Project 365 Day 53

MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA

Yesterday we arrived at Fontainebleau State Park in Mandevile, Louisiana and today we backtracked a little to tour the beach area around Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi.

This georgeous sunset is from the beach at the campground, over Lake Pontchartrain.

Coming in to roost for the night......

The devastation from Katrina is still very evident along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Virtually every structure along US 90 from Waveland to Biloxi was destroyed. Huge concrete slabs remain where little strip shopping centers used to be. One large sign still stands where the Outback Steakhouse was located. Driving along the beach road you see these massive, slightly broken, oak trees hovering over slab after slab but no houses. Driveways turn off the highway and disapear into the sand. Many of the empty lots have For Sale signs.

Despite all of this there is plenty of new construction going on. Several new hotels and condo complexes are already operating and many new commercial buildings are also open....MacDonald's, Waffle House, Ihop, banks (of course), a few strip shopping centers, etc. I would guess that for every new structure there are a dozen vacant lots. Almost all of the debris is gone and repairs and upgrades to the roads are ongoing.

The saddest looking area is the beach road at Waveland. All the houses are gone and the water comes right up to the road with not much beach in some areas.

Waveland beach road.

A lot of the people who are rebuilding their homes are living in travel trailers, fifth wheels, or motor homes while the construction is going on. Some are just living in the rv's and haven't started construction yet. Some have the FEMA mobilel homes that look like little 'shotgun' houses..........cute but very small.

Project 365 Day 52

Hey.........What would a trip to Mississippi be if ya didn't drop a few bucks in Biloxi???

Project 365 Day 51

CAN THIS BE EXPLAINED??

Project 365 Day 50

Last trip to PCB for a while. This shot is coming down the bridge over St. Andrews Bay

This is the sign at the entrance to the Port.

We will be heading West on I-10 toward Texas tomorrow morning. First stop will be Biloxi, MS.

Project 365 Day 49

More excitement on Christmas morning!

Project 365 Day 48

Toys on Christmas morning!

Project 365 Day 47

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!!!!!!!!!

Our favorite Christmas tree and sunset.

Project 365 Day 46

By popular demand....here is the recipe for the Hashbrown Casserole we had for our Christmas dinner last Saturday:
Hashbrown Casserole

2 lbs. frozen hash brown potatoes
1 cup diced onions
1 can cream of chicken soup
16 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup melted margerine
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Thaw potatoes for about 30 minutes. Place potatoes in large mixing bowl and add the rest of the remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 inch dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Project 365 Day 45

A Magical Night of Lights

Snowflake Tunnel

Sunday night we went with my son and his wife and 3 of the grandkids through the Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier Islands. It's a beautiful light show and billed as the world's largest animated light extravaganza! Here's a few examples....................

Gingerbread House

Carousel at the Mall of Georgia

Tuesday night we took Kyle to ride the carousel

Tuesday we spent doing some last minute shopping and just plain goofing around in Buford. I was really surprised at the lack of Holiday traffic. For several years we lived two minutes from the mall and traffic at this time of the year would be grid-locked. Today and tonight looked like a typical Saturday.....we even got a close parking spot at the mall entrance.

One day while we were here we drove down GA Hwy. 20, Buford Drive, to see the progress on the new baseball stadium. The Atlanta Braves' Triple A farm team are moving here in 2009. They are coming to Buford from Richmond, VA, and will be called the Gwinnett Braves. We look forward to seeing them play next summer during one of our visits.

Project 365 Day 44

It must be good.....they're eating!

Menu:

Honey Baked Ham

Hashbrown Potato Casserole

Creamed Corn Casserole

Green Beam Casserole

Sweet Potato Souffle

Macaroni & Cheese

Cranberry Salad

Dinner Rolls

German Chocolate Cake

Brownies

Chocolate Pudding Cream Cheese Dessert

Cup Cakes

Sweet Tea, Beer, Wine, Cokes

Project 365 Day 43

Christmas dinner table setting at Mother's house, ready for Saturday's family dinner.

PhotoHunt and Project 365 Day 42

The Photo Hunt theme for this Saturday is WIDE.

The seven lane Interstate (I-75/I-85) going through Atlanta seems very WIDE, unless you’re towing a travel trailer or driving a motor home in which case the lanes seem very narrow!

Project 365 Day 36

#1 Granddaughter........see you Wednesday!

Project 365 Day 35

Making Cookies!

More Cookie making!

Photo Hunt for Saturday and Project 365 Day 34

Photo Hunt theme for this week is Favorite

Christmas Cookies with the Grandkids......always a favorite!

The finished product

We are in Winston, GA, visiting with our Daughter and her family for a week or so. Then it's over to my Mother's in Buford, GA and our Son's in Flowery Branch, GA. Just hanging out with the grandkids and doing a little shopping and running errands. I'll get some pictures posted later (after I take some!).

Project 365 Day 33

Tomorrow is travel day. Here we are about to leave.

~ Not much going on 'round here ~

We took the truck up to Vernon this morning to get new brakes so now we are back at the camper at Mariyn's house, just waiting for them to call to say it's ready . Sam has been helping her clear some of her property while we've been here. We've made a couple of shopping trips around the area and a trip or two to Panama City. Now we're just waiting to get the truck back - later today - then we'll be heading 'home' to visit for about two weeks during Christmas. It just started raining here and it's supposed to rain all day today and tomorrow and there is a tornado watch for the area until 2:30 this afternnoon. We will leave for Atlanta on Thursday morning.

As always, our plans are written in jello so we can change our minds whenever .................... we (mostly me) decided to put off our trip out West until after Christmas. Just didn't want to go just yet. We are still planning to go out I-10, stop at Biloxi MS for a couple of days and head on to Texas. We have landed a maintenance job (for Sam) at a RV park in Mission, Texas, so if we like it we will stay 3 months (til mid April). If not, we'll go on to Vegas, maybe, and then head back East. Either way, we'll be at St. Andrews State Park in Florida for the summer (April or May - for four months). We (I) decided not to go to Iowa to Adventureland for the summer. Just too far for too long.

Check posts below for updates on Project 365 pictures. I can't come up with a new picture every day so I've pulled some old one out of the files from this past summer.

Project 365 Day 32

Rain storm over the Gulf, from the pier at St. Andrews State Park, August 2008.

Project 365 Day 31

Sunset from our site (103) at St. Andrews State Park, July 2008

Project 365 Day 30

Us at Tom's Hot Dogs, Panama City, FL, July 2008

Project 365 Day 29

My new favorite Christmas tree ornament!!!

PHOTO HUNT and Project 365 Day 28

The theme for PhotoHunt this Saturday is Breakfast

Our usual 'quickie' breakfast

Project 365 Day 27

Another view of Christmas decorations; using the flash the lights don't show up.

Project 365 Day 26

Christmas decorations at our cousin's Marilyn's house

Project 365 Day 25

For leftover sweeet potatoes......Sweet Potato Muffins

Sweet potato muffins with butter, shredded sweet potatoes, milk, spices, and walnuts or pecans.

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup evaporated or regular milk
1 1/2 cups peeled finely shredded sweet potato
2/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Preparation:
In a large mixing bowl with hand-held electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until well blended.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir into the butter mixture alternately with milk, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in sweet potato and chopped nuts. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full. Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until centers spring back when pressed with fingertip. Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and serve muffins warm. Makes about 1 dozen sweet potato muffins.

(I'll add the real thing picture tomorrow)

I've been tagged!

Joyce, from A Cup of Joe With a View, tagged me to name 6 random things about myself.
Here they are! Thanks Joyce!

6 Random Things About Myself ~~Here are the rules....

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog (copy and paste 1-6)
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they been tagged and leave them a comment.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.


~~~~~~Here are my 6 random things:

1. I live in a 28’ travel trailer and volunteer at state parks for fun!

2. I attended the University of Georgia as a Journalism major and I believe that if you are good in life, when you die you will go to Vince Dooley’s house.

3. I retired at the age of 58 years, 11 months, 1 week, and 3 days. Wahoo!!!!

4. I met my husband in late April, 1968, and we were married in January, 1969, and we’ll celebrate our 40th anniversary in 7 weeks.

5. I have 2 amazing children and 5 amazing grandchildren.

6. I am hooked on computers.


The five people I tagged:

Kate at SixtySomethin

Anni at Hootin' Anni

Pea's at Pea's Corner

Karen at Fab Grandma

Donna at Cookie Sunshine

Project 365 Day 24

We drove up to Geneva, Alabama, just across the state line to shop at a store named Spikes. The store is huge and they have some of everything. It is sort of like The Pottery, if you are familiar with that store. All types of kitchen stuff and no matter what your decorating style is, there is something for you! Plus bathroom, den, collectibles, toys.....you name it.

We also went to Graceville, Florida, to the Factory Outlet Mall. We loved the Corning outlet store and the Wranger store. We made a few other stops in Graceville, then back through Vernon, Florida, for a late lunch at Dee's. Sam and Marilyn had the fish (Dee's is famous in the area for the seafood) and I had the 1/2 lb. burger. Yummy! We have been there in the past for dinner and the shrimp & scallops are wonderful.

New grape canisters match our Coachmen's decor

Project 365 Day 23

Back in the Central Time Zone!