Day 3: The Awakening

After a great night of sleep (the sun and humidity took a lot out of me), we got up to get some great breakfast.  We made a right out of the gate instead of a left.  We found ourselves in Long Beach (yep, I have now been in Long Beach in two different states) on the wrong side of the tracks.  But on our way to the wrong side of the tracks we noticed how much damage had happened from Katrina.  Entire estates were for sale sans the actual buildings because they no longer existed.  As we passed a parking garage you could still see it had no actual floors any more.  The damage from the hurricane was intense.  This made all the more real when we realized that base was on high hurricane watch (not that I believe one will happen, but still interesting to note).  We saw a sign that said 1 in 3 children will be obese in Mississippi…but I don’t know how – after an hour and half we couldn’t find a single place to eat. 

We settled on going to the Hard Rock Café and Casino.  Our server was Jean Paul – a Californian if I ever saw one with a wife and kids he was proud to talk about.  Every time he served something he excitedly yelled, “Bam!” or “Awesome!”  He ordered a Hickory Bacon Burger and I ordered what our waiter called a Mexican burger with chicken.  It was so good but it was the size of my face. 

As we walked out, having never gambled, Ryan thought it would be fun to take me.  We walked in with twenty dollars and I learned slots (on a Wizard of Oz slot machine).  Four bonuses later we walked out thirty five dollars richer.  I guess I had beginners luck.

We then headed to the Jefferson Davis Beauvoir Property.  The main house looks just like the house I grew up in (down to the mirrors, pitchers, and receiving table that took seven people to get into the building once it had been restored after Katrina).  The grandfather clock in the entry way was valued at $35,000 by the Antique Road Show people but took $4,000 to repair after Katrina.  The piano in the greeting room was completely replaced because Katrina killed it. 

In the gardens are roses that have just been replanted.  Beautiful.  But as you go through the gardens is the cemetery of Confederate soldiers.  There is even a Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier who I was told was only 15 years old.  They are really into the Confederacy here. 

In the souvenir shop we discovered two books you would never find in California.  Mississippi Was Right (a book about how the state should have ceded and will succeed in doing that again) and Sambo a Children’s Book (complete with little black boy that looks like a monkey on it).  We also found a million confederate flags, but the prize was the beautiful southern fan Ryan got for me as a souvenir.  The sales lady gave me the directions on how I can communicate with a fan simply by how I hold and wave it.  I am going to have fun with that one. 

We tried to go to two other museums but they all closed early.  So we ate Frenchie’s.  Well, we didn’t really eat, we had an incredible desert (Ryan calls it Heaven) but it is really called Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake.  I paired it with a Caramel Appletini.  It was amazing!!!!!  So we also tried their Pomegranate and Cucumber Mellon martinis and decided to go see Despicable Me 2.  We got lost and found some beautiful homes and re-routed ourselves to the movies.  Apparently there is nothing to do in this city because the whole town was at the theater, inside and outside in a mile long line for tickets.  We watched the cute movie (no spoilers here) and then we tried to head home. My GPS was failing us for two reasons: 1) my phone had 20% battery and 2) Google hasn’t caught up with the damage from Hurricane Katrina yet.  Three U-turns later we went got back to base with a pizza ordered and Lincoln on TV. 

The beautiful south is just that.  The people are swell.  The land is beautiful.  And the company is wonderful.