Day 17 – Best Rest Area Ever, Noshing With The King, Christmas In Alabama, Spring in Florida – May 9, 2018

Late last night, Karen found us a campsite just inside the western Florida border and we booked it for two nights. Big Lagoon State Park was our destination today.

Just as we crossed the border into Mississippi, we pulled into a ‘Welcome to Mississippi’ rest area located right next door to the Stennis Space Center (who knew NASA was here?). It was a deluxe rest area with a large lobby, a reception counter and helpful attendants. 

There were also several booths set up kind of like a mini-trade show. It turns out that this week is supposedly National Travel and Tourism Week. This means we got a hot bowl of gumbo, compliments of a local Biloxi casino; some astronaut ice cream, compliments of NASA; pastries from a hotel in Bay St. Louis; litter bags from the MS Dept of Transportation; and donuts from the rest area. I even got to stand next to one of Mississippi’s favorite sons.

We took the scenic route along Highway 90 through Gulfport and Biloxi. There were miles of white sand beaches with nobody on them. One reason might be because there is almost nowhere for cars to park along the beach until you get to Gulfport or Biloxi. In between, there are lots of large homes on the inland side and empty beaches on the water side. Jefferson Davis had a summer home along here, according to a sign we passed.

When we stopped at a rest area in Alabama, we had high expectations. It tried hard to impress, especially with its fully decorated Christmas tree in the lobby! Although it was a nice one, it couldn’t beat the earlier stop.

Just across the state line into Florida is Big Lagoon State Park. We got here late this afternoon, so we haven’t had a chance to check it out yet. After dinner, I got to play some bluegrass music with a couple camped around the corner from us – Bob played mandolin and his wife, Kathy played guitar while I provided the authentic bluegrass sounds of the ukulele. They knew lots of old time instrumentals and it was fun.

Tomorrow:  Hang out in the lagoon.