We had a long 5 day weekend to fly down to Biloxi with two of our best poker buddies. One of them sn

We had a long 5 day weekend to fly down to Biloxi with two of our best poker buddies. One of them snapped this shot of us before we cranked up the airplane. Here are the notorious poker buddies - David on the left and Lonnie on the right. They're great folks. David had never flown in a small plane before - he was just a bit nervous. We all made extra sure our bladders were empty (sorry for sharing that, but it's important in this situation!!). The trip to Biloxi was 563 nautical miles or about 650 miles. That works out to about 5 hours on the westbound leg (we had a head wind, of course). This is about a half hour into the very nice, smooth flight. Obviously, David was not the least bit nervous now!!! We had never been to Biloxi before - we stayed at the Beau Rivage hotel and casiono. It was very nice - even nicer than most of the Vegas hotels we've stayed at. Everyone was super nice there - the dealers, the floor staff, even the guards were nice! I think I'll by-pass Vegas from now on and stick with Tunica or Biloxi! Don't ask about the gambling - it was fun and we didn't bring any money home that we didn't already have in our pockets!! (but that's usually the case.....) We did, however, eat and drink like kings and didn't pay (directly) for any of it. They had a huge buffet that had too many choices. I was actually tired of it by the end of the trip - just too much food. When we were actually playing poker, the staff would order food for you and bring it to you at the table. It was really pretty cool - and I met and played with some really neat folks - several older, local gentlemen that come to the casino most every day to play for a few hours. Look at the blue sky - it was fabulous weather. We strolled around the area - had to go into the Hard Rock Casino and see all the rock'n roll memoribilia. Lots of guitars and close from famous rockers. Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure some would find it particularly interesting. As we wandered, cheapest air ticket you could still see lots of Katrina damage. This is the city waterfront marina building (I think). It is still gutted at the bottom. They are in the process of rebuilding the marina slips with all new fancy concrete platforms. No boats are back in that part of the marina yet. This is an area behind the new casinos - it's a little hard to see from this photo, but these look like pilings that used to hold up a building. These huge boards that are attached to each of the posts are just splintered and broken like you just ripped whatever was sitting on top away. We saw many foundations that were just concrete with wires/plumbing tangled about. But they are also in the process of lots of replacements so I'm sure the town will recover. I understand that there were many very old homes that are simply gone. Huge force of nature!! And finally, it was Monday and we had to fly home.....David apparently is no longer nervous about flying at all......
Let's see - I'm supposed to describe myself....married for WOW 32 years!, mom of two boys (now men), pilot, sailor (in training), happy (most of the time), cheapest air ticket traveler (when I can!), always have a book on the nitestand, always planning the next adventure (big and small!)
See the Alps, the Sahara Desert, the Pyramids, London, Loch Ness, a glacier, the Andes, the Amazon, the Taj Mahal, Moscow, Sydney, New Zealand, Fiji, Galapagos, Mayan Ruins, San Francisco, Bangor Maine in Summer (been there in winter!), Venice, interior China, and on and on and on!