Fifty First States: Day 62

Although yesterday’s spooky film didn’t do much for us at the time, it clearly left a lasting impression with me. I was awoken in the early hours of this morning by a nightmare and, trust me, it was scarier than the time spent at the cinema!! Joe wasn’t too happy about being stirred by his freaked-out wife, but he did snoozily sympathize.

As predicted it was hard to leave Pensacola this morning, but it seemed the weather gods had smiled on us once more as our day at the beach was perfect, unlike this morning which was overcast and full of spitting rain. Let’s just say that helped the leaving process just a little bit!

We started our journey for the day by crossing through state number 41: Alabama. Originally we were going to make a stop in this state, but in the final revision it got cut as everything we were interested in meant adding a lot of hours driving and an extra day. What we did get to see of Mobile, AL looked nice enough for us though, so we weren’t too disappointed with how things worked out.

Moving swiftly on, we arrived in state number 42, Mississippi. Here we did make a stop; one of our gambling stops! Biloxi is home to a number of casinos on the coast, although not as commercial as Atlantic City, it still packs a load of charm!

Our first casino was the Hard Rock. Despite going to Vegas a couple of times we’d never made it to the Hard Rock casino there, so we were intrigued to see what one would be like. Turns out it was a pretty cool place, lots of musical memorabilia all over; sadly its gaming floor left a lot to be desired. It was kinda small and the slots weren’t loose at all.

We figured it was best to move somewhere else to waste our money, the good news being that by the time we got outside the sun had started to make an appearance. A short walk bought us to the Beau Rivage, a decent, upscale casino that seemed aimed at an older crowd than the Hard Rock. Having almost blown our miniscule gambling budget at the Hard Rock we didn’t get to stay too long.

With our pockets slightly lighter, it seemed like the right time to get back on the road before we completely lost our shirts. So we’re not big winners today, but that’s no surprise when the house always wins. We made our way further along the Gulf Coast’s Bayou region to state number 43: Louisiana. The terrain down south is very different to the rest of America and you quickly get used to driving along low bridges close to big spans of water. I’d be terrified to see what happens to these stretches of road during hurricane season!

Our destination in Louisiana was, of course, New Orleans. Making our way into town, it was obvious that it’s still suffering the affects of Katrina--everything here looks a little rundown and sadly, not as appealing as we’d imagined. We choose to rest up tonight in the hopes that tomorrow we’ll get to see a better side of the Big Easy!