Thursday, September 16, 2010
Louisville, MS - April 14
While still at Rocky Springs CG along the Natchez Trace, we drove to Vicksburg, spending most of the day at the Vicksburg Military Park, a place so full of history it makes your mind spin. We also stopped by the Waterways Experimental Station (WES), a research center run by the Army Corps of Engrs (COE). Willie's niece works there. We were unsuccessful in locating her but did see an interesting film on the WES & get some good info on COE campgrounds.We spent one more day at Rocky Springs walking the trails & visiting the historic townsite, church & cemetery. By this time, the campground was overflowing each night, mostly with Canadians looking for ways to stretch their shrinking dollars. So we decided it was time to move on. Our spot was taken before we left - by 2 rigs!
We then spent 4 nights at one of the many campgrounds along the Pearl River north of Jackson. Our guardian angel was sure watching over us as we stumbled around trying to figure out where to camp. For some reason, we decided to head for the private park called Goshen Springs instead of Ratliffe Ferry (our original plan, which would have been a HUGE mistake!). That one was full but the guy there knew all the local parks & steered us to one as the nicest with lots of spaces. We made new friends at this campground & enjoyed visiting with them. While there, the water from the Pearl River was ever-rising, so the fishermen were soon able to put their boats in from their campsites. The boat ramp area was under water after the first day.
We spent a day driving south on the Trace from Kosciusko to Jackson. We walked on the Cypress Swamp Nature Trail, a lovely boardwalk. The water was high in all the rivers near the Trace, & some of the Trace was like a causeway. In one of these little "ponds" we saw our first Hooded Mergansers. Most of the birds we are seeing are repeats but are still interesting to observe, sort of like visiting with old friends. We also visited the MS Craft Center along the Trace, & Mynelle Gardens in North Jackson.
We then had a short drive to Louisville. We have done a lot of sightseeing & eating good food. We also visited the Arts Pavilion in Jackson with Willie's parents & attended the exhibit "The Majesty of Spain", Royal Collections from the Museo del Prado & Patrimonio Nacional. It included art, architecture, tapestries, sculpture, porcelains, bronzes, armaments, thrones, furnishings, ivories, religious objects & some very interesting clocks. This is the only city that will host this exhibit, so we were fortunate to be able to see it.
We have played bridge with one of Willie's cousins & her sister & plan to play again next week. We are currently listening to the Saturday broadcast on NPR of an opera from The Met, which will feature one of Willie's distant cousins on the opera quiz at intermission. Fairly exciting stuff for rural MS!
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 8:57 PM 
