The traveling sisters - day 5 and 6 and 7, too

Day 5

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Drive time:  none really

Church day.  

I have never been so glad to go to church.  And not just because the drive was only a couple of minutes away, but I will be honest, that was most of it.  One thing about the LDS church, it's the same everywhere you go, the only difference is the people.  A cute little black lady taught our Relief Society lesson.  I took notes and hope I still remember what she said when I get to teach Relief Society in September.  Notice I said "get" to, not "have" to.  I am trying to consider it a blessing and not a curse, although I'm pretty sure it is still a curse.  

After church, my sister served us some Cheeseburger Salad and homemade gluten free bread, both of which were rather tasty.  We napped and chatted and that evening she took us on the grand tour of the city of Hattiesburg.  There isn't much to see.  She taught Grammar at the University of Southern Mississippi, so she took us up to campus to see what it was all about.  

 Because she was a grammar teacher, and therefore taught the grammar police, they had to fix this "mistake" in the parking lot.  The little apostrophe reads:  "Correction courtesy of the USM Apostrophe Protection Society."   There were several times I wanted to correct her grammar for the blatant misuse of "was" and "were" and "fishes", which I teach to K-5th graders in school.  But, I kept that to myself.  ;)

 A petrified log on campus

 A train at the train depot.

 We drove through the ghetto neighborhoods, she pointed out where some of the members of her ward live, where she likes to go for walks, introduced us to one of her neighbors and showed us this massively huge plant - which I can't remember the name of.  It was crazy big.  I wonder if they grow in Idaho?  I want one.

After our little tour through town, we went back to her house, indulged on root beer floats and leftover Leatha's BBQ.  While we were eating, the missionaries came to pay a visit.  I asked them if they knew of an Elder in their mission.   They didn't know him personally, but they knew who he was.  I told them he was my next door neighbor from back home, so they immediately got on their cell phone and started texting him.  He was shocked to hear I was there and excited to hear I had moved there - little mis-communication there.  Anyway, this Elder passed along his number and told me to call him when I was in Gulfport.  I opted not to, though.  

Day 6

Biloxi, Mississippi

Drive time

90 minutes each way

This was our shortest drive all week, thank goodness.  I couldn't have taken another long one.  We drove to Gulfport and down the beach to Biloxi.  This was where Hurricane Katrina hit the hardest.  It's been long enough that the only memories that remain are the vacant lots and a few bare foundations here and there.  Most of the houses were brand new and beautiful.  We went to D'Iberville looking for a restaurant my sister had eaten at before, and it was nowhere to be found.  Instead we stopped at "Whataburger".  We have a rule when we travel, we can't go to any place we have at home and we haven't a "Whataburger".  It wasn't very good.  In fact, my sisters complained and we got free coupons to use next time we're at a Whataburger, which will probably be never.  We told my sister to give the coupons to the missionaries.

After lunch, we drove to the Jefferson Davis home.  He was the president of the confederates.  The homestead had 7 homes (if I remember correctly, my brain was pretty much mushy by this time) and all but one were completely destroyed by the hurricane.  The main house had it's roof and front porch ripped off, water a foot above the bottom of the front doors.  Some of the furniture in the house was thrown across the rooms, while other pieces, such as some mirrors on the wall, were never touched.  All the furniture had finally been restored and returned.  A couple of the outbuildings had been rebuilt.  This one is used as a guest house, I'm told you can rent it out if you are interested, probably for a small fortune.  I could have sat on the front porch and felt that cool breeze forever.  No wonders he built his house there.

The front gate was originally made of marble and it was completely destroyed in the hurricane.

We said goodbye to the Jefferson Davis house and went up the beach to the Biloxi lighthouse where we could sit on the beach for awhile.

I was tired.  And worried about getting my camera wet, so I didn't wander too far out into the ocean.  I did take a picture of my sisters all facing me, but well, it just didn't turn out well and I didn't want to offend my sister by posting it.  ;)

I was so tired I didn't even take a picture of the ocean other than this one.  

That afternoon, we drove back to Hattiesburg, stopped at "Raising Cane" for some good old southern fried chicken (strips) and more coleslaw (it is clearly a staple in these parts).  We repacked our suitcases, reminisced about the good old days and went to bed early so we could drive back to Gulfport at the crack of early.  

Day 7

Home

Flying time - one hour from Gulfport to Atlanta

2 hour layover

4 hour flight from Atlanta to SLC

3 1/2 hour drive home

I hate flying.

And I'm super glad to be home.