Today, our last before heading for Galveston, TX, finds us stuck in the rain once again. Out of boredom, I am updating the blog (on time for a change). A pretty fierce little storm moved in last night and really dropped some rain, leveled some wind, clamored with thunder, and exploded with lightning. Tornado warnings were in effect for the counties immediately to the north of us. Harrison county was only under a flooding alert. Hopefully, the skies will clear for our travel tomorrow.

Whenever we are in Biloxi, there are a couple places we always visit. First is the White Cap Cafe, actually a short drive to Gulfport. We have been eating there for thelast 5 or so years and make it a habit to eat there everytime we come through due in large part to their good seafood and a great view. The other place we like to go is the Casino Magic casino in Biloxi. Three very good restaurants and a feeling of the house being "lucky" for us make this a favorite hangout. I prefer the Beau Rivage's buffet (excellent), but find the place not "lucky" for me.

Inside Cajun RV, we found a clean well kept park. We were parked in the front section of the park which is gravel covered and offers a bit of tight maneuvering. Though not very visually appealing, the sites are level, have all amenities, and close to the downtown action.

Arriving in Biloxi on the 28th of April, we stayed at the Cajun RV Park. A very nice store and real friendly folks. The parks best feature is the location to the beach, just a short walk across Hwy 90. A Good Sam park, we, of course, took advantage of the discount.

Yesterday we visited the Estuarium, a research/ecotourism facility on the Shoreline of Mobile Bay. This is a late entry, but I was trying to catch up on a lot of blog time while we have the opportunity. Tomorrow will find us on the road to Biloxi, MS, for a little adult fun in the casinos. For me this means some good food (not much on the gaming thing) and an opportunity for a couple of shows. Maybe we'll see you on the happy trail.

Exterior view of the Estuarium. Sitting right on the Mobile Bay shoreline, this facility exhibits a lot of the infromation gathered through the research being done to understand the importance of the unique ecosystem of the bay.

Inside the Estuarium. Educational and entertaining.

I forgot to mention that we saw the Fort Gaines monument park yesterday. Very interesting for the history buff. The Fort saw service through WW I.

Today we toured the Belingrath Gardens in Mobile, AL. A must see, these gardens will make your jaw drop. We stayed at the Belingrath RV Park just up the road about 6 miles. The RV park is a pretty basic park and the entrance could possibly make the passing camper want to keep on passing. But being a Passport America park we took a chance and found the park to be clean and the manager to be a very friendly fellow. They are currently working to improve this older campground. Our site was very nice, with a gravel base that was very level. Good water pressure, too. Not a very pretty park (at the moment), but I would recommend it, especially to Passport America members.

I took many beatiful photos of the gardens, too many to post here. Even so, I could stayed here for a week just shooting different views. We were here today and the weather was beautiful, making the garden extra special.

Here, Christa is standing in front of the Belingrath Home. Mr Belingrath made his fortune with Coca Cola. He and his wife, Bessie, used his fortune to make these gardens. Having no children of their own, they left the gardens to a foundation that would preserve the grounds for the public. Wonderful.

While walking through Belingrath Gardens, one will come across many beautiful scenes like this one of a bridge crossing the large pond. Fantastic.

Oriental Gardens at Beligrath Gardens in Mobile, AL. Wow, pictures do not do this place justice.

Our ever present companion - Lucy - in one of her pensive moments. She is a very forgiving and wonderful family member.

A view from Anastsia State park says it all for me. We tried to stay here, but they were booked. Will make it a point to come back.

One of the things I like most in my travels are the people we meet. While walking down St Georges Street, I came across Mr. Victor Kowal. Mr. Kowal is a local artist with some fame in the local galleries for his renderings of St Augustine's historic past. We spoke for a little while about his nautical paintings (being of particular interest to me). The large painting to his right (your left) was especially intriguing to me. A painting of a spanish sailing ship pulling into an early St Augustine harbor. Very nice work, I have added him to my contact list for when we build our next house.

What is St Augustine without remembering Govenor Ponce de Leon. Here lies the "Fountain of Youth," well at least the tourist version anyway. We just passed by the parkpromising to see it the next time we visit. I would really like to come back to this place.

The Taverna Gallo, boasting establishment in 1740. The guys that run this pub dress in pirate garb and put on quite an exhibit of drinking songs and privateer bravado. I enjoyed a good black and tan while Christa tried the sangria, tasty.

One of the main features that I really appreciated was the extraordinary beaches. Here we see a young man enjoying wind and surf with a para sail and surfboard rig. I gathered that it is a fairly popular sport, but was new to me. Had it been a little warmer, I think I might have liked to give it a try.

After the Disney emulsion experience, we needed to release a little of that magic we were overflowing with. We chose to stay a couple days in St Augustine, FL. A beautiful city with many sites. One of which is the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum. This is the "Flagship" of their exhibit houses, and the one a majority of their TV shows are filmed at according to the tour person. One crazy place, a real gas.

One tip for seeing the complex of Disney theme parks is to save your shopping for Downtown Disney. All the souveneer items featured throughout the park can be bought here in a little easier atmosphere. Some really good restaurants reside here as well. We tried to eat at the Rainforest, but the lunch crowd was heavy. Instead we went next door to Captain Jack's for a couple of sandwiches. Very tasty with a nice little lake view.

The studio tour was pretty nice as well. The crowds, as can be expected, tend to dull the magic after awhile. Alas, the price to pay if you want to enjoy first rate attractions.

The castle at night under different lightings. The fireworks show was something to see - and hear. What a sound system.

The coup de gras - The Magic Kingdom. We thought we had timed it perfectly. After spring break and before schools out for summer. Unfortunately, our world view was a bit narrow. I think New England must have moved to South Florida. The Red Sox playing the Devil Rays was a key factor as well.

Epcot Center, what trip to Disney World would be complete without seeing this major theme park. I particularly liked the Living Sea Exhibit. We were here towards the end of April 2005.

After getting setup at Fort Wilderness, we immediately headed out for our first attraction. Yep, ESPN Club. Had a 'specially good ribeye steak and a brew. The place is really wild, even the restrooms - a TV in every stall and over every sink. All with sports. A really fun place.

Having used Eustis as a staging stop, we finally arrived at the true destination, Fort Wilderness camp resort at Disney World Resorts Orlando, FL.

While in Eustis, we stayed at the Southern Palms RV resort. Very large park with all the amenities. Most of winter fulltimers had departed for more northern climes, leaving the pretty empty. Just right for us.

The Quarterdeck Restaurant in Eustis, FL. Enjoyed a really good seafood dinner, reasonably priced, in a friendly local setting.

A shot of Christa and Lucy passing in front of the Luther Hall boat landing and park area taken 8 April, 2005. This little state maintained park off State Highway 20 just west of Tallahassee FL, offers a few free tent camp sites, picnic tables, rest room facilities, and of course a boat landing. Though it could be a little cleaner, I enjoyed the facilities that were available. Coe's Landing a few miles up the road is a little nicer and has RV sites ($12.50 a night if I remember correctly). There are a number of other "landings" that we did not explore, but they offered camping, picnicing, hiking and boating as well.

After a bit of lunch, we set out for a paddle on this expansive lake. The weather was a bit iffy, a little blustery causing small chop. Partially overcast and alternating between very warm and slightly cool depending on whether a cloud was overhead. I additionally took photos of some loons, but I have not finished processing them. Below are a couple of photos of Goat Island.

Goat Island on Lake Talquin near Tallahassee, FL. Many people have spoken of Bald Eagle residing in large numbers here, but I did not see any on this day.I crossed the lake from the Luther Hall boat landing off State Road 20. Taken 8 April, 2005.

A campsite on Goat Island which sets in Lake Talquin near Tallahassee, FL. Photo taken 8 April, 2005.

This is a late entry, but I just got the photos finished up. I attended this show around the middle of the month in March of 2005. Very interesting with some of the participants showing some amazing machinery.

A fantastically restored steam car on exhibit at the Gas & Steam Show, Tallahassee, Fl, March 2005.

Several small engines from the Gas & Steam Show held in Tallahassee, Fl, March 2005.

Mr Bobby Bennett showing off his antique "Hit & Miss" lumber mill. Mr. Bennett tours the country with his club demonstrating old gas and steam engines and the engineering feats of bygone eras.

A scenic view of Savannah's river harbor. Our recent return visit to this great city was much anticipated on our part. Our visit last year was just to darn short and we had vowed to return. We once again placed ourselves in the hands of local tour guides to get a quick picture of what we wanted to see in greater depth later. I would recommend the 'Old Town Tours' trolleys for a good trip around the city with a marvelous depiction of local sites, history, and famous people. Other tours companies offer similar tours at similar prices, but they do stop at different sites and Old Town fit our needs better. My recommendation is to check out their routes and see which one works for you.

We did take the Old Savannah tour bus also, but was a bit dissappointed in the lack of scheduled buses. We took the tour with the option of getting on and off when and where ever (authorized stops) we wanted. Due to the lack of scheduled buses we (and a large group of folks ended up waiting close to an hour a bus to pick us up at one of the designated stop/pickup areas. They advertise a bus every 20 minutes, the result was a group of disheartened tourists. Add to this, a rather cavalier attitude on the part of the dispatcher, a poor situation was made worse. The tour company finally dispatched a special bus to pick us up, but by the time that bus got there, there were to many people for the bus to carry. So another special bus (at additional waiting time) was dispatched. I'm sure that the company doesn't operate like this all the time ( I hope), but they should have offered recompense of some sort to assuage the many dissappointed passengers. Regardless, I still recommend the tour buses as a great way to get the lay of the land.

We stayed at the Bellaire Woods RV park off Highway 204 west of I-95. A nice wooded park, though creative leveling and crowding were a couple of detractors. That and the fact that it rained for a good portion of our stay were the only real downsides to the stay. The RV park is heavily wooded, so if you happen to depend on satellite internet as we do, then site selection becomes an issue. We had to suffer withdrawals as we could not get a clean signal out and because of a crowded park we were not able to change to an alternative site. But, we managed to survive despite the lack of an internet fix. They do have Wifi at additional cost offered by Linkspot that we used on our last day to check mail and take care of some other business.

As with the last visit, we enjoyed our time in Savannah. We were able to get in some paddle time, enjoy some good eats, take in a couple of good tours including the 'Old Town Tours' ghost tour, and check out some nice museums and a cematary. I rate Savannah as one of those cities you need to see at least once in a lifetime.

Touring the UGA Marine Education Center on Skidaway Island in Savannah.

One of the more historic places in Savannah, the Pirate House offers fine dining in a unique setting. Robert L. Stevenson refers to this house in his book "Treasure Island."

River Street in Savannah, Georgia, offers great dining and shopping opportunities for the traveler. My personal favorite was the Shrimp Factory for dining, but the River House was a close second.

The Ship Museum offers a very nice garden to walk through and a detailed history of Savannah's maritime history. Excellent displays of ship models, paintings, scrimshaw carvings, and mast heads. If you have sea salt in your veins, this is a must stop.

Entrance to Bonaventure Cemetary in Savannah, Georgia.

Bonaventure Cematary features beautiful grounds amonst some of Georgia's most prominent past residents.

Very serene at Bonaventure Cemetary.

This way to John Mercer's gravesite.

A bench depicting some of John Mercer's more famous works.

John Mercer's final place of rest.

A lot of famous folks are in these peaceful settings. John Mercer of Moon River (and others) fame rests here.

Avast maties. Christa and Lucy catching a few rays.

A kodak moment at the lake at Scott Park, Savannah, Geaorgia.