L'auberge Casino Resort -- Thursday, September 25

Thursday morning we had a leisurely breakfast at the B&B in Vicksburg before we packed up and headed to Louisiana.  A last visit to the home, and a nice conversation with another couple who had just arrived the night before from St. Louis.  They were doing some family tree/history travel.

Passing over the Mississippi a couple of times winding our way south, we arrived in Lake Charles around 1pm.  We stopped at John's favorite Cajun restaurant in the world, Steamboat Bill's for a late lunch.  We both had the gumbo -- so good.

Then we headed over to L'auberge at about 2:30 pm to check in.  I didn't take too many photos here because they won't let you take pictures in the casino.  We spent some time there, relaxed a lot, and had a late dinner at the Buffet there.  John did some more gambling after dinner, but I went up to just relax some more.  It was a great evening.

 Pretty room....

The view from our window -- 12th floor. They are building a Golden Nugget next door. The lazy river pool below us is part of this casino. It was over-cast, so not too many in the pool.

Friday was a travel day -- home again.  A perfect vacation!

What I'm Reading --- Fuzzy Nation

John and I listened to this novel on our way to Mississippi last week.  It was so good, we could not wait to get in the car on the way to Louisiana to finish it up.  It's sci-fi, and also quite funny.  Written by John Scalzi, and narrated by Wil Wheaton. We highly recommend it!

The description from Amazon:

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn't care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorp's headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporation's headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, that's not up for discussion.

Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth.

But there's another wrinkle to ZaraCorp's relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species.

Then a small furry biped--trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute--shows up at Jack's outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp's claim to a planet's worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed...and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the "fuzzys" before their existence becomes more widely known.

Civil War Campaigns in Raymond and Port Gibson, MS - Wednesday, September 24

On Wednesday we traveled a bit outside of Vicksburg to a couple of Civil War sites nearby.  But first we started with another great southern breakfast at the B&B that featured Quiche Lorraine.  It was delicious, and of course was accompanied by grits again! Not one meal yet without grits of some kind here. Ha!
First we traveled to the small town of Raymond, Mississippi.  The write up in our book, Civil War Sites, The Official Guide to the Civil War Discovery Trail, was a bit misleading.  First we could not find the entry to the Confederate Cemetery there.  We found it, but after circling it three times, there was no gate.  I'm not kidding.  Perhaps you were supposed to just pull off in the grass on the busy road there, but we weren't very comfortable with that, so we just looked as we passed by and made do with that.  Supposedly these are the soldiers who died at the Battle of Raymond, with 109 identified, and many others were unknown.

 We did find the Raymond Battlefield, but it wasn't very well marked either.  We just happened to stumble on it because another car had pulled over there.  They have some signage in the park, with a place mowed and we think they probably use it for reenactments, because there were some benches there in a semi-circle.

There was a big battle at this river crossing - Grant vs the Confederate soldiers.  Grant encountered such fierce resistance here that he withdrew and decided to divide his force and make a end run about the southern forces to take Vicksburg.  There's a nice circular walk about the field there, and a line of cannons.
We then drove on to Port Gibson to see the Grand Gulf Military Monument Park, maintained as a State park.  They have a little museum at the entry, and then a drive through the entire park to view various battle sites and a small cemetery.

 I think there's something wrong with that rifle at the top. Just a hunch.

 The young girl at the end is named Mary Russell.  That sounds familiar to me, somehow. ???

 No we're not!

 This still has seen better days

 They moved the town jail to this site to serve as the armory  during the siege, then it got blown up.  That hole is what is left.

This reminds me of some movies I've seen...very familiar.

 The cemetery was sad, most of the graves have slid off the hillside, and many of the graves were very young people, most in their 20s.

Some great examples of Spanish moss.

It's a nice park, with an area for tenting, camping and campers, and an area right on the Mississippi river.  John climbed all the way to the observation tower that they have there, too, but whew...too many stairs for me.

From there we drove on to the Windsor Ruins, a southern plantation home that was built in 1863.  It survived the civil war, but was burned to the ground in 1890 by a careless cigarette.  Geeezzz! 

On the drive back we saw miles and miles of kudzu plants that have just taken over the entire countryside.  It is just eerie.

Back in Vicksburg, we rested a bit and then had dinner at Walnut Hills, which was the best meal that we had during the trip so far.  They are known for their fried chicken, which we both tried, and recommend highly.  John tried a couple of good beers, the Southern Pecan was brewed locally.  We had a very nice dinner.

 Fried pickles!

 Pecan pie to end the night!

John at the front entry at Walnut Hill

Thursday we're off to Louisiana.

Vicksburg National Military Park - Tuesday, September 23

After a beautiful southern style breakfast at our B&B (peppered eggs, cheese grits, biscuit, and fruit) we were off to the first stop of the day, the Vicksburg National Military Park.  Before we left the Anchuca Mansion, we took a tour of the place that started with a film they made a few years ago, narrated by a woman who was actually born in the house.  It's a beautiful place, to be sure, and I could do an entire post on the different types of formal draperies in the place.  I just kept thinking, "I'm so glad I don't have to dust all of this stuff." It must take someone FOREVER to get that all done, there's so much stuff in here.

The ceiling medallions like the one in the center of this picture are original to the house (1830) and are made of marble dust and horse hair.  Amazing artistry.

 One of the main rooms upstairs that they use for a B&B.  Luckily it was free so we could see it.

 Original tea set from the first owners.

 Someone is an English Monarchy collector - all cups and dishes from England, including the current prince William and his wife (the 4th cup over on the middle row).

 An example of the fussy draperies here - each room is different.

We think this might be an early Chinese checkers game. Pretty marbles.

Next we were off to the military park.  First, let me warn you that this is not a little place.  You will need to break this into morning and afternoon, since it took us over 6.5 hours to see the whole thing.  We were yearning for a sandwich at about 2 pm, but decided to just tough it out and plan on an early dinner.  But wow, it's so worth your time!  This one started with a film in the welcome area, and then you are free to drive through the rest of the park at your leisure.  At first we were stopping at each area, but soon it just became too much! There are thousands of monuments to each state that had a part in the siege of Vicksburg, and a stop at each skirmish that took place.

 Lots and lots of cannons and monuments!

 More cannons

 An example of the elaborate monuments you will find in the part.  Most are dedicated to the soldiers from each of the states that fought here, both Union and Confederate.

 Blue plaques are Union, red plaques are Confederate points of where each group either advanced or fell.

 One of the most elaborate monuments...whew!

 More....

The national civil war cemetery, where over 17,000 union troops are buried, of which 13,000 are unknown.  The small blocks that are shorter are all unknown soldiers.  This is the saddest thing.  Most were so, so young.

 The restored union gunboat, the USS Cairo, exhibit is near the cemetery.  They pulled this boat up from the Yazoo River in the 1960's and have semi-restored it for display. 

 The Texas monument was the final stop of our day in the park.  I was EXHAUSTED!!!

 After a brief stop back at our digs (to take off my clunky shoes!) we went off in search of an early dinner.  We chose Rusty's Riverfront Grill (so they used to be riverfront, but when the Mississippi changed route, it left this area of the river high and dry).  We started with their famous fried green tomatoes, which were delicious, and then I had the blacked red fish with crab sauce.  Very good.  John had crab cakes, and then a big slice of coconut pie.  Oh, and I had 2 glasses of wine!  That helped me forget my aching feet! ha!

Fried green tomatoes with crab sauce

  I took about 150 pictures today, but that's way too many to share here.  There really was so much to do and see today, we were overwhelmed.  Time for some rest!

On the road again....

Off on a little road trip this week -- we're headed to Vicksburg, Mississippi today for a few days!  The first day was, as usual, a lot of driving, although we took a little bit different route then we usually do - skipped IH10 completely and came through Waco and then took 20 across through Louisiana and into Mississippi. Whew, arrived in Vicksburg at about 7:15pm.

 John tells me that this is the new football stadium at Baylor. so I took a picture as we drove by.

 Entering Louisiana!

 The mighty Mississippi....

 We're staying at a historical bed and breakfast here, the Anchuca Mansion.  This is a historical building, built in 1830s -- I'm looking forward to seeing more of it tomorrow, since we arrived in the dark.  We're in the Old Quarters Queen room upstairs.  Yes, they've added a/c, thank goodness, and the bathroom has been modernized! ha!

 The library room in the main house.  They have a restaurant here, and we had a late dinner which was delicious!

 John enjoying a nice glass of wine -- needed after being behind the wheel all day.

Shrimp and grits - doesn't get much more southern then that!

Tomorrow we're off to see some of the civil war sites around town, so more tomorrow! I'm tired!