I've been gone....(without the Schwinn)

We left town for a spring break to climates that are warmer and sunnier than northeast Indiana has been.  We left Fort Wayne and ended up in Ocean Springs, MS at Gulf Islands National Seashore for a lovely camping trip.  

The question I've been asked most is "How did you get there?"  I guess the assumption is that if you choose not to own a car, you must not ever drive one either. Au contraire!  We rented a Toyota Yaris from Enterprise for the trip.  Having most recently owned a station wagon, we knew packing for this camping trip would require some rethinking our usual M.O.   Instead of our very large and spacious multiroom tent, we went back to the smaller dome tent Mike and I received as a wedding gift.  In theory it holds four people.  We found that the three of us filled it up nicely, with just enough room for our duffle bags.  Once the trunk was emptied out, we used it as our pantry, where food was stored between meals.  Having had our cooler decimated by racoons on a camping trip a couple of years ago, we didn't want a repeat performance.

Of course on the Gulf Coast one may have to contend with more than racoons:

Yes that is an alligator, soaking up the sun in the bayou at the campground!


While in Mississippi, we hiked, ran in the Gulf Coast Running Club and Hibernian Marching Society St Patrick's day races, took a boat to West Ship Island,

 and checked out the Gulf Coast Science Center in Mobile, AL.  It was a great antidote to winter.  Of course up our return, we discovered, that winter had settled in for an even longer stay here in the Midwest!

As with all trips, once you get home, there is always laundry to do: