We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Gulfport, MS after leaving NOLA last night.

What a difference a bigger bed and extra pillows makes! We all slept better indeed and started off the day with a yummy breakfast! The highlight was the gravy and biscuits with  homefries.

With happy tummies we hit the road and took the girls to another one of the “wacky roadstops”.

 

 

The largest Rocking Chair built by Dedeaux Furniture store in 1995 is pretty cool, will make you feel tiny for sure! 

  
And with that we said goodbye to Gulfport, MS and we’re off on the road again.

I-10 is pretty boring here in Mississippi but it helps when we sing along to top songs in the car. As we approach Biloxi we start seeing a ton of billboards all promoting the casinos, wonder if it’s a strip Vegas Style? The ads certainly hint towards it! But no gambling for us we are on our way to our next state: Alabama.

Next stopping point is Mobile, AL, such a cute downtown! I was thoroughly impressed as I really had no idea that it was going to be so nice. We ended up spending more time here than we originally anticipated.
Learned a little bit about the history of slavery in the South.

We walked around the square and stopped at the Battlehouse Renaissance hotel which is absolutely gorgeous.

  

The historic park, Bienville Square, was ready for the holidays as well as all the little shops. We didn’t know how nice Mobile was going to be, but was definitely a highlight stop for the day.

On our way out of Mobile, we stopped at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. Because we were short in time since we spent more time than expected downtown, we paid $2.00 to park and walk around the grounds, we didn’t go on the battleship (which has it’s own fees) but saw the planes, helicopters and the different memorials to 9/11, Korea and Vietnam fallen soldiers of Alabama and a tribute to soldiers’ canine companions of war.

  
  

 In memory of 9/11 (2 pics below)

  

I’ll take a second to thank every soldier for their braveness, courage and selflessness. 

 

  On the road again, heading to the beach, Gulfshores, AL! Unfortunately it’s not a very beachy kind of day since there is no sun, it’s windy and a bit rainy… But the sounds of waves, the salty smelling air and the smooth white sands is all one needs to relax for a bit!

We even learned a bit about Alabama mice, sea turtles and other treasures of the sea
  
Food was excellent  at the Oyster House and the boardwalk Area

  
Roadtrippin’ on the coast provides prettier views on our way to Panama City for the night.

 

Dinner at Billy’s was delicious especially the blue crab!

We planned our strategy to get out as early as possible for our biggest stop of the week and the actual reason for this inspired roadtrip.  Tomorrow off to Orlando, FL!!!