Normal Latter-day Saint Family

When Destiny and I were planning our trip together, one of the main things we both love is going to the beach. So I looked into a few different places and gave her some options and we chose Gulfport, MS. It appeared on lots of lists of "Best Beaches in the US."

Lunch at McAlister's Deli.

It's a treat for Dest to get to eat out without

having to take care of kids while eating. :)

Then we got our toes done!

I forgot to get a picture, but Dest and I both wanted to lose some weight this year. We decided to be accountability buddies for each other. We each set a goal of how much weight we wanted to lose by the time we went on our trip. If we reached our goals, we would treat ourselves to pedicures on our trip.

And we both made it!

Woo hoo!

We got checked into our hotel.

It was a super cute resort called Centennial Plaza.

And it was walking distance to the beach.

The grounds were so pretty!

This is the beach right across from our resort.

It had gorgeous white sand.

And it was clean.

And a wide beach.

Sisters!

And one of them is always birding...

Isn't that sky AMAZING?

God is such an incredible artist!

Ok, what the "Best Beaches" lists failed to mention

is that while the sand is really nice, the water is

SUPER SHALLOW. Like you can't actually swim here.

You could walk out a hundred feet into the gulf

and the water wasn't up to your knees.

Destiny mostly enjoys sunbathing, so that was fine

for her. But I mostly love swimming!

So not fine for me. :/

One of the surprise perks of our resort was

this fountain. At night it would do a light

show to music. It was like a mini Bellagio!

They even played my favorite song from Bellagio.

Our second day, we visited Ocean Adventures Marine Park.

It was awesome and I loved it so much.

I'm more of the kid in my family than the kids. :)

They had a sea lion show.

A stingray touch tank.

A bird show!

And a place where you could feed the parakeets.

A little gator talk

And a dolphin show.

My favorite.

They also had smaller tanks.

This may be the uglies creature I've ever seen.

Axlotl

So fun spending time with my sis!

Our resort had a little water park and lazy river

where we also spent some time.

So fun to relax and soak up the sun.

And another walk on the beach.

Check out that sunset.

The next day we went out for tamales.

They were good, but the restaurant

was weird and didn't have any seating,

so we had to eat in the car. Ha!

Also stopped at this arcade,

which was mediocre.

We did a little bit of shopping.

We aren't the biggest shoppers.

And had a nice dinner on our last night at one

of the resort restaurants.

This is how much stuff I packed.

My car was pretty full just with stuff for me!

Then it was time to drop Dest off at the airport and for me to

get back to NC. We decided we'd like to do a Sisters

Trip every other year. But we're also gonna try to have

a family reunion every other year. So we *might* have

to go two years in a row so we can stagger with the

reunions after that. I'm sure our husbands won't mind. :)

Before Grandma got sick, Destiny and I had planned to do a sisters trip at the end of June to Gulfport, Mississippi. With the timing of the funeral, our trip started soon after. I was planning to drive to Gulfport from NC. But Destiny already had her flight scheduled. So, after the funeral she went home with her family for a couple of days. I flew my family home without me. And I took a solo road trip from TX to MS. It was an adventure!

My first stop was in Houston. I had several hotel options and for some DUMB reason decided to book a place in the middle of downtown. Why, oh why did I do that? I don't like cities! They intimidate me. I'm afraid I'm going to get mugged. And there's so much traffic. Ugh. I really wish I would've booked one on the outskirts of town instead. Lesson learned for next time.

But it was a nice hotel! :)

These glasses were sitting on the desk with the note,

"Please check fridge." I found a bottle of wine

in there... That was different...

About an hour into my stay, I got a call from

the front office saying that they had ACCIDENTALLY

left that wine in my room and could they come get it.

Ha!

Good think I don't drink wine or I'm not sure

what they would've done about that.

The view from my window.

I thought I might walk around.

But once I drove through the neighborhood,

I felt like that wasn't a good idea.

So I just stayed in my room all night.

And there was a horrible hail storm that afternoon.

The next morning, I tried to go birding at a park.

It also felt a little sketchy.

I kept my pepper spray with me and hoped for the best.

And then the birding was lame!

I only got to see one species.

But it was a REALLY cool one,

the Yellow-Crowned Night Heron.

We were walking around the woods together.

It was neat.

Isn't that an awesome bird?

Also made my first stop at Voodoo Doughnuts.

Look at the size of those things!

Huge!
It was good, but didn't blow my socks off.

Next stop: Bayou Bend in Houston.

It's an estate with beautiful gardens that you can tour.

I went in the morning to try to beat the heat.

They had audio clips that you could listen

to on your phone as you toured. That was nice.

Pretty fountains.

And statues.

The estate from the back.

Butterfly garden

The family who lived on the estate were the Hoggs.

And this woman was the one who created all the gardens:

Ima Hogg

Seriously???

That's her name?

I couldn't believe it.

The estate from the front.

You could also tour in there,

but I stuck to the gardens.

I enjoyed my time there.

Then I stopped at Rothko Chapel.

This is the reflecting pool outside.

The chapel is in the background.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside.

But I borrowed this one from the web.

It's interesting.

It's a place for mediation and introspection.

Those are big Rothko paintings on the walls.

But they're so subtle, you could almost miss them.

It was free and kinda cool to check out.

After that, I left Houston and headed to

Beaumont, TX where I would stay the night.

I stopped by the Fire Museum of Texas.

I strolled right in, signed the guest book,

and started walking around.

Something didn't feel quite right...

I realized the museum was CLOSED

that day, but they were in the middle of

a CHILD'S BIRTHDAY PARTY that I

somehow managed to crash.

What the heck?

I quietly walked back out,

trying to be discreet.

Woops!

Nearby is the Art Museum of Southeast Texas.

I decided to stop there.

They had some fun installation art outside.

But when I went inside, they informed me

that their main gallery was closed.

Ummm... Are you seeing a theme here?

Beaumont is also the home of Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Museum and Visitors Center. I made sure to check before

driving there, because IT'S ALSO CLOSED ON SATURDAYS.

Well... This little stop on my trip was not going well.

By this time, I could check into my hotel, so I went and did that.

And then since it was like 115 degrees, I decided it would be a good time to go catch a movie in a cool theater. There weren't a lot of options of shows I wanted to see. The new live-action Little Mermaid was out, so I decided to watch that. When I got to the theater, the worker informed me THAT THE AIR CONDITIONER WAS BROKEN in the theater where the Little Mermaid was showing. Are you kidding me???

They were still showing it and he said I could go stand in the theater for a few minutes to see if it was

too hot for me. To be honest, movie theaters are usually TOO COLD for me. In fact, I had brought a blanket in with me. Even though the AC was broken, I thought it felt OK, so I stayed to watch. As the time went on, it was uncomfortably warm... But it was too late. I was stuck.

When the movie was over, I decided to go birding. I use the eBird app to find birding sites.

Normally I have good luck with that. One of the spots that was supposed to have good birds was Village Creek State Park, about a half hour north of town. I headed that way.

Y'all. That park made me download an app to pay the $3 entry fee.

Annoying!

And then the birding wasn't even good!

I hardly saw any birds!

And then I got lost.

The trails were not well marked.

And then I walked into a GIANT spider web!

Agggghhhh!

I did all that I could to make sure that the spider

wasn't on me, but since I was by myself, I

couldn't be 100% sure. Creepy!

I did not have a good impression of Beaumont by this point.

The sun was starting to go down and I knew I would

have to head back to the hotel soon, but it had been

such an unsatisfying day, that I decided to make

one more stop at Tyrell Park Nature Center,

which was only about 15 minutes from my hotel.

Oh, friends.

It was SO WORTH IT!

There were awesome birds everywhere!

Red-winged blackbird

Cute little gators in the water

Maybe not-so-little?

I was losing light quickly, so I had to leave.

Darn.

Even when I'm at home, I like to fill up my car on Saturday nights.

I usually tell Andrew, "What if I have to drive to Atlanta tomorrow?"

I mean, you never know...

It was funny to send him this pic,

"What if I have to drive to Louisiana tomorrow?"

I decided to wake up early the next morning before

church and head back to Tyrell Park.

It was one of my favorite birding places ever.

I'm so glad I got to go.

I got to see 22 species of birds and

SIX were new lifers for me!

Purple martins

I think this was the Tri-colored Heron

River otter

These Black-necked Stilts were my favorite!

They are so fun to watch!

Gallinule

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Those wetlands were so pretty.

I came back to the hotel, showered, and went to church in Beaumont. I love visiting other wards. It was great. Then I drove to Gonzales, LA and stayed another night there.

Drove through New Orleans.