Submitted By: Emma Murphy, Age 11
To start out, this was a great
vacation. It started out a little rough, but in the end it worked out
wonderfully.
We had rented a beautiful house on St
George Island, Florida for one week. I was absolutely ecstatic to spend a whole
week in a gorgeous house with my family, in the sunshine state. We were about
half way there, then it hit. Tropical storm Debbie ruined our plans. The entire
island lost power, they had to evacuate, and they closed the bridge. I didn’t
get too upset. I knew that somehow my wonderful mom/ travel agent would figure
it out and we would get the dream vacation we had been planning for months. When
we finally did enter Florida a big sign greeted us. It read, “Florida, the
sunshine state”, as it is pouring down rain. The weather started to reflect my
mood. We ended up staying in a Double Tree Hotel with the rest of my family in
Tallahassee, Florida while we figured out what to do. We then found out that we
would not be able to get on the island at all. So, the adults started a crazy
session of brainstorming while the kids played tag and threw paper airplanes in
the hotel lobby (I’m not kidding about the paper airplanes: It was nuts). Some
adults wanted to go back home and bag the whole thing, others thought we should
find a new place, and one crazy man (Hi Dad!) wanted to swim to the island and
break into the house (he was totally joking). With some serious time on the
internet and a lot of discussion the adults came to a conclusion: Biloxi,
Mississippi. Here is how they decided…
1.
Distance from Tallahassee
2.
Weather
As you can see, we weren’t
very picky. We just wanted some sun! The next day, we left the hotel and headed
to our new destination hoping it would work out. My mom had found 3 condos to
rent that would house us for the next 4 nights. They were set up in 3 towers
right across the street from the beach. About an hour away from Tallahassee, I
saw some sun! It was so nice to actually have a new view! It kept getting better
from there on out. When we reached Biloxi, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We
reached Legacy Towers (the condos) and saw the beautiful ocean and 2 decent
sized pools. It was so great to go outside without getting drenched with rain!
The condo my parents and brother stayed in was nice. It included 3 bedrooms (all
with TVs), 3 bathrooms, a small kitchen unit, and a living room with a couch, 2
chairs, a TV, and table for eating. The condo where I stayed, on the other hand,
was magnificent! It was much more decorated and modern looking. It wasn’t that
the other one looked old, it just wasn’t as pristine. This was a 2 bedroom
condo. My grandparents, cousin, and I stayed there. It had 2 bathrooms, a
kitchen area, a dining area, and a living room. The bedrooms and living room all
had flat-screen TVs along with a variety of different kinds of furniture. I
loved how everything looked so new! It was awesome! The weather was
FANTASTIC!!!!! It was mid eighties- low nineties everyday and totally sunny. The
pools were great too. We stayed in primarily one pool the duration of the week.
At the pool there were some palm trees and lounge chairs, and some tables with
umbrellas. It was very relaxing, except when we had chicken fights of
courseJ. In all honesty
the beach wasn’t as great. It was a gorgeous view from the balcony as the sun
was rising (according to my grandma at least. I didn’t get up before 10:30 all
week) but when we went to swim in it, the water was disgusting. It was really
fun to play in the sand and build sand castles but the water was just plain
dirty! So, we spent most of our time in the pool. I’m pretty sure that we
averaged about 6-7 hours per day swimming/tanning.
There was also a mall right
down the street along with souvenir shops and some grocery stores. We ate at the
condos every night except for one. There was a Bonefish Grill at the mall I
mentioned earlier that we decided to dine at. It was delicious! I highly
recommend it if you have never been there before. (It’s a chain restaurant)
Another store we visited was the surf shop. I got a t-shirt and sweat-shirt
there, both reading “Biloxi Beach”.
My grandparents were
dead-set on finding a quaint breakfast place or coffee shop, but they couldn’t
find one. Hurricane Katrina wiped out everything! And it showed. There were a
lot of empty spaces where you could tell buildings had been and there were tons
of empty parking lots that served no purpose. It was kind of sad thinking about
all of the damage that the stupid hurricane had done.
All in all, Biloxi was a
pretty good vacation spot considering where we started out. If you are looking
for a small little beach town with lots of cute shops and diners with a nice
house to stay in I would not suggest it, but if you just want to get away for a
week and just go somewhere warm and sunny you should consider Biloxi,
Mississippi.
After we went to Biloxi, we
decided to go to New Orleans for a night. My dad had not been there since he was
a kid and my mom, brother, and I had never been there. New Orleans is probably
the most interesting and different place I had ever been. Now, I bet a lot of
you are thinking, “What were her parents thinking bringing kids to new Orleans?”
I can say that as long as you have kids out of the French Quarter by 9:00pm they
will be totally fine. One of the things that I had really wanted to do in New
Orleans was go on a steamboat tour because I had seen it in movies that had
taken place there. It was pretty cool but my favorite part was listening to the
jazz music aboard the boat. It was really hot so we couldn’t sit outside for
long and in my opinion we didn’t see that many cool things anyway. It wasn’t the
highlight of the day but I am glad I can say that I have been on a steamboat. We
ate sort of a brunch at a restaurant in the French Quarter. I didn’t get
anything exciting but my mom and dad split a po-boy. I had never seen such a big
sandwich in my life! I mean, it was humongous! I took a bite of it and it was
delicious! If you go to New Orleans I would definitely get one as long as you
share or want to take home a box. One of my favorite parts was getting beignets
at the Café du Monde. They were probably the tastiest thing I had ever eaten.
Very messy, but mouth-watering. They are pretty much French donuts I guess. It
was some sort of delicious dough thing covered in powdered sugar and they were
still hot. I loved them! The powdered sugar got all over the place though and my
brother’s shorts were covered. It was pretty entertaining trying to eat them
without getting messy; especially because we didn’t have forks (we got them to
go) I decided that you can’t go to New Orleans without getting a beignet. That
night we went to mass at the St. Louis Cathedral. It is the oldest active
cathedral in the U.S.A. and it was beautiful! The alter was so decorated and
the ceiling was magnificent. In all I thought it was breath-taking. After church
we went to eat at this restaurant called the Gumbo Shop. I got crawfish etufee.
It was sooo good! Some real New Orleans food. Then we went to Preservation Hall.
It is this cool place to listen to jazz music and is open for all ages. (Yes,
there actually places in New Orleans that kids can go, pretty surprising right?)
I was waiting in line outside with my mom while my dad and brother went to look
for a Saints hat. We were just talking and then this lady in a tight little
mini-dress came into view. She was totally strutting her stuff and was carrying
a magazine in her hand. As she walked by us she smacked my butt with the
magazine. She didn’t say a word and kept walking. I was like,”Um… what just
happened? That was really awkward.” It was by far the weirdest thing that had
happened throughout the entire vacation. And she didn’t look like she was drunk
or anything! But I guess that is just New Orleans for you! When we got into
Preservation Hall I was thinking, “What the heck have my parents gotten us
into?” It was this little tiny room that had no air conditioning and it was
around 100 degrees outside! Plus it didn’t help that they packed us in like
sardines. I was so wrong though! It was the best jazz music I had heard and I
really enjoyed myself. The lack of fresh air didn’t even bug me that much! It
was great. Then we got out of the French Quarter really fast because by that
time it was 9:00 and I didn’t exactly want to be there at night. We went to the
hotel we were spending the night in, the Renaissance Hotel in the Art District.
It was really cool. Because it was in the Art District, inside was very colorful
and cheery. I really liked it. Then next morning we left to go home. As you can
see, New Orleans was very entertaining and somewhat educational, (I will always
remember to put by butt against a wall while standing in a line, and you never
know what can happen in New Orleans!)
Clearly, it was a great
vacation. I would definitely recommend both Biloxi, Mississippi and New Orleans,
Louisiana for completely different reasons. I hope you have found this entry
helpful!
