The premise behind Crusin' The Coast is to get car enthusiasts and gear heads in one spot to show off their cars and to drool over everyone else's. There is also a swap meet, auction, and industry experts there to sell products and help trouble shoot problems.We were hoping to drive down in Keegan's 'Vette down this year, but it's unfortunately still out of commission.
Since Crusin' The Coast brings in thousands of people, you have to reserve your hotel room for the next year basically as you check out of your hotel that current year. Unfortunately we didn't do that last year, so by the time we got around to looking for hotel rooms, the only ones available were in the casinos with jacked up prices. We decided to splurge and booked a room at the IP Casino in Biloxi.
Friday, we got down to the coast around 7:30 and headed straight for Mellow Mushroom, a pizza joint that I had never heard of until last year, but is amazing. I thought for a second about getting their gluten free pizza, but I splurged and got a regular pizza with pineapple and feta, so good! We drove around a bit, looking at all of the pretty cars, then went to the hotel. I have never been to a casino before, so I didn't know what to expect. The hotel was so busy, crowded and loud! There was live music coming from one of the bars, people of all walks of life wandering around, stores, spas, and more. It was a total overload to my senses, so I was glad to get to our room and crash.
Saturday, we got up and drove down to Bay St. Louis, our favorite spot from last year. All of the cars are lined up in the historic downtown, so you're able to drool over the cars while catching lunch or shopping in one of the boutiques. We had tried to go to IHOP for breakfast, but it was insanely busy, so we ended up grabbing frozen custard. Oh the perks of being an adult. We ate lunch at Trapani's, a local seafood focused restaurant. Keegan got a half shrimp, half catfish po boy and since I don't like seafood, I got a roast beef po boy.
They had the coolest tables at Trapani's. They were filled with sand, shells, starfish and sand dollars from the beach that was just a few yards away.
We spent about half the day in Bay St. Louis, then drove to Ocean Springs, drooling over cars the entire way.
Saturday night, we decided to dine in our hotel and ate at Costa Cucina, an Italian restaurant. We went hog wild and did an entire four course meal: appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert. We had a really young, enthusiastic waiter that was fun to talk to, and throughout the entire meal, we watch the chefs throw dough in the air for handmade pizzas. Earlier that week, Keegan had gotten a bonus from the general manager of his mill in the form of a $50 money card, so we used that for dinner and only spent $15 out of pocket to cover the leftover and the tip. As Keegan said, best $15 meal we ever had.
Sunday, we ate at IHOP before heading back home early enough to do some laundry and relax before the impending work week. The weekend was the perfect getaway and allowed Keegan and I to have some us-focused time together. We can't wait until next year!
That all sounds awesome! What a fun tradition--I am so glad you enjoyed yourselves. You both deserved a break like that!
ReplyDeletelove these! im glad you got such good pics with your great camera! the cars are so pretty!
ReplyDeleteFun cars! Yearly traditions are so great.
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