mississippi

From New Orleans we drove to Mississippi to visit Mark's mother and step-father. They live on the Gulf Coast between the beach and Bay of St Louis. Unfortunately their house was severely damaged by the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina (think 12ft wall of water coming through the house!), but fortunately they had insurance and have now rebuilt their lovely home. It is encouraging to see that there is a lot of reconstruction going on in the area including some of the beautiful old houses along the beachfont. Many of the grand old oak trees have survived and although they are looking a little sparse, it is great to see that new growth is emerging. Those that couldn't be saved have been turned into some pretty amazing wood sculptures! We had a nice relaxing time - talking, reading, swimming at the beach, taking in a show and a couple of meals at the local casinos and catching up with family at a Sunday BBQ. We also made a visit to the nearby NASA Stennis Space Center where they perform engine testing for the Space Shuttle (and previously for the Saturn V rockets of the Apollo missions).