Kickapoo River

Canoeing the beautiful Kickapoo River. We began in Ontario, Wisconsin which is very close to Wildcat Mountain State Park.

The water is about knee deep, so you can hop out and swim wherever you want.


We made a few stops along the way at sandbars.


Check out the t-shirt I made.

Swamp Tour

We finished off our mini-trip with a swamp tour in Southeast Louisiana is an area called Honey Island. Honey Island earned its name because of it's honeybees. The "island" lies between the East Pearl and West Pearl rivers. Honey Island is between 3 and 7 miles wide and 15 to 20 miles long.

We took a morning tour because it was going to be another hot day and a swamp is one of the last places we wanted to be on hot day.
The main attraction were of course the alligators. We had to look hard to find them because they swim with just their eyes poking out of the water.

There were a lot of Cyprus trees in the swamp.
Our guide would lure the alligators out of the water by sticking a marshmallow or hot dog at the end of a stick.

We're definitely in the deep south.
Our guide knew all the alligators by name. He said he grew up in the area and there was no danger swimming in the swamp. Knowing this I still don't think I would go swimming.
I hope this alligator doesn't think I look like a hot dog. Our guide said we should keep our hands inside the boat, because fingers could look like hot dogs.

Stennis Space Center

On Saturday we visited the Stennis Space Center. It is a rocket engine testing facility. Southern Mississippi was chosen for the center so that large rocket engines could transported on a barge. Some rocket engines are so large they can't travel over land. The center has tested rocket engines that sent astronauts to the moon and powered the space shuttle boosters.

They had a cool museum too. Do I look like an astronaut?
A camera that senses body temperature.
I'm standing in front of a F-1 rocket engine. It was one of five engines that powered the Saturn V rocket (stage one) in the Apollo program in the late 1960's. Just one engine is almost 12 feet across!
After the Stennis Space Center we returned to Gulfport and saw the world's largest rocking chair.
Nearby was a rocking chair that was a little easier to sit in.
Pizza dinner at a local restaurant right on the gulf.
A beautiful sunset to end our day.

Ship Island

After the big ceremony we had some time to sight see. It is VERY hot in Mississippi and it's even hotter when you visit Mississippi in July. Keeping this in mind, our first stop was Ship Island. Ship Island is a barrier island run by the National Park Service. It is about 12 miles from Gulfport. We took a ferry to get there.
We saw some dolphins on the way to this mostly sand island.
In the background you can see Fort Massachusetts (built 1859-1866). It was used Union soldiers during the Civil War. It was also built so well it survived Hurricane Katrina.
Ship Island has beautiful white sandy beaches and really warm water. I worked on my snorkeling. I was looking for crabs and fish.
The sand was so hot on our feet we had to be either in the water or in the shade. Renting the umbrella and chairs was money well spent.
Before we got on the ferry to go back to Gulfport we got a chance to check out Fort Massachusetts and it's huge 15 inch Radman cannon. It could fire a cannon ball many miles.

Commander Gordie

On July 7th we attended a Change of Command ceremony in Gulfport, Mississippi. Uncle Gordie or Commander James Meyer as he is called in the navy was taking command of a Seabee Battalion. His battalion is called the "Magnificent 7". A Seabee is part of a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB). They are instrumental in times of war to build bases, airstrips and bridges. For instance, in World War II they had to build airstrips so naval aircraft and marines could island hop across the Pacific Ocean towards Japan.

Above uncle Gordie addresses his battalion.
To me uncle Gordie has always been...well...uncle Gordie. I always wondered why when riding in uncle Gordie's car and entering a base, the guard at the gate would snap to attention. It all made perfect sense after watching the Change of Command ceremony. Uncle Gordie is responsible for leading hundreds of men and women into potentially very difficult and dangerous situations. With this tremendous responsibility he commands a lot of respect.
The ceremony itself was very impressive. We sat in a grandstand overlooking a parade ground (or the "grinder" as it's called in the navy) and looked out over uncle Gordie's battalion who were all in their dress whites. There was singing of the national anthem and navy songs were played. Uncle Gordie formally accepted his orders to take command by receiving the Magnificent 7's flag.
The entire battalion paraded in front of the grandstand.

It was a big day, so I was all dressed up just like uncle Gordie.
Don't mess with a Seabee! Their motto is "We Build, We Fight".
After the ceremony it was time to eat cake. The cake was cut with a sword!
Yummy cake!