Mississippi

So I got the marvelous opportunity to visit my Blake while he's at Kesler AFB. I had a fantastic time! Unfortunately, at the first of my travels, things did not seem to bode well for the rest of my trip. I arrived in Housten where I had 1 1/2 hour layover before I left to Biloxi. Upon arrival, I checked the many screens to see which gate I should head to (I printed out my tickets online so I had no gate number). The screens directed me across the huge airport. On my way I would check the other screens just to make sure I hadn't made a mistake. All of a sudden, my gate number was gone! I continued and checked another screen. Gone! I went all the way to the edge of the B terminal and found no departing flight to Biloxi. Uck! Of course this had to happen on my first big trip alone! So I went to the desk, asking where my gate was, and, without explanation, the lady printed me out a new ticket. As I was walking away I noticed that the flight she had put me on was to Alabama. What the fruitcake??!! So I got BACK in line and asked the nicer-looking gentleman what was up. Nicely, of course. He said my flight had been cancelled "due to weather" and I was rerouted to the nearest airport.
So I got on the flight to Alabama. The guy I sat next to was talkative. -_- *Sigh* I was already in a bad enough mood, I did not want to be chit-chatting with some stranger. I told him about my situation and we got to the Mobile airport. This airport was as dinky as the ST. George airport! My car rental place would charge me $500 for four days of driving and dropping the car off at a different airport. Not that it mattered, there were NO cars available in that airport. Literally. Because of the oil spill, people had been traveling to that area and had taken all the cars. The airline was no help and had no way of shuttling me and my fellow rerouted passengers to Biloxi. So, as I was turning around, ready to scream, this guy comes up to me and says he is in the same situation (the guy I sat next to on the plane had directed him to me) and we could split a cab for 60$ each to Biloxi. Expensive, but I took it. It was a little creepy to share a cab with a complete stranger, but, eck, oh well. I was SOO happy to reach the base!! I got out of the cab and rolled my suitcase down the sidewalk. I was sweating almost instantly! I thought Texas was humid, that's nothing to Mississippi!!
I had a lady tell me I looked like I was running away from home and looked lost. She was sort of right. =) I finally got to the library and found a soft chair, unearthed the blanket I had taken from the airplane (hehe), put my feet up on my suitcase, and slept. I woke up two hours late and realized I still had four hours before I would see Blake. So I slept for a couple more hours. When I woke up again there were a lot more people in the library so I felt too awkward to go back to sleep. When I finally got a call from Blake I rolled my suitcase back outside and walked until I saw a sexy figure in the distance. =D Soooo happy!!! We left the base as soon as we could. We were both sick of Kesler! It was so great being with him again. Talking to him and holding his hand and giving him kisses every time we glanced at each other was absolute bliss! =D
The next day the senior missionaries shuttled us to the airport and we picked up our rental car. I had Dad's GPS, which was great because otherwise I would still be lost in Mississippi. We went to the beach, oil-free, and looked at the trees that had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina and had been carved into statues.



We also went to Frostings. It was a CUPCAKE shop!! I have found out since that it is a chain only in the south :(. I had a strawberry-shortcake filled cupcake and Blake had cookies-n-creme filled cupcake. YUMMY!! I was thrilled.

I was pretty much thrilled with all of Biloxi, actually. I loved the scenery, the beach, the layout, everything. Maybe I was just happily buzzed because I was with Blake, I don't know. =D
We went to Chilis a couple times, both on busy nights with long waits where they would call your name over the speakers when a table was ready for you. So, the second night I turned to Blake and said we should put our names down as a weird last name. Blake was too chicken, so when the hostess asked for our names I said, "Glasscock." Hehehe!! She said, "What?" Barely holding back my laughter, I said loudly, "Glasscock!" As soon as we went to sit on the benches, I burst into laughter. =D Devious! In my defense, that is actually some poor soul's last name.
After Chilis, we went to see Grown-Ups. Funniest. Movie. Ever!!! Fueled with good food and a full theater, me and Blake cracked up at every funny part.
Other things about our little mini-honeymoon, vacation was that we traveled to the same obscure Subway every day because their sandwiches were prepared magnificently. The same girl made my sandwich all three days. By the third day she had remembered my sandwich. Hehe. We swam in the hotel pool for as long as I could keep Blake in the water. We went to the Hard Rock Hotel and meandered around. We ate lots of good food and basically enjoyed each other's company.
We only had to go back to the base one time for Blake's recreation-room shift. He is a white-rope and gets to supervise that room and boss people around if he wants. :) When I was sitting on the couch, patiently waiting for my hubby to come back to me, some guy came up to me and started making eyes at me and flirting. He asked if he could sit with me and it took telling him that Blake would sit on his lap if he sat next to me for him to leave. Haha. It's good to know that I can still get to shut guys down even after I am married.
When it came time to drive Blake back to the base and let him go, it was sooo hard! It was harder to let him go this time even than when I had to let him go for Basic. I bawled for ten minutes after I had dropped him off, calmed down, looked at the empty passenger seat, and bawled some more. Thankfully the trip back went without a hitch, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to be calm again. Also, thankfully, as we were leaving Mississippi and flying over the ocean (with the first of Castaway running through my mind), there were very few turbulence to completely freak me out. :)
I started home from Vegas very late in the night and had to stop in Mesquite at a casino to hop around and look like a fruitcake to wake me up. I got home at 3:30am and was very happy I hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel. I had an amazing trip. =D