Natchez Trace Day Two

We began our day in Clinton, MS.  We drove back to the spot where we got off the Trace and continued north.  The green line is the Trace.  Each black dot is a site on the Trace, some are just a sign telling about an event or a house that stood there, some are walking paths and some are overlooks.  This day was our longest.

At the end of day two we got off the Trace just west of Alabama and stayed the night near Pickwick Dam in TN.  I have a nest of cousins in Savannah, TN and I remember eating at a restaurant near this dam when I was younger.

Our trip started with very flat terrain and near the end of day two we are in rolling hills.

We started Day Two in the fog.

I promise you that Carl really is happy.

Along the Trace many of the restrooms and information sites are built to look like a building from times past.  Here is The Parkway Information Cabin near Jackson.

The Mississippi Craft Center was such a fun stop near Jackson.  The very kind lady who opened 15 minutes early just for us could not have been nicer.  I should have written down her name so I could tell you to go see her!  We bought several souvenirs and admired lots of art.  They also have wonderful bathrooms.

Here is a souvenir I bought for my fridge with the path of the Trace.

I loved all the history and science that we learned.  I had never heard of a water tupelo tree before this .

Kaitlin was usually our scout.  She would run ahead and see if I could make the trek or if they needed to go and bring me back pictures.  Kaitlin and Carl both got to 10,000 steps on their fitbits every day! Most of the paths I could walk.

Here is what the old Trace looked like in several places.

The view from the road we drove on differed all along the way.  Sometimes we saw wide open spaces, sometimes we were in a canopy of trees, and sometimes the road was hugging the side of a hill.

We saw some fall color but not lots because of the lack of water.

This is the half way point.  On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we saw maybe 10 cars total but on Saturday we saw tons plus lots of cyclists, runners, and walkers.  We enjoyed having the road to ourselves so we could stop and take pics like this one!

Natchez Trace Day One

I have wanted to drive on the Natchez Trace since the 90's.  On one trip from Pine Bluff to Marietta, GA to take my mother home she requested that we drive for a few miles on the NT.  I remember the beauty, the quiet and the history and that I wanted to come back.

We left LR early on Wednesday and headed to Natchez, MS.  I really wasn't sure what all to expect on our trip up the NT but it was not like anything like I thought it would be.  The Trace is a 444 mile National Park.

Our first day plan was to drive from Natchez to Jackson.  There are over 100 stops on the entire Trace and we stopped by most of them.  I was struck by the diversity of things we saw- Indian Mounds, Meriwether Lewis' grave, waterfalls, swamps, Confederate graves, a phosphate mine, several overlooks, picnic areas and several 'stands'. Stands were places where, as you were walking the Trace, you could pay $0.25 to sleep in the yard of a house and possible get a warm meal.  What you don't see are traffic lights, commercial vehicles ( or rather you shouldn't), gas stations, motels, bill boards, or street lights.

We ate at all local restaurants starting with The Carriage House in Natchez.  That is where I noticed that Kaitlin had matching hair, buff, fitbit and sweater!

These were the only signs on the Trace.  We were able to walk on the original path in several places.

The Windsor Ruins in the next two pictures were just amazing.

A family built a house and it burned to the ground and all that was left at these columns.

Kailtin noticed the mile markers and suggest that we all mark our ages!

Here is some of the sunken Trace with Kaitlin getting in tuned with her inner Native America.  She thinks that the Park system should have guides walk the Trace in Native American costume.  She talks a good talk but if she had seen one she would have stayed in the van!

We didn't see much traffic at all from Wednesday -Friday so stopping was easy.

More pictures tomorrow!

29, 91 and 58

1- Today is my mother's birthday

2- If she were living there would be 91 candles on her cake
3- I miss her everyday
4- She died 20 years ago in March
5- That seems unreal
6- She loved her children and her grands well
7-She would love her great grands too.
8-She loved to write letters
9- She wrote me a letter every week unless we were together from the time I left for college until she died.
10- I plan to celebrate her today by writing a few letters
11-She loved to read
12- After I write a few letters I plan to read a little
13- I inherited many of her books
14- It is an eclectic collection
15- My mother was very well read
16- She loved to take pictures
17- How fun that she has a granddaughter that is a professional photographer
18- My mother laughed lots
19- By the time she was 50 she had buried two sons and her husband
20- She always said that when life give you lemons you just make lemonade
21- The longer I live the more I appreciate her strength
22- When I am in a hard, stressful, situation I try to picture what would my mother or Lara Croft do
23- I look more like my mother than Lara Croft
24- Google Lara Croft if you don't believe me
25-My mother loved Gilbert and Sullivan
26- Sir Arthur Sullivan wrote the music to Onward Christian Soldiers
27- Today is my 1/2 birthday
28- 29 is 1/2 of 58 (I'm 58)
29- I've decided that 29 is the new 58 1/2.

My 1/2 birthday presents

Food Fenway and Fun Part II

We had beautiful weather for our trip which was so nice because ...

I am a nervous flyer and my friend here fastens his seat belt and then does this!  He does hold my hand when I need him too.

In Atlanta Carl let Andrew have his seat and he sat a few seats behind us.  Andrew and I looked out the window- we saw NYC, we listened to my music and we visited.

Our first restaurant-

We got three different plates and shared the food.  The brisket was my favorite.

This is inside our motel.  It looked magical.                                                                                          

 

We ate Cannoli and Lobster Tail and Boston Cream Pie cupcakes- YUM

This restaurant is called Bogie's.  It is reservation only!  Ours was for 9:00 pm. There is room for about 12 folks in the place at one time.  It is in the back of another restaurant and they serve steak and sides.  It was one of the best steaks I've even eaten.  Andrew is not put off by what I consider shady places and this one looked shady to me and I was out of my comfort zone but the food was amazing. That was the end of our first day and I slept well that night!  Saturday we went to the Museum of Fine Art.  Pictures tomorrow !

Food, Fenway, Fun - Part I

   
A few weeks ago Andrew asked if Carl and I could join him on a trip to Boston.  He wanted to eat fun food, go see David Ortiz play a few more times for the Boston Red Sox and tour a few land marks.

Andrew used the website thrillist Boston to get the names of restaurants plus the dishes we needed to eat at the restaurants.  I love to eat at chain restaurants.  Give me a Cracker Barrel any day so to go on this eating spree was outside of my box but for the love of a child a mother will do lots!

To all the mother's of picky eaters- THERE IS HOPE!  Andrew lived on hamburgers til he was 18.  This was in spite of me offering and making him take a bite of everything Carl and I were eating when he was young.  He promptly threw it up!  I finally resolved that he was who he was.  And now to see him trying all these new foods and eating and enjoying them!!!!!

I am the type that likes to get to the airport about an hour before every flight.  Carl and Andrew like to slide onto the plane.  I'm learning to just breath deeply and go with the flow.  What good does worry do me is what I was telling myself as Andrew got on the plane with a few minutes to spare.

Below and above are a few of the things we ate.  YUM YUM.   I'll post tomorrow a few of our other adventures in Boston.