddie's Delight......oh so yummy !!

Sunday, the 13th of April, we moved on to Alabama with a return to Bella Terra RV Resort for more visiting and to meet up with friends.  Some from our earlier stop in Bella Terra and some from our time at Myakka.