Jersey Shore?!

Jersey shore in Mississippi?  Photo courtesy of Hard Rock Biloxi

The weather this past 3-day weekend was beautiful, and it was hard to look at our sailboat sitting in the backyard knowing that we can't give her a Spring cleaning or take her sailing just yet.  Ken's two wrists are still sore, and so is his side.  He seems to be getting better, but at a snail's pace.  With working during the week and trying to only supervise whenever he can, we know he needs to take it easy on the weekends.

Our weekend consisted of some minor repairs to our rental, a few errands, and a lot of time on the sofa.  Ken was hoping to pressure wash Nirvana, but he realized it wouldn't be good for his recovery.  I wanted to  wash the boat, but Ken wants to do it himself so I didn't argue.   Hopefully next weekend we'll have more good weather and Ken will be feeling better.  We can't wait to get Nirvana cleaned up and sailing soon.  Our last sail was in August of 2012, right before Hurricane Isaac blew through our roof and damaged our sheetrock.  After all house repairs were made, it was winter and holy cow ... it's almost June!

We needed to do something fun to keep our mind off of what we couldn't do, so Sunday we went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Our first stop was "Detox" at the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi.  Every summer they have a free pool party with a DJ and drink specials, so we brought our bathing suits and figured we'd check it out for a little while.  It didn't take long before we felt like we were at the Jersey shore.  Everywhere you looked were body-builder guys and Snookie look-a-like girls.  Both the girls and the guys were covered in tattoos and the girls had perfect hair and makeup, tiny bikinis, and high heels ... every one of them.  It was clear they had no intentions of getting in the pool.  We were in a meat market!  If I would have had my camera with me, I would have tried to sneak in a few pictures.  It was something to see.  I posted a picture above from the Hard Rock's site, but it just doesn't give you the idea.  The guys and girls in the picture look great, but still look like regular folks.  I swear every girl had the long dark hair, big glasses, heels and jewelry just like Snookie!  The guys looked like they had too many steroid shots.

We stayed for just over an hour as we took in all of the sights.  Techno music blasted while girls danced provocatively in front of their man or walked around the pool over and over ... and over.  "Cigarette girls" gave out free electronic cigarettes while walking around in stiletto heels and forties-style dresses that didn't quite cover their butt ... Ken didn't mind.  Of course, the free admission was made up in $10 drinks.  After feeling like we were in another world, we knew we wouldn't be staying too long and waited till our next stop before having a drink.

Our experience at the pool party was different.  We were glad we went, but it wasn't our thing.  At first we felt old and out of touch, but the more we watched these people prancing around trying to outdo each other, the more we didn't give a crap if we were older or out of shape.  What do these people do for a living?  Do they work at all or do they get a huge allowance from Mom and Dad?  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure some of these people are great but ... the whole thing was so about appearance, not getting wet, and trying to look sexy.  We are all about "real", and this was about as far away from that as you could get.  A pool party with a volleyball net in the pool and women with ponytails and wet hair are more our style.  We left and headed to our kinda world ... Margaritaville!

Wow, what a difference a couple of miles make!  We grabbed a seat at the bar that overlooked the bay, ordered a couple of  $3 Landsharks, and listened to two guys playing great acoustic tunes.  The people that were hanging around this bar were laughing, wearing flip-flops and cut-off jeans, and not worried if the wind blew their hair.   I bet they're a lot happier too.  Much better!

When Monday came around, it sure was nice to not have to go to work!  Since Ken was out and about the day before, we needed to have a lazy day.  We decided to do something we've never done on Memorial Day before ... we went to a nearby ceremony to honor our fallen soldiers.  The ceremony was only about 30 minutes long, but it really brought home what Memorial Day is all about.  There were a lot of veterans, and some of them looked to be in their 80's and 90's.  When I saw their faces, it made me regret waiting 46 years to attend one of these ceremonies.  Our veterans need to see that people support them and appreciate what they've done for our country.  I was glad to be among the people that attended, which weren't a whole lot when you think of our city's population.  I was filled with emotion when listening to "Taps" and the 21-gun salute.  

Veterans who performed "Taps" and a 21-gun salute before placing of the wreath

The story of "Taps" was told at the ceremony.  Did you know that "Taps" was written by a fallen soldier that was found on the battlefield by his father (also a soldier)?  The father didn't realize the soldier was his son, and at the time didn't even know if the soldier was one of his own or an enemy.  He got the fallen soldier out of harm's way and it turned out the soldier was a Confederate .. the enemy.  Only after the two had made it off the battlefield did the father realize the soldier was his son.  His son, a musician, had decided to join the Confederates without his father's knowledge.  In the son's pocket was a folded piece of paper with musical tunes on it.  At his funeral the music was played ... it was "Taps".  It's since been a symbolic song for our fallen soldiers.  What an amazing story!  I was filled with emotion when listening to "Taps" and the 21-gun salute that took place before the tradition of the placing of the wreath on a soldier's grave.

American flags were scattered across the cemetary

We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house.  I baked some awesome baby back ribs!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!