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Natchez was just a quick stop, so I am not going to spend a lot of time here. I need to get caught up on my trip details! The best part, I was finally starting to feel like my allergies were settling down so I could enjoy myself. To get out and walk a little bit anyway. Cloudy weather unfortunately.
Natchez was beautiful and I am glad I stopped here. The architecture, both grand and quirky, was very interesting. It is definitely a place that deserves more attention, and time.
Saturday, April 17th. The drive to Natchez from Bells, TN was long, but a nice drive down Highway 61 (the Blues Highway). Definitely one of my longer driving days, a little more than 9 hours to complete the entire drive, including a stop for lunch.
Surprise 1 – The churches! And I don’t mean just a church, but it felt like at least a dozen. I would be driving down the highway and all of a sudden there would be a church on the side of the road. No parking lot in sight, no sign of a pull-off, just a church sitting there. Well-maintained and not looking abandoned. So does everyone just park along the highway on Sundays? Very curious.
Surprise 2 – The sheer number and amount of abandoned buildings, equipment and vehicles along the route. It was just so sad. From grand houses to not so grand trailer homes, to farms to homes. Just such a sad statement about life and poverty in Mississippi.
Surprise 3 – This one I didn’t notice until I was almost at Natchez. All of sudden I saw a field full of beef cattle. It made me realize I had been seeing miles and acres of just seeded farm fields, but no livestock of any kind. Seeing some made me realize how little I was seeing before then. It is strange what you notice when you are driving along a quiet road.
Lunch was one of my planned stops in Clarksdale, Mississippi at the Ground Zero Blues Club. This was an interesting place, not what I anticipated at all! At the end of a quite street is this blues club. I think every square inch of the place had graffiti or signatures on it! Including the ceiling. I had a pulled pork sandwich with fries. Thankfully the fries were not cooked through (calories be-gone), but the sandwich was really, really good. Plus I met a gentleman who was planning on playing the harmonica that night, Jock Webb. He was very polite and I had a nice talk with him before hitting the road again. I wish I could have stayed to listen!
Natchez was a beautiful place to visit before going further south. I will have to talk more about it tomorrow.
Need a good book to read? A mystery with a definitely new twist? Try “Win” by Harlan Coben. This was my first travel book and it was perfect for the cabin in the woods. I was talking books at a retirement party for a friend of mine, and he asked if I had read anything by Mr. Coben. I was thinking, yes but it had been a while. So, when I saw this one at the bookstore, and it was a stand-alone book, I nabbed one for the drive. I tend to use my Nook when I go into restaurants, but for sitting in hotels (or cabins) I prefer a good old-fashioned book. “Win” is a nickname for Windsor Horne Lockwood III. He is a definitely an anti-hero and the secrets he dredges up… I wonder if the truth was something he really wanted to know in the long run. Lots of great background in this one, I am hopeful that there will be a second one that will provide a more in-depth storyline. I give this 5 out of 5 stars, so it will be hard to beat!
I did take one day to drive into Memphis to do some quick sight-seeing. What is the point of going all this way if you don’t take the time to do something! But, all in all I was a little disappointed, however I didn’t have much time to look around and explore in depth. Many of the museums and displays were closed too. Below are some photos from Memphis.
I did have a really good meal, a Pink Flamingo drink and a pulled pork sandwich at Alfred’s on Beale Street. It was a good choice! And it was a quiet spot to sit and relax, and I got to keep the flamingo. If it gets home safe, it is going to the cabin with me this summer! One problem with traveling so much is that I have developed odd times to stop and eat. I have to admit, getting back to a regular schedule will be nice. I think when I get to Naples my first stop at the grocery store will be to buy a pile of fruit and salad mixings! I did purchase two t-shirts to memorialize my stop on Beale Street. 🙂 I love all the trolley cars, I wish we had some in Minneapolis.
I have to say, the waterfront park was very pretty and I spent a bit of time walking in the park and driving along the river. The HUGE pyramid for Bass Pro Shops really stood out, but I did not have the energy to figure out how to get to it.
Whew! What a day and what a drive.
Up early for breakfast at the hotel and a walk through old town in St. Charles. My hotel was only a block away from here, so it was an easy walk. You could see the clouds gathering and the tornado warning was due to hit around 5 pm that night in Memphis. But St. Charles was so beautiful, I had to take some time.
Surprise One – B Bathhouse. This was my splurge for St. Charles, their products smell just wonderful! And, as it turned out, the room spray ended up being a life saver at the cabin.
So St. Charles to Bells, Tennessee. A white-knuckle and long drive. Pouring down rain with occasional short breaks in intensity. I just hung on and drove, although there were times when I wondered if I should have booked another night in St. Charles and eaten one night’s stay at the Green Frog Cabins. But too late! I was really sad as I had to skip by St. Louis entirely and just drive, a long 7 hours of driving in the rain and finally in the encroaching dark. I made it, I found my cabin, and all turned out well.
I walked into the my cabin, the Moonshine Cabin, and the problem, musty! You could tell it wasn’t frequently used lately. My sinuses immediately responded, and not favorably. Plus I went from the frozen north to really green and blooming! This is where the room spritz helped, I sprayed it all over and it helped add a much better smell. The porch awnings were deep so I opened the doors and let the wind blow through the cabin. Unfortunately, only one window wasn’t painted shut so the fresh air only helped in the living room area (I later figured out that I needed to switch between heat and a/c to clean out the mustiness). But the place was so charming and the bed was very comfortable. I was also the only one at the cabins this week. The only person I saw was the handyman who came by the next day to clean up after the storm! Never met anyone else, at all.
Surprise Two – the grounds for Green Frog were filled with historic structures and they leave you a set of keys to all of them so you can take a tour through the grounds. Due to my allergy attack, I skipped going to Paducah and the Lakes between the States region and just stayed at the cabin. This was a nice way to get outside and take a short walk.
It also appeared that the owner was converting additional structures into cabins for stays. They have a very nice event center there that you can rent out for groups, I could definitely see that the ability to rent out more cabins would be nice. If the cabin wasn’t so musty, it would have been perfect. Except no television, no radio and no internet. Thankfully I had one bar on my phone so I could keep an eye out on the weather. Arriving during a severe thunderstorm and tornado warning was a little nerve-wracking! A weather radio would have been a nice addition. http://www.greenfrogfarm.org
Question, what day is it? It is only Tuesday and I am having a hard time keeping it all straight already! Of course, that leads to, where am I? 🙂
Today I drove from Muscatine, Iowa to St. Charles, Missouri. I took the scenic route along the Mississippi River, down Highway 61, for the most part. I ignored my Apple wayfinding for the most part as it wanted me to take a different route than where I wanted to go. The hardest part, I was supposed to check into our HOA meeting at 6:30 pm. However, I was in Louisiana, Missouri at this time, where I thought I could check in, and absolutely nothing was open. So many businesses are closed on Monday and Tuesday down here at this time of year, and are rarely open past 4 or 5 pm. It really caught me off guard, although I suppose it shouldn’t have. So, meeting missed unfortunately.
Surprise 1 – You don’t see much of the river on the Scenic River Road. It was fun to zip up and down hills in the middle of nowhere though. At least I met this nice gentleman looking for a ride to Louisiana, MO and so at least I had some company for a stretch. Very chatty, name of Jason, and I was glad of the company.
Surprise 2 – I really enjoyed touring the Mark Twain Cave. The tour guide was very fun and had a lot of cute information on Mark Twain and the history of the cave and cave formations. I do love a cave tour! Hannibal, MO was a fun town to visit and they had a fantastic pottery shop I stopped at.
My first leg of my trip southwards is well underway. Was stressful getting ready, as usual. Setting up a housesitter, determining what to pack, let’s unpack everything and slim down some more, then repack everything, sit and ponder a bit, then cram it all in the car and hope it fits (my vehicle isn’t real big). Whew!! Night one was in LaCrosse and Night 2 is in Muscatine, Iowa.
Surprise one – the Maritime Museum in Wabasha. They had a lot of spectacular artwork in their displays. So much more variety than expected and I could have spent all day just sitting and looking at the beautiful variety of work. Definitely a recommended stop!
Surprise two – the Shrine of Our Lady Guadalupe just outside of La Crosse. Wow, what a beautiful and well maintained place to visit, and get a good workout. The center and chapel are up a nice “hill”. They do have golf carts for those who can’t walk up or down the hill, but it is a nice paved trail and a beautiful walk. The candle chapel has some beautiful stained glass inside and worth a quick stop. The church and grounds at the top are worth it.
What do you do when waiting for company to join you in a restaurant? Start a new book!
Here it is April, what happened to March? I am now starting my fourth week of retirement and I have no idea where the time went. I have been so busy! Bringing home all my stuff from work, trying to fit it all in at home, purging work clothes, planning parties, writing and illustrating thank you cards, cleaning, going to The Marsh to work out again, having lunch with friends, READING, travel planning, financial planning, SLEEPING, and on and on! So far though, I am loving retirement.
My to-do list last week was long, and not all of it was done. I still have some thank you cards to finish. Unfortunately, if you ignored the no-gifts comment, and you haven’t received a thank you card by next week you might not get one anytime soon as this week I will be focusing on closing up the house, getting my house sitter on board, and packing for my trip down the Mississippi River road. I am very excited to visit all the cultural sites and museums along the way, as well as to try out all the new foods! Yummmm… Talk soon!
It’s done. I have retired from the City of Eden Prairie. I am overwhelmed and in a state of denial right now. I am just on a long vacation, right? The switch to Daylight Savings didn’t help much either.
Had two wonderful parties. The one for work was last week Wednesday at Champp’s. Good turnout and fun, but also sad that I will miss them all so much. Tuesday night was my “Water Geeks, Friends and Family” party at Pizza Luce. A mix of everyone! I was a little worried, being a work night, but quite a few people came by and I had a fun time going from group to group to talk and reminisce. I did get a few gifts, after my “no gifts please” invitation. 🙂 I also got lots of wonderful Happy Birthday and Happy Retirement cards, and some beautiful flowers. I would never say no to cards! Sadly, I was so busy chatting with everyone that I forgot to take pictures! For me, that is very strange as I always have my phone out to take pictures.
Yesterday I didn’t do much of anything, other than get an extremely crazy high quote for painting my den. Maybe my next post will be all about my “beautiful” den that I want to paint over. Looks like I will have to buy some paint and start working on it myself, maybe one wall at a time? I also started to purge work clothes that I have no need to hang onto. Keeping enough to have nice clothes for traveling, dinner or events and the rest is all comfy clothes. Next is to box them up to take to Goodwill.
Today, I did something I have never done before. This may sound strange, but I am not one to just go to a bar in the middle of the afternoon on a St. Patrick’s Day. But after lunch I thought I would duck into McCormick’s and have a drink and watch the bagpiper, who was scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Turned out a good friend was there and I ended up staying for al little over 3 hours! Met a lot of really nice people and had a good time all in all. I would have stayed longer, but the bar was very crowded and the noise was really starting to get to me.
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