Vicksburg National Military Park to Tupelo, MS

Vicksburg, MS to Tupelo, MS today..Oct 4th...Had a lovely night in Vicksburg at the Days Inn..got up this am and went to the lobby to see what was up for breakfast...not..white toast and a few pastries...not working for us..so we went next door to the waffle house and we both had a great breakfast with real grits!  How do I know that? There were lumps and they were delicious!  We left and headed over to the Vicksburg National Military Park.. 

The park is incredible! We watched about a 20 min movie on the battle of Vicksburg..wow..the history there is something else!  We took the driving tour which was about 15 miles long and it took us more than a few hours! You could spend days seeing this park.  I love doing things like this, as you see so many other people there from so many other places just enjoying as we do..I'm stealing from my dear friend  Irene,,,"Now this is America!"  and I don't mean the fact that the Civil War was American upon American. It's the beauty of the National Park system! I can't explain the feeling it gives to see the history..

We left there knowing we had to drive to Tupelo, MS which was about 200 miles away and we wanted to take the Natchez Trace Parkway.  

Well, we made it so we can proudly say we have seen the 444 miles of the parkway from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS!!!  It was beautiful, I told Ken, it's like driving through a park the whole way, and not alot of traffic.

We are at the Super 8 we stayed at last week here in Tupelo. Nice motel, and the gas station has a restaurant we had breakfast at last week...Dinner tonight!

Tomorrow we head to Don's, should be an easy drive..can't wait to see how his trees have turned. 

Inside the visitor center of Vicksburg Military Park

Outside the visitor center

The state of Illinois has an impressive memorial to the Civil War Soldiers..

Inside the Illinois Memorial

Looking up through the hole in the top of the memorial

Ken inside the memorial

The Illinois Memorial...Incredible!!

The best part of the park....THE SHIRLEY HOUSE!!
Only surviving structure in the park.  Headquarters for Illinois.
Members of the military built shelters around it to protect themselves

General Ulyssess S Grant

The USS Cairo...It was sunk in Dec 1862 and brought back up 1964..

Add caption

The Cairo

This was the ships bell..they found it and after all these years there was
an air pocket inside..so the Yazoo river was bubbling when it
was brought up...so cool! And the bell is beautiful!

Sailors silverware..doesn't compare to the officers silverware..

US Marine Corps dress cap insignia

The ship exhibit...incredible!

The paddle wheels

2and 1/2 inch steel plates with 12 to 25 inch wood behind
so it wouldn't shred apart when hit with artillery!

Side of the ship

13000 of 17000 Civil War soldiers are unknown.  Beautiful cemetary

More of the unknown

There are some WWI, WWII and Korea veterans buried here
They stopped burials in 1961 when they ran out of plots

Don, thought you would like this!

And of course the Arkansas memorial!

America is so beautiful, and so glad we are getting to see alot of it on this trip.

From Natchez MS to Vicksburg MS

October 3rd...Had a good night at the Days Inn in Natchez, MS and a good breakfast at there at the motel.  Got out of there and thought we'd take a drive and see the antebellum homes.  We did, didn't go into any of them but drove by quite a few.  We parked and took a little walk through the town which was nice.  Natchez sits right on the Mississippi River so it's very nice.  Eventually it was getting late enough so we decided to have lunch "under the hill" the part that used to be the seedy side of town. Apparently Jerry Lee Lewis got his start down there before he moved on to Memphis. 

We ate at a place called the Magnolia Grill it was delicious, Ken had a good looking burger and I had the grilled portabella mushroom...yummmm.  We left there and found the Natchez Parkway and got about 60 miles under our belt.  

We drove to Vicksburg, MS about 16 miles off the parkway and are at another Days Inn.  This one overlooks the river and the room is incredible! I reserved a king size bed and when we got here, we told the woman checking us in how good their reviews were on trip advisor, so I guess she decided to give us best of the house.  From what I can see there are only two rooms that are like this. We have two couches, a four poster bed and it's huge! 

Talked to Russell and the boys last night along with Cheryl.  

Got a sad call after we went to bed, Bev Henderson passed away yesterday. They were camping and she got sick turns out she had a massive stroke. Gary called to tell me..so sad, she was a great friend, she and Gary didn't have much but they were always there for me.  

Well, this am we're going to the Vicksburg Battlefield and then back to the parkway..about 410 miles from here to Don's.  

Slave quarters at the mansion below

One of many antebellum homes in Natchez, MS

Anther one in Natchez, Rosalie is her name

Endicott home downtown historic district

Under the hill, Natchez, MS

To the left of this building is the Magnolia Grill..the little off white building..yumm

The only standing Inn along the Trace it's in  MS

Rooms inside the inn

Beds inside the inn

A bell out back of the inn..Don has one like it at his house in TN

The soap making machine...glad I don't have to do it that way!

The church

Sign from the Methodist Church above

Graveyard out back of the church...alot of babies :(

Our room at the Days Inn in Vicksburg, MS

The bridge from Vicksburg, MS to Louisiana from our room at the Days Inn...

The first mansion we saw in Natchez...

A Great Swamp Tour in Breaux Bridge, LA

Look closely, you'll see an egret standing there

A Blue Heron..these birds, when they fly look like a prehistoric bird

Beautiful flowers that grow in the swamp

What happens to a "road" when an airboat goes through

October 2nd...We ended our day in Beaux Bridge, LA..stayed at the Microtel and it was very nice.  We had a nice continental breakfast, eggs, toast, yogurt and juice before we left to head for Walmart and then the Swamp tour. 

We had an 1100 appointment and arrived there about an hour early. Shawn met us and we waited for the next two groups to arrive.  We left right about 1100 and headed out to what was called Lake Martin.  He cruised very slowly around the lake telling us the history and pointing out wildlife and the story behind it all.  We all loved it, he has grown up his whole life there and you can feel the love he has for this area and the swamp. 

He took his time, and it seemed like he was doing this for the first time..It was just so awesome, I don't even have words for how gorgeous this whole area was.  

We have driven over swamps and I've always looked at it thinking "ohh  yukk", I know there are snakes in alligators in there.  Certainly, I wouldn't want to get out of the boat but it was just wonderful! We did see lots of wildlife, alligators, herons, egrets, spiders, turtles...just incredible. 

The bad part of the whole thing, he took us through a beautiful swamp that looked like it was carpeted with this beautiful algae.  When he went through it the algae gently separated and behind the boat went back together. He pointed out where a jet boat had gone through and area, and you can see where it ruined everything in sight!  The grasses were torn apart, the algae gone. Then we heard the boat sounded like an airplane only more revved up..this jerk was just  playing (or trying to annoy).  You could see the grasses and lily pads and everything in his way just flying behind him as he destroyed the beauty in front of him.  Guess this jerk started this business, and does whatever he can to annoy and take business away from Shawn and his dad who run their little company!  
I believe some "Cajun justice" is in order for this guy!

The tour lasted 2 1/2 hours and it was only $20.00 a person.  When it was over i have to tell you I have a whole new feeling regarding the beauty of the swamp.  

We left and headed for a mexican restaurant in town.  Now we are awakening at the Days Inn in Natchez, MS.  We'll visit the town a bit and head for Don's via the Natchez Trace until Tupelo.  Then we'll be able to say we've seen it all!

Our tour guide, Shawn

An algae covered "road" through the swamp

Leaving Al and Irene...New Orleans and Baton Rouge..

Gulfport MS to Henderson LA...We got up this am at the Quality Inn and met Al and Irene for a quick breakfast.  We loaded into our car and went and did a little sight seeing on the Gulfport and Biloxi coast.  Beautiful! We did see where Katrina had hit several areas, but some of the rebirth was beautiful! We left them at around 1000 and headed towards New Orleans, I wanted to see the French Quarter..we did..omg it is soooo busy with construction it was hard to even navigate the streets..kinda sad as it was beautiful!! I wouldn't have minded staying a few hours to visit, but with the crowds, work and traffic not feasible..the area around it is soo sad, just so devastated...and lowlife...ghetto.. glad to be out of it.. 

Gulfport MS

Gulfport MS

The Border

French Quarter New Orleans

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter New Orleans

French quarter New Orleans

Bridge going to highway 18 LA so we could see plantations

Henderson swamp...LA

Henderson swamp...in LA

Sunset in La Breaux LA..from our hotel room..microtel..

Decided to go see some of the plantations because of the lady at the visitor center.  Well that sucked...we drove the road which was ok..but there was no place to have lunch..we are spending the night in Henderson, LA...and hope to do a swamp tour tomorrow. Then we will head for Natchez MS and then back to Don's...Life is good!