Two things are true: we typically do not eat at restaurants during our vanlife trips, and we do not go out of the way to buy gifts for each other on Valentine’s Day.
This is our 30th year of being each other’s Valentine. Many past VDays included dinners out, usually with friends. As corny as it sounds we’ve often stated that every day is Valentine’s Day for us! (eye roll)
Yesterday, on the 13th, we stopped at Shaggy’s, a beachfront restaurant at which we had stopped on a car trip to Florida a few years ago. We had both ordered, and remembered fondly, a grilled fish sandwich, so that when we realized that our route would take us back through Gulfport, MS on our way to the campground in Waveland, MS, we decided go out to lunch as an early Valentine’s Day treat. Our previous meal there was dinner, which I had enjoyed with a Bloody Mary; admittedly, I briefly contemplated ordering a Bloody Mary for old time’s sake, but as it was 1130 in the morning and we had a bike ride planned for the afternoon, I did the mature thing (!) and stayed with water for my beverage. Sigh.
We are tucked in at Buccaneer State Park now, right on the Gulf of Mexico or as they call it here, the Mississippi Sound. There is a long bike path along the Gulf, into the “town” of Bay St. Louis, which is a charming, tourist-y place complete with oodles of restaurants and bars, surf/swim shops, churches, and small shops selling local art. We had a wonderful ride along the water, stopping occasionally for John to make photos of skimmers, gulls, assorted shorebirds, and pelicans. We returned to the bakery to which we rode last year, then rode the nature trail in camp on our way back, for a total of 17 miles. Dense fog had been predicted but fortunately we were able to ride under sunny-partly cloudy skies, which kept us warm. John, of course, prefers overcast days to sunny days because … it’s all about making photos for him! Bright light creates a harshness to his images that he does not appreciate. Whatever.
This stretch of the Gulf has a long history of hurricanes and tornadoes, often suffering extensive damage. There are numerous vacant lots along the water, many with foundations still visible in the overgrown yards, and there are a lot of tree snags, starkly raising their bare limbs to the sky. Between Waveland and Bay St. Louis there are three such snags that have been magnificently carved into “water angels”:
In the dark this morning as we sipped our first coffee of the day, long before we rode, we heard a pair of Great Horned Owls calling to each other. As soon as there was a whisper of dawn, we went out to find them–which we did! One was visible on a tree limb calling over and over, the other we could not spot until he/she flew out of a different tree towards its mate, who then took flight to follow, into the forest. Hearing them, then finding one was a treat and even in the low morning light, John was able to make a photo. Owl love for Valentine’s Day!
