At the exact half-way point between Orlando, Florida, and
San Antonio, Texas – right along Interstate 10 – is the small, practically
unnoticeable town near Pascagoula called Gautier, Mississippi. We arrived in Gautier on Friday, January 17th.
(How do you pronounce that name, anyway? Well, remember that we are just starting to
enter Cajun country at this point, so its local pronunciation is GO-shay.)
Gautier is where my eldest sister Vicki and her soon-to-be husband Paul live. They live right on a bayou, so we
get to enjoy watching the bayou wildlife in their backyard while we visit. The boys always like to visit their aunt and
“almost-uncle” because she usually has some surprise planned for them. This time was no different; she made a “Birthday Bayou Cake” for the
boys.
Steve had to work in Virginia during our week-long stay in
Gautier, so I had hoped that the boys and I could take advantage of our
proximity to New Orleans and tour the city one day with my sister as a
guide. However, due to our two weeks at
Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, it was inevitable that we would arrive
in Mississippi with some sort of illness.
We basically spent the entire week sitting on the couch in Vicki’s
house, trying to make ourselves well again.
Unfortunately, our scheme of exploring the “French Quarter” in New
Orleans never came to fruition.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time at my sister’s house. Of course, she and I sat and gossiped the
entire time, formulating solutions to all the world’s problems while the boys
enjoyed the use of the wireless internet in their house. But overall, we didn’t do much of
anything. Someone was ill every day we
were there, so it was a rather low-key visit.
