Hey Ya'll, Welcome to Bay-St. Louis!

Greetings from Langniappe! We arrived here around 10:30 a.m.; that is 11:30 a.m. in Scranton. We took two tiny, cramped, and cozy planes to get here. One of which, the famous Scrantonian Rich Banick was aboard (yes, he had his man-bag with him)! Our first plane landed in Atlanta, Georgia and from there, we took a plane to Gulfport, Mississippi. We hope you are enjoying the overcast and high 60s weather in Scranton, while we are basking in the sunny, high 80s climate of Bay-St. Louis. Upon arrival we discovered our beautiful cabin with many bunkbeds. We have the whole thing to ourselves, which is nice because we wrote in our journals, relaxed, and Christiana, Ellen, and Vivi enjoyed splendid nap time in our air-conditioned accomidations. After nap-time, we finally listened to our stomachs rumble and went to the wonderful town blockparty known as Second Saturday. We stimulated the local economy with some shopping in the stores along the main street while we waited for the Mockingbird Cafe to begin serving dinner. In the vintage shop we came across, we listened to the story of the store owner; a Hurricane Katrina surviver. Her story was eye-opening. She and her son lost everything they had except for the clothes on their backs. She no longer has pictures from when her son was a baby or her priceless Grandmother's quilts. She told us of how she first had to live in her car and then was fortunate enough to be given a FEMA trailer. However, this trailor lacked electrical services from August until April. She told us of how difficult it was to just get a bag of ice. She had to walk miles just to obtain it, where all we have to do is open our freezer doors. After listening to her story, we finally got to feed our hungry stomachs with some burgers from the Mockingbird Cafe, named after the novel (their meals are named after certain characters, including Scout, Boo Radley, etc.). Our first taste of Mississippi was delicious. While we digested, we spent the rest of the evening walking around the town. We visited a tree that served as a refuge for seven people and a dog of unknown size during the hurricane. It is now carved into the shapes of angles as a tribute to the lives it saved. We continued walking around, soaking up the lively music, art, and people of this area. Every person we have talked to so far has been beyond friendly and are so thankful and excited to have us here. Tonight was extremely beautiful and the weather could not have been more perfect, with a light, comfortable breeze. We are looking forward to the rest of our trip here. We start working on Monday and tomorrow we will be going to mass and then have the rest of the day to do whatever. So long for now, we will be in touch tomorrow! A special shoutout to the FitzPatrick and McGregor families!

This wonderful, spectacular, and exceptional blog post was created by Vivi McGregor and Ellen FitzPatrick (Velle is our new nickname).