Shopping and Beaches in Ocean Springs
The first thing I did, after making coffee, was to go shopping at Five Seasons Whole Foods Market. It said on the website that it's THE place for southern Mississippi to get their healthy foods. And it wasn't much. There was ZERO fresh produce and a minimal amount of refrigerated foods. But I was able to get some eggs, yogurt, cheese and bread and some soups and chips.
If I wanted to find something without gluten in it, I wouldn't have had any trouble. In fact, I did get some "gluten free" oatmeal, which made me stop and wonder what exactly they did to the product to justify calling it gluten free and charging more for it.
Once I got back to the room, I stocked the refrigerator and ate some eggs and sausage. Then I took River off to visit Ocean Springs Beach. It was a hot and sunny day and the white sand created even more glare and heat. So we could only stand about an hour at the beach, but it was an awesome hour.
There was a couple of guys who were fishing and whenever they pulled their net in, they'd dump the catch into their ice chest. River was VERY interested in the contents of that ice chest and he'd go check it out when the guys went back into the water. And when they moved their base of operations down the beach a ways, River very carefully inspected the spot they had been. He found a little shrimp and tried to eat it, but I stopped him. Then I had second thoughts and figured why shouldn't he eat it? So I gave him permission, but he had lost interest by then.
As I gazed out over the Gulf of Mexico in a moment of meditation, I noticed what the guys were fishing for. Every few seconds I'd see a silvery fish jump up and break the surface of the water. It seemed like the gulf was teeming with small, silvery jumping fish. I tried to capture them on video, but just like River, the fish seemed to be camera shy and every time I filmed the surface of the water, I could see no jumpers. In this video, I included a short excerpt of my attempts to capture this phenomenon, but alas, I only captured the serenity of the gulf waters. Actually, I did spot one single jumper-- see if you can find it.
After beaching I went back to the room and showered. I took River on several walks around the Motel 6 property but other than that didn't do much else today. I watched TV and chatted on Facebook a little bit.
I boiled some eggs in the kitchen, even though I couldn't get the burner up past medium heat.
And I made myself some cheese sandwiches for the road.
The town of Ocean Springs seems like it has a strong tourist season, but this definitely wasn't it. It has a feeling like New Orleans with all the old French architecture, but it also has a strong beach town vibe. Today, we nearly had the town to ourselves.
I never made it to the Gulf Islands National Seashore, but I'm intrigued. That alone may be reason enough to come back here for another visit.
I spent a lot of time watching the predictions of Hurricane Irma. There is an outside chance that it may reach me, but more and more it is looking like it's going to focus mostly on Florida.
It will just be touching land in the morning as I hit the road, eastbound toward Houston.
If I wanted to find something without gluten in it, I wouldn't have had any trouble. In fact, I did get some "gluten free" oatmeal, which made me stop and wonder what exactly they did to the product to justify calling it gluten free and charging more for it.
There was a couple of guys who were fishing and whenever they pulled their net in, they'd dump the catch into their ice chest. River was VERY interested in the contents of that ice chest and he'd go check it out when the guys went back into the water. And when they moved their base of operations down the beach a ways, River very carefully inspected the spot they had been. He found a little shrimp and tried to eat it, but I stopped him. Then I had second thoughts and figured why shouldn't he eat it? So I gave him permission, but he had lost interest by then.
As I gazed out over the Gulf of Mexico in a moment of meditation, I noticed what the guys were fishing for. Every few seconds I'd see a silvery fish jump up and break the surface of the water. It seemed like the gulf was teeming with small, silvery jumping fish. I tried to capture them on video, but just like River, the fish seemed to be camera shy and every time I filmed the surface of the water, I could see no jumpers. In this video, I included a short excerpt of my attempts to capture this phenomenon, but alas, I only captured the serenity of the gulf waters. Actually, I did spot one single jumper-- see if you can find it.
I boiled some eggs in the kitchen, even though I couldn't get the burner up past medium heat.
And I made myself some cheese sandwiches for the road.
The town of Ocean Springs seems like it has a strong tourist season, but this definitely wasn't it. It has a feeling like New Orleans with all the old French architecture, but it also has a strong beach town vibe. Today, we nearly had the town to ourselves.
I never made it to the Gulf Islands National Seashore, but I'm intrigued. That alone may be reason enough to come back here for another visit.
I spent a lot of time watching the predictions of Hurricane Irma. There is an outside chance that it may reach me, but more and more it is looking like it's going to focus mostly on Florida.
It will just be touching land in the morning as I hit the road, eastbound toward Houston.
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