Things to see on drive

From New Orleans if you take US 90 east, you will go through Biloxi which has an interesting lighthouse and also casinos.  Just past there is Ocean Springs and the Gulf Islands National Seashore  There is a visitor's center, fishing pier, hiking trails and picnic area.   When you get to Alabama, you have a choice
One way is to go down the coast to Dauphin Island which has Fort Gaines and an Estuarium.  Then you can take a ferry over to Fort Morgan (Alabama).  Then the road takes you to Orange Beach and then across into Florida at Pensacola.  In Pensacola is the Naval Aviation Museum.  Then you go across the bridge to another part of the Gulf Island's National Seashore at Pensacola Beach    US 98 goes to  Fort Walton Beach and then across the bridge to Destin
The other way is to stay on US 90 and to go Theodore and visit Bellingrath Gardens, and then go to Mobile which has Fort Conde, a historic downtown, Gulfquest National Maritime Museum and the USS Alabama.  On the other side of the bay is Spanish Fort and then you just take I-10 across to Florida

Hi Jill,
I would stop at Biloxi to see the cast-iron Biloxi Lighthouse, Ohr-O'Keeffe Museum of Art, The Beauvoir Estate (a historic post-war Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library), and Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum.
Biloxi is about 95 miles from New Orleans and 168 miles from Destin .