Reflecting on the Mississippi Gulf Coast...fun, welcoming, comfortable!

And what made us fall in love with the Gulf Coast? We'd been there before, but just for a few days at a time.  One trip was pre-Katrina, back in the late 1990's and one was just last June, a few weeks into the BP oil spill. In fact, I wrote a piece for the Concord Monitor on what we found. Click here to read the text and see the photos and slide show.

When we turned onto Gulfport's Beach Boulevard in late January, the midday sun lit up the beaches.  The Live Oaks were magnificent. It seemed that each house sported a front porch wider and more welcoming than the next--always with rocking chairs and little tables to set your tea on. It felt great to just drive around and look!

And the view from the deck of our rental home? Dreamy!

So we started out feeling grand.  The beach was less than a block away. We were right on 2nd Street, which runs parallel to the beach and is shaded by ancient Live Oaks...a neighborhood that made for great walks. 

We had spent some time in the casinos on our trip last June, and were struck by the friendly nature of the people--from tablemates to dealers, they greeted us with smiles. But we found the hospitality even kicked up a notch.  When we would explain that we are from New Hampshire and had rented a home for a month, people would say "Thank you for doing that! We are so glad you came!"  Part of it seemed to be the famous southern hospitality, but some seemed to be relief that people are returning after the BP oil spill disaster.  No matter.  It made us feel truly welcome.

We also saw so many changes brought about by Katrina. The hurricane swept the beach area clean of honky tonk businesses and decades of minimal zoning--all resulting in no view at all of the beach itself for miles.  Now many houses on 2nd St. have wonderful views, and while that's not likely to last forever (rebuilding is happening), the beach will remain clear, boardwalk and fishing pier construction is now just about complete and the houses going up on vacant lots are well-built and very much in character with the area.

Maggie could not get enough of the beaches!

By day we would tour, walk, explore.  By night, we would prowl the casinos--always something new going on (including headliner shows) and no dearth of our favorite machines or seats at low-limit table games like Mississippi Stud. We found that shopping was a breeze no matter what you were looking for.  From Dillards to Target and Ann Taylor to Best Buy--finding goods and services is a 10-minute event.

So there we were--a wonderfully appealing setting, great nightlife and shopping.  Anything missing? Well, perhaps getting to know some people--and, happily for us, this happened too. Through some volunteer work for the local SPCA, making friends with neighbors who also had dogs, meeting the terrifically fun owners of our rental home and just taking people-magnet Maggie with us everywhere, we got an inkling of the real community.

And we love it! For more details, just look at the archive posts from 1/31 to 2/28.