Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Cool Day Activities

It was a little cool this morning. When I looked at the temperature outside it was 39 degrees. The forecast for today is highs in the upper 50's but a little less windy than yesterday. After breakfast we walked around the campground. By the time we got back to the camper the sun was a little higher in the sky and it was starting to warm up a little. Dennis sat outside. I went in the camper and started a batch of homemade peppermint patties. They are made with coconut oil, honey, vanilla and peppermint extract. Cream everything together then place in flattened mounts on parchment paper. Place in the freezer to set. Tomorrow they can be dipped in chocolate.

Today we have plans to go to one of the Casinos to enjoy a buffet. We have a coupon for BOGO at the Island View Casino in Gulfport but we needed to burn some calories first so we hopped on our bikes for a ride. We headed out of the campground to South Beach Blvd then proceeded west heading for the Silver Slipper Casino 2 ½ miles away. We went inside the Casino to check on the cost of the Silver Slipper RV park. The cost for one night with full hookups at the RV park was between $25 to $35 and $45 on weekends and holidays. Pretty pricey but all sites have a view of the gulf. They do not offer any weekly or monthly rates.

On the way back we saw some folks out on one of the piers that juts out into the water. We stopped to chat with them to see what they were fishing for. It was a grandmother with her grandkids. She was very chatty and had tales about hurricane Katrina and her experience with flesh eating disease she picked up from the gulf waters. Both sounded pretty scary. They were not catching anything so they left to go to another location. Perhaps we will run into them again.

Once back at the campground we stopped at one of our neighbors who we noticed are from Wisconsin. They are from Hayward. They arrived here in mid January and will be staying until April. We chatted with them for a while then Dennis and I were getting hungry. We took the bikes back to the camper, hopped in the truck and headed for Gulfport.

The Island View Casino and Hotel is very nice, new and modern. Pretty much everything here was wiped out by Katrina and had to be rebuilt. We arrived right between the lunch and dinner buffets. Lunch costs $12.00, dinner $25.00. We decided to wait for the start of dinner as they add shrimp and crab legs to the buffet. It was one of the better Casino buffets I have experienced as the selection was impressive and everything tasted very, very good. After leaving the Casino we went to Barnes & Noble. I purchased a bird identification book, Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds. Our visit to Vicksburg piqued Dennis' interest in the Civil War so he picked up a book on the subject.