Vicksburg, Mississippi

Old Court House Museum

Hi all, Dianne here.  Vicksburg, Mississippi was originally supposed to be just an overnight for us on our way to Texas.  When hooking up the car at our last stop, Roger saw that the rear driver's car tire was completely flat.  He filled it with air, and it held, so we limped along south, stopping to check the tire and add air as needed to compensate for the slow leak that had developed.  For that reason, we decided to spend an extra night in Vicksburg to have time to get it fixed.  That also gave us time to check out Vicksburg, which we had always heard about but never visited.

Our stop at Vicksburg is at the Ameristar Casino RV Park, conveniently located near I-20.  It is just down the street from the Ameristar Casino, and has free shuttle service.  Neither Roger nor I are tempted by gambling, so we have not checked out any of the local casinos, but for around $23 a night it can't be beat.  (We would have paid more for 50 amp electric, but with the cool weather, we knew we wouldn't need our air conditioners).  

We didn't gamble or visit the Vicksburg National Military Park.  What we DID do was drive downtown to check out old town Vicksburg.  It reminded us a little bit of  Natchez -- built high on a bluff overlooking the river.  

Our first stop was the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum.

One of many exhibits, which were arranged chronologically

It is housed in a restored 1890 building where Coca-Cola was first bottled anywhere in the world in 1894.   We paid our $3.50 per person admission to the clerk at the soda fountain and enjoyed the exhibits:

Vintage Coke Bottles

Old Marble Soda Fountain

We lingered afterward long enough to enjoy Coke ice cream floats -- mine with vanilla and Roger's with chocolate -- made with local Mississippi Luvel dipped ice cream.

From there, we walked down the hill to the Catfish Row Children's Art Park,

And beyond that to view the Vicksburg Riverfront mural display on the flood wall down by the river.

We've seen our share of murals as we've traveled the U.S., but we both remarked that these were the best we've seen so far -- really special.  They were actually the highlight of our day in Vicksburg.  There are 32 life-like murals painted by artist Robert Dafford depicting periods of history in Vicksburg, lighted at night, and each with a descriptive plaque giving a bit of history to go along with the artwork.  Really very well done.  Here is a sampling of some of the more interesting (to us):

I took the following photo just to remind myself of the mural topic, but it describes it better than I could, so I'll just include it:

Scene depicts downtown Vicksburg "back in the day"

Did you know that ferries were once used to transport trains???  I was astonished to look at and read this one:

We had heard of the Sultana before, but did not realize its tragic history:

All I can add to that is wow, tragedy caused by greed, pure and simple.

We walked past the Depot Museum...

...then up the hill back to the main part of town...

No trip to the deep south would be complete without viewing some antebellum homes, so that's what we did next... 

Most of these mansions are now bed and breakfasts.  To learn more about them, click on the link under each photo.

Anchuca

Duff Green Mansion

Baer House Inn

George Washington Ball House

Our Coke floats had worn off by this time, so we drove south on Highway 61 to The Tomato Place (click on link for Trip Advisor review).  It's a funky, eclectic little place featuring fresh-baked breads, smoothies, and flavorful tomatoes -- an anomaly in this day and age.

One of their signature sandwiches was a BLT -- my favorite -- so that's what I had, on fresh-baked whole-wheat bread.  I could even taste the tomato!  

 Roger ordered the BLT po-boy, also on a fresh-baked roll.  

We left with some coffee beans, homemade jam, and a container of frozen prepared red beans to enjoy some evening.  Oh, and a loaf of fresh-baked whole wheat bread.  

What a fun, quirky lunch stop!

We enjoyed our day in Vicksburg and decided to spend one more night before crossing northern Louisiana into Texas.  Roger spoke with his brother on the phone, who used to travel to Vicksburg on business.  He told us we must have catfish before we leave, so another meal out was planned.

The next day, we pretty much just hung out in the motor home.  (Roger watched football and I did some Ancestry.com.)  After looking into the local dining options, Roger found the place for catfish in Vicksburg was Rowdy's Family Restaurant.   We were not disappointed...

Thin-fried catfish, black-eyed peas, turnip greens, cornbread and hush puppies.  I had never had southern black-eyed peas before, or turnip greens, so I figured this was the place to do it.  Yum!   

I'm such a good boy!

The pet picture of the day is a somewhat grainy shot taken through the car windshield and the motor home windshield as we arrived home from our catfish dinner.  We never know which of our pals will be watching and waiting for us -- this time it was Bandido.

Enid Lake Corps of Engineers - Northern Mississippi

Hi all -- Dianne here.  We have not updated our blog for two reasons:  We've been boondocking without electricity for a couple of nights, and also I wanted to leave the New Orleans Wedding blog up for a while, because I know there are people checking in just for that (who know the bride).  If you are looking for Jen's wedding, scroll down to the blog just below this one.

After leaving New Orleans, we spent a day driving through Louisiana and Mississippi as we traveled to the northwestern corner of Mississippi.  It was a very pretty drive through the wooded and hilly sections of the state.  Once again, we found ourselves in a beautiful Corps of Engineers campground on a large, scenic lake.  We took several shots of the view from our camp site, including a red-headed woodpecker that Roger captured a shot of as he landed on our stone picnic table.  (Actually it was the bird who landed on the picnic table, not Roger, as my wording made it sound!)

Our time there was too short, only a couple of days, but we enjoyed it thoroughly!

From there we drove to Aux Arc Corps of Engineers campground on the Arkansas River, which had a LOT of nice surprises, so check back soon as we will update the blog again in a day or so!

Natchez, MS + Vidalia, LA on the Mississippi River

Hi all - Dianne here.   Let's see....mockingbirds, magnolias, spanish moss, live oak trees -- no, you haven't gone back six months to our early blogs.  Within the last six months we've seen Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and now we are back in the Deep South, this time in Natchez, Mississipi.

 I'll let Roger describe our day touring Natchez for you, as well as our great camp site in Vidalia, Louisiana.  

Roger here...  For those of you who follow our blogs, we actually posted two today.  If you are reading this one, you might want to go back to the previous blog that Dianne posted, which covers our second day of travel on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

We arrived last night at the River View RV Resort in Vidalia, Louisiana, where we will be staying tonight as well.  It is directly across the Mississippi River from Natchez, Mississippi - a scenic, mansion-filled wonderland.  

Right now, the

 dogs and I

 are sitting under the awning of the motor home, where we have a full view of the Mississippi river.  We have watched several barges work their way upstream. 

  I just took a picture of the most recent one. 

Earlier today, the "boys" and I took a two mile walk/run along the river in front of the campground (excellent concrete walking path).  As we walked along, Sam Cook's, I was born by the river....   rattled around in my brain.   I also imagined a little private concert with the Doobie Brothers singing Black Water.   The reverie ended when  we got back to the motor home to plan our day in Natchez.

Dianne and I put the dogs in their crate, turned on the air conditioning, and drove across the river to Natchez.  We stopped at the excellent information center at the foot of the bridge and then took a walking tour of the city.  We walked for five miles looking at the antebellum mansions that are the pride of the city.  I have always had an interest in architecture.  The various designs of the houses and their various states of restoration made a great morning for me.   At one point we wandered through the grounds of the magnificent

 St. Mary's Cathedral. 

 There was a restful fountain in the back, as well as a memorial

 to the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.  The statue of the Conferate soldier

 on the monument rested on top of a 25 foot pillar - really cool AND VERY southern.  We loved it.

Dianne enjoyed smelling the fragrant flowers

 along the sidewalks and photographing the Magnolia trees that were prominent throughout the city.

At the end of the morning,  I suggested to Dianne that we wander down the street to a historic area located below the bluff where the city sits.   There were a few old buildings, a river boat casino and a restaurant at the bottom.   It was a pleasant walk down (note Dianne's smile

at the bottom).  Her smile, however, quickly faded as we trudged back up the hill.   I can't be sure, but I think that the words I heard behind me during the grueling trip up the hill were, "I don't think that was worth it." 

  My bad.

It was lunch time, and we had both had our share of exercise for the day, so we were hungry.  We made a planned stop at 

FAT MAMA'S TAMALES

 on the way back to the visitor center.  The food was great and I had fun joking with the nice southern lady who took our order.  (I told her that we would eat here every day if we lived here.  She promised me my own parking space if we decided to move here).  We both had Gringo Pies (tamales covered with chili, onions, and jalapeno peppers).  I had a frozen margarita (guaranteed to "knock you naked" according to the menu) to quench my thirst - you know, from all the exercise and all.   Dianne had a pecan praline for dessert.

  While we ate we talked with a couple from Texas who are staying at the same campground and headed north on the Natchez Trace Parkway tomorrow.  

Tomorrow we leave for New Orleans.  It will be one of our more stressful days, as we need to get set up in a one-night campground near the airport, and then pick up our daughter at the airport before 3:00 p.m.  At least Dianne and I are not the ones who are flying.  Amanda, our daughter, will be joining us in the motor home for a few days so that we can all attend the wedding of one of her best friends from elementary, MS, HS - Jennifer.  It should be a great time - after the airport, that is   :)