Biking in Biloxi, by Beatriz Martinez
In order to work off the food, the Leap Ambassadors parted ways to see the seashore while exercising. Professor Yawn and Ryan went on a gator excursion, where they fed gators and got to “pet” them. The girls, however, went a much simpler route by doing a variety of safer alternatives.
The first of which was, of course, shopping. Being at Beau Rivage, we decided to, briefly, get a glimpse at the casino. Being that not all of us were of age, we moved on to the shops and away from the casinos.
Along the way we happened to chance upon a face painter and of course Christina and Beatriz got their face painted.
Later, after touring the rest of Beau Rivage, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our next excursion.
Part of the city of Biloxi’s recreational/ tourism efforts were incorporated in a bicycling program that you could use in order to cycle across most of the city of Biloxi. The three of us: Makayla, Christina, and I, took advantage of this opportunity and used it to ride 4 miles along the beach.
Part of Biloxi’s charm are the sea-themed sculptures along the shore. Made from trees damaged in Hurricane Katrina, the community brought in artists to turn the dead trees into beautiful art.
It’s a classic case of making lemonade from lemons, and we enjoyed the sculptures (Galveston adopted this program after Ike).
After more than 1 hour on the road, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for another night of fun.
Family Night, by Makayla Mason
With a beautiful sunset and perfect weather luring us into the Southern Legislative Conference’s Family Night, there was excitement in the air. To start the night with a hit, Jackson State University made a grand entrance.
The crowd was cheered with approval as we all enjoyed their enthusiastic dances and electric music.
Their whole program was exciting and wonderful.
And the music and moves were great!
Speaking of moves, a certain couple–Christine and Aaron from the Lift School of Acrobatics–had some very flexible ones.
Their balance, elegance, and strength were amazing!
For the rest of the night, we enjoyed a picnic-on-the-beach style dinner with many items to choose from such as hamburgers, corndogs, nachos, cotton candy, and s’mores!
While enjoying our tasty dinner, we enjoyed live music by Steve Azar.
Steve Azar, a Mississippi man, fully hit the country scene in 2002. His song “I Don’t Have To Be Me til’ Monday” was the first single to reach #2 on the national country radio charts.
We were lucky enough to sing along with him as he played that very same song that is still popular on the radio today.
As the night grew late, we played a few beach side games. We even played a tournament of bean-bag toss.
Playing Horseshoes in the dark was interesting. Half the fun was trying to find where the horseshoes had buried themselves after we had thrown them. Makayla was the only one to get a ringer but Ryan had a few close throws.
We were sad to leave the Fun Zone, but it was off to get sleep for the next day’s adventures.
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