Out and About in Gulfport, Florida

I'm scheduled for a Fifteen mile run Sunday morning. In Gulfport I decide to do this as 3 5 mile loops around the town, stopping at the house to pee between each loop. This is a good running solution when I'm in an unfamiliar area and the location of bathrooms is uncertain! It's fun to get the lay of this little town, with its funky downtown, pocket parks and greenways; the old Florida.

Mark and Mary are arriving today. They are going to visit with us for the next week. This is part of the plan if we enjoy this Florida thing; to invite other people to spend time with us down here as well. In the afternoon we just laze around, catching up and relaxing.

On Monday Lee and Mark want to fish so we go on an expedition to a famous sporting goods store, Bill Jackson . It has a jungle-like parking lot outside, and equipment and information on every sport you can think of inside, even skiing, strangely enough. Mark and Lee have a great time getting educated about all things Florida fishing, while Mary and I wander about the giant store investigating random sports equipment and apparel, and the dogs wait patiently for something of interest to them to occur.

By the time they are finished it is time for lunch. There are a lot of Asian restaurants around here. We find one that comes highly recommended on Yelp and introduce Mark and Mary to the joys of Banh Mi sandwiches. We end up back in a Gulfport in time for a late afternoon visit to the Gulfport Beach. It's a nice little beach but no dogs are allowed so Harper and Cosmo have to stay behind.

On Tuesday mornings Gulfport hold a fresh market downtown with crafts, veggies, bagels, jewelry, baskets, dog treats, and art. We wander around, trying the free samples. I am sorely tempted by a beautiful basket, and fudge.

That afternoon we take the dogs to the Fort Desoto dog beach. This turns out to be a great experience. Lee bought a really nice beach tent that provides shade and wind protection. The dogs are really good. They go wading in the water, running in the sand. They lie in the sun and get themselves a tan. By the time we return to Gulfport they are completely worn out.