Vacay

It feels good to get away! I'm actually off work today and it feels good. Paul and I decided a week or so ago to take a trip to the coast and have fun along the way. We had intentions to go to New Orleans on Sunday, but a massive storm came in, so we decided to skip it. There's nothing worse than New Orleans in the rain.

We started our adventure early Saturday morning, making our way to The Depot Coffee Shop in Hattiesburg. 

 After driving around the city a bit and visiting Paul's college campus (he went to a small private school in Hattiesburg), we made our way to Gulfport for a quick jaunt at the outlet mall and then on to Ocean Springs.

We searched online and found Leo's, a wood fire pizza place. Great patio!

 We ordered a jerk chicken and pineapple pizza that was out of this world.

 We headed down towards the beach and Shearwater Pottery. 

 We also went by Realizations where we got a great big print for our place.

It was a drizzly day, but we did make it out on the boardwalk in Biloxi.

 It was windy!

 Here is a Katrina memorial built by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

 People were able to donate things found from the aftermath of the storm for the memorial

 While driving around, we also found the original bottling shop of Barq's!

That night, we visited The Shed in Ocean Springs. I was excited to see my first pumpkin beer of the year there!

 The name says it all... it really is a shed!

 The next morning, a big storm was brewing, so we decided to head north instead of going into New Orleans. Since we had a little time that morning, we walked around the campus of my alma mater, USM in Hattiesburg.

 It's interesting how just a few years can make such a difference on a college campus! So much construction and new buildings.

One thing I talked about the whole trip was visiting one of my favorite restaurants close to campus, Old Athens Grill. We found out once we got there that they are trying to franchise the restaurant, so they had to change the name.

The food was INCREDIBLE. We need one here, stat! 

It was so good to get away for a day or so. Here's to a great week!