the Trip continues...

Our Monday started out by driving down Government St in Mobile, AL.  I've never seen a street quite as beautiful as this one... from the massive oak trees that reached across the road to form a canopy of shade, to the gorgeous old homes that lined the street.

After driving around the harbor for a while trying to get closer to some of the large ships in the harbor, we headed South to Dauphin Island, where we visited Fort Gaines in the rain. Both Jodi and I are fans of American history, especially the Civil War era.  I'm not sure which era this photo belongs in, but we passed this truck on the way to the Fort.

Had the driftwood that took this picture not cropped it so narrowly, you would see oil rigs in the distance.

On the way back, I saw a Pelican, and really wanted a picture of one, but as you can see... the bird flew away when it saw me coming.

This bird, unfortunately, could not fly away due to a mangled wing.

The yellow thing is an oil boom, which is used to keep the oil spill from reaching the shore.  We are seeing them all over the coast.  We also passed a fleet of tanker trucks that will be used to help separate oil and water, or oil and sand.

We then stopped at a little BBQ shack for lunch, where I indulged in fried green beans! The cook told us they were to die for, and he was right!

Monday was kind of rough.  We kept checking Google Maps on the iPhone for bed and breakfast inn's on the Gulf coast, and NO ONE would answer their phones. Some of them had their phone number disconnected and everything... we were getting tired, frustrated and annoyed. Finally, we stopped and asked somebody where a good bed and breakfast was.  They kindly reminded us that we were on the Gulf Coast and that of 14 bed and breakfast inn's on the Mississippi coast, only 2 remain intact after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

We drove through Pass Christian that evening and all you can see are empty lots, most of which are for sale. A few buildings survived, and a few have been rebuilt, but we were told that most of the rebuilding has happened in the last 1-2 years.  The locals are a little miffed that New Orleans gets all the press for Katrina, when the worst of the storm came to shore and sat on top of Pass Christian for 10 hours.

We finally found a bed and breakfast near the Louisiana state line and we made our way there.... only to find it had also been destroyed in the storm! Talk about unlucky.  So we finally broke our own rules, and ate at Ruby Tuesdays and crashed at a Best Western. :)