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   :)

Natchez Trace - Day Two

Hi all - Dianne here. On Tuesday we continued down the Natchez Trace Parkway from Tupelo all the way to its end in Natchez, Mississippi.

I'm going to make this a quick entry so that Roger can elaborate on our day in Natchez. We decided to separate this into two separate blogs, due to the large number of photos we took in Natchez.

Day Two on the Trace was another peaceful, quiet drive. We saw lots of wildlife on the way - several deer (running across the road in front of us, as well as on the side of the road). We also saw lots of wild turkeys, both female and Tom. I had never seen a turkey fly before, but they actually do. In fact, one almost hit the windshield of our motorhome as it flew past! (I think I remember reading somewhere that they aren't very intelligent....) We also drove past a snake and turtles along the road. I would say we saw a couple of armadillos, but the ones we saw were both road kill, so I guess that doesn't really count.

The most beautiful sight (and site) of the day was the Bald Cypress Swamp turn-out along the Trace. We took the short hike around and through the swamp, and it felt almost surreal. The photos can describe it better than my words. Another beautiful day and beautiful drive.

There were a lot of downed trees along the Trace, especially as we traveled its southern portion. The man in the motorhome parked next to us at Trace State Park had just come north on the Natchez Trace, and told us about all the downed trees. He spoke with a park ranger who explained that they had had a terrible storm and the Trace had actually had to be closed for a couple of weeks due to numerous trees across the road. They are working hard to remove them, but they are still piled along the sides of the road, for miles and miles and miles. I believe this to be the same storm that eventually came east to Georgia and hit hard the day before we arrived at Lake Lanier several weeks ago. (We had delayed our trip north from Florida by a day due to the weather forecast). That must have been one heck of a storm here in Mississippi.

We crossed the bridge in Natchez to Vidalia, Louisiana, and set up camp at River View RV Park right on the Mississippi River. Roger will take over from here in the next blog.

Natchez Trace - Day One

Hi all - Dianne here.  We left Summit Lake State Park a day early to enable us to drive down the Natchez Trace to New Orleans, rather than staying on the interstate highways.

 Sunday morning we left Summit Lake and traveled to just north of Nashville, Tennessee.    

Monday morning we set off down the Natchez Trace Parkway, which spans 440 miles, from just south of Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi.   We have our friends Harry and Bobbi to thank for encouraging us to take this route.   What a scenic, peaceful drive!  

 There was hardly ANY traffic, no stop lights, no semis, lovely scenery and short hikes.   I will let some of the photos speak for themselves.  

 A few of the highlights were the double-arch

 bridge,

 Merriwether 

(of Lewis & Clark fame) grave and monument, and best of all Jackson Falls.

  Roger has never met a rock in a creek he hasn't climbed on, and when he climbed on the rocks at the falls, he realized that the view we THOUGHT was the falls was only the lower section.   He quickly came back for the camera to photograph the upper section as it spilled like a water chute down to the lower falls.   Any man-made water feature could only dream of being as fabulous as this water fall.   It was a very steep, short hike to get to the falls, but well worth it.  

 We also stopped at several of the other turn-outs

 and took some photos of the interesting sites featured in each.  One of the things I really wanted to do on this trip was to take a short hike on a portion of the original Natchez Trace.  If you aren't familiar with what the Natchez Trace is, it is the route the "Kaintucks" and other pioneers from the fertile lands of the Ohio Valley would take after floating their crops down the rivers to Natchez.  Since the current was too strong to float back up north to their homes, they would dismantle the barges and sell the lumber, then set out for home on foot or horseback.  The Natchez Trace was the route taken by these pioneers for many years, and Indians and Buffalo before them.

After hiking for a while down the old trace portion, the surface turned from dirt and gravel to foot-tall grasses.  Roger suggested we turn back, but I wanted to push on, because I was really getting into the historical vibe of the old path.  (Roger made up one of his silly songs as I did this, the theme song from Daniel Boone as he substituted my name for Daniel's.)   

As usual, I should have listened to Roger and turned back, because once we were in the motorhome, we had to spend about 15 minutes pulling several ticks off the legs of  both dogs.  Since their fur is very light and short, it was easy to find all the little varmints and banish them back outdoors before they had a chance to dine on our dogs.

I must explain the little map photo.  When I was a young girl (probably 10 or younger), I cut this little map out of a small paperback book.  Every time I traveled to a new state I colored in that state with whatever I had with me at the time (usually just a ball point pen), usually as I crossed the state line.    

As you can see, this little almost-50-year-old scrap of paper was just missing three states prior to today, one of which was Mississippi.  I happily colored it in as we crossed into Mississippi on the Natchez Trace.  All that is left now is a trip to New England to take in Vermont and New Hampshire.  We have Maine taken care of from a day trip we took with Ambassadaire Travel Club several years ago, by plane.   I also need to make it to Alaska someday.  I don't even think Alaska was a state when I started coloring in this map!   Any 10-year-old kid who kept a map like this for almost 50 years was destined to full time in a motorhome in her golden years, don't you think?

We made it all the way to  Tupelo, Mississippi on day one.  Harry and Bobbi also recommended we stay at Trace State Park outside Tupelo.  Wow!!  What a beautiful place!  

 The last six photos are of the views from our camp site at Trace State Park. 

  It's a shame we are only here for one night. 

  We had a nice camp fire and called it a day.  

Check back soon for day two of our Natchez Trace adventure, our journey from Tupelo to Natchez and on into Louisiana.