Feb 15-28,2025 Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida

If you read the last blog, you know that we have been struggling with some super cold weather. When we left Texas we started heading east and the moment we crossed over the cold front line, it immediately warmed up 15 degrees. But the thing with these cold fronts is that they keep moving while we are stationary. So we had a brief reprieve from the cold weather but not for very long. We decided to stop in Baton Rouge and check out the L’Auberge Casino. They had it decorated so nice for Mardi Gras. 

This casino was packed with people and restaurants. We decided to have a “fancy” meal at Landrys. It was fantastic. It was an hour wait but totally worth the wait. Delicious food, fun atmosphere and our server was fantastic. After dinner, we gambled a bit and then headed to the van for a good nights sleep. Next morning I saw a sign for FREE breakfast for first responders at the ESPN restaurant. I’ve been an ambulance driver in Raquette Lake for a few years now so I pulled out my ID and sat down for a free breakfast. The breakfast was huge and very southern. Cheesy grits, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon. The works. Greg ordered the most delicious Beignets!! The best we have ever had! If you are in Louisiana, you need to get Beignets. They are so good.

After breakfast we did a little gambling and then checked our players card. We both had 10 dollars in free play so at this casino they give you the option to gamble the 10 dollars in a slot machine or double it to 20 and buy food at a restaurant or snack bar. We opted to buy a giant King Cake. We will be visiting some friends in a Mississippi in a couple of days so it’s perfect to enjoy with them.

We headed out for another two hour drive and pulled into yet another casino. The south is riddled with casinos and the casinos are very generous with their comps, especially, the Island View in Gulfport Mississippi. They just LOVE giving us free stuff and we love receiving it. So we booked a FREE ROOM in the beach tower overlooking the Gulf on the 18th floor. Great room, great view.

Next day we did a little gambling. They gave each of us $80 in free slot pay. And on top of that it was 12 times the points. So we very quickly made enough points to get 4 buffet dinners for free. Our friends came for the buffet and we treated them, but really the casino treated them.

That night we had a nice dinner at The Grill and then played some slots. We were about to head up to the room to go to sleep and Greg said, let’s play one of those heart machines before we go up. So we went over to the “I Love Jackpots” slot machine. If you get three hearts, you get the bonus, which is every gamblers goal. This particular machine was a one dollar bet so we sat and started playing. About 7 spins into it, I got the three hearts and I got the bonus which was like 20 free games. As the bonus games are spinning, the 2X symbol comes on the screen 5 times across and the machine just starts dinging and playing music and blinking lights and the win numbers start spinning. We soon realize this is the big jackpot bonus win and we just can’t believe it!!

I continue to get more free games in the bonus and more wins and then finally the bonus is over and the game says “Jackpot Handpay Required.” That was my first handpay ever and it was sooo amazing!!

They came over and I had to fill out some paperwork for tax purposes and then they took my photo to display on the big billboard outside and gave me my free t shirt. People were coming over to congratulate me. It was so surreal. Then they leave and come back with a wad of cash and you hold out your hand, like on “Let’s Make A Deal,” and they count the hundred dollar bills into your hand. It’s totally magnificent!! We waited around all day the next day to take a photo of the billboard but they never changed it so we were unable to get the photo.

After I got paid, the money immediately went into my pocket and my hand never came out of my pocket. We immediately went to the room and put the money in the safe and then I went back down with a hundred dollar bill to do a little more slot playing. I turned that hundred into three hundred. Clearly it was my lucky night!!

So needless to say, our trip to the Island View Casino in Gulfport was awesome. If you are in the area, this casino is very generous with their comps. We got so many free things on this visit.

We headed east along the coast to see Caity and Alex’s new house in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. We first stopped at the Crawfish house. Caity met us there and we had an amazing lunch. I was not leaving this part of the country without first having crawfish.

They were amazing! We then headed to the house. We brought over the King Cake and explained about the baby in the cake. Each cake has a little plastic baby inside of it. The baby represents luck and prosperity, and finding it in your slice signifies that you will have good fortune in the coming year. We all chose our slices in the hopes that we would have the slice with the baby. The lucky winner was Alex’s mom, Jules.

From there we headed to Florida for a visit with Greg’s parents. The weather started warming up finally and we had a couple of nice days with them.

Then the rain came, just in time for our visit to Disney World. The traffic on the way to Disney was terrible because of the rain. People just don’t know how to slow down and adjust the way they drive in the rain. Makes me crazy. We did finally arrive at Fort Wilderness to site 2001. We pulled into our spot and then headed to the bus to go exploring. Our first stop was the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was magnificent. Imagine waking up each morning to giraffes and zebras outside your window.

We were planning on eating there but the restaurant didn’t open till 5 so we headed back on the bus and went over to Disney Springs which has a zillion restaurants and other fun things to do. We had a great meal at Paradiso. I had the skirt steak and Greg had the brisket. Disney Springs had this one bakery called Gideon’s that always has an extremely long line so we never go in there but today, because of the rain, the line was only a 15 minute wait so we got on it. The inside is like a miniature Haunted Mansion and once inside the line moves super fast because there is only like 10 things to choose from. The cookies are unbelievable and totally worth the wait.

We didn’t eat any of the baked goods we bought from Gideon’s. Instead we headed to the giant donut place. I would say this is my favorite place in Disney Springs. The variety of donuts is amazing. There are so many to choose from and they are huge.

We walked around a bit more and then headed to the bus depot to take the bus back to the campground. It was a very productive first day at Disney. We had a good nights sleep and the next day we headed to Epcot. 

The weather was bit colder than we would have liked but it was a really fun day filled with tons of good food and lots of walking. It’s a huge park. Besides all the food, my favorite thing was the “Living with the Land” ride. It was amazing to see all those plants growing so big in such a small amount of space. I just loved that. 

We stayed up till the very end. We enjoyed the symphony of fireworks at the end and then made a mad dash out of there and were able to hop on an already packed bus back to the campground. We are gonna be tired tomorrow. But what a great day it was.

We checked out of the campground at 11 and drove the van to the campground parking lot. Then we headed on the bus to do some pool hopping. It was a glorious 80°. Perfect day for pool hopping. We decided to do the all star resorts. There are three of them together within walking distance. We arrived and had a nice lunch and then enjoyed the sun and the pools.

We had the best day and then waited for the bus to take us back to the van. 

We drove about an hour to the Cracker Barrel in Titusville to watch the rocket launch which was pretty cool. Next day we headed to visit my friend Lisa. We played bingo at her community center. I won a hundred bucks and Greg won 20. Another lucky night for us.

So the end of yet another month. Time is flying!! Below are our expenses for the month of February. Tomorrow we leave for another FREE CRUISE. I’ll be off of social media for lent but will continue to write the blog. You can read all about it next month.