The Beach at Ocean Springs

Mississippi does have a coast with beaches that have salt water lapping the white sand while pelicans dive at fishermen. I know, it surprised me too. I didn't have high expectations for the quality of white sand beaches in Mississippi until this past Thanksgiving extravaganza in Ocean Springs, MS. It's great having two paid days off from work that are coupled with the weekend, it makes for a nice weekend with the opportunity to do something different and fun. We thought that because of the Thanksgiving holiday and the time off that we would pack up and ship out to the coast and enjoy a relaxing long weekend doing nothing. We packed up the car with the essentials, thanksgiving feast, golf clubs, and the puppy, and we were ready to go. When we arrived I was surprised to see the coast still destroyed from hurricane Katrina. Newt, Kristy and Trout met Lesley, Jane, Tucker, and I in Ocean Springs for the weekend too. Our vacation house was brand new and so were all of the other houses, all three of them, on our street. The rest of the coast was empty. The new regulations for the coast state that the beach houses must stand somthing like 20 feet off the ground to protect them from a storm surge. Notice Lesley in the photo. There were no other people to be seen most of the weekend so we had the beach to ourselves and the dogs had all the room to run and play that they could want. I can sum up the weekend very concisely, relax a lot, eat a lot, and play golf a little (about three holes worth). The weather was wonderful most of the weekend and only rainy on Saturday. Lesley knit, I worked on grad school applications, Tucker read books, Newt did school work, Kristy knit, and Jane read, but we all played with the puppies. I think that Trout and Cloud probably enjoyed the beach the most. They spent a lot of time chasing the ocean, crabs, sticks, and each other.
We were lucky when they finally would wear each other out and we would have a moment of quiet.
After Tucker and I squeezed in three holes of golf by the Gulf in the pouring down rain we met everyone else for a great BBQ experience at the Shed. Aside from having amazing BBQ the Shed was covered in Shedisms. Such as this one - We celebrated Thanksgiving by combining our many talents for cooking and created a unique and delicious Cajun feast. We had deep fat fried turkey, shrimp n' grits with brown roux gravy, sweet potato casserol and so much more. I really didn't need to eat the rest of the weekend. It was very relaxing and just what we all needed to recharge. I enjoyed the "ghost town" appeal of the area and loved walking with the dogs and taking photos.
We drove back to Jackson on Sunday and I think everyone would agree that it was a great Thanksgiving.
The video is of Cloud Dancing and Trout chasing a crab... They had a blast.