Today was an amazing day. ALL day we drove on never-before-traveled-by-us roads. And they were all headed south or WEST. Yes, dear friends we have crossed the Mississippi….
(seen here on the Natchez side of it)….

crossed through Louisiana – (it was just a drive through – no checkin’ out the cool stuff there this time)
and made it into the Lone Star State! Whoeeee!
We’re almost to Houston – and are settled in tonight -New Year’s Eve, can you believe it!- and waiting for the fireworks to begin.
Happy New Year to all of you!
Till next year……

Joe and Janet said we HAD to go – and go we did. We completed our Mississippi adventure with a full day in Natchez – home to more Antebellum Homes (pre-Civil war) than any other place in the south. Because of its location and the fact that all of the fighting was going on just north in Vicksburg, there was essentially no damage to the lovely pillared homes of Natchez. It is a lovely town with houses to tour, shops to visit, horse drawn carriages to ride and wonderful food to sample. We did it all. It was a lovely end to our trip down the Natchez Trace and our time in Mississippi. All of the homes have wonderful stories (not to mention being amazing houses in and of themselves!). This one – Longwood was especially interesting. It is one of the only octagonal homes in the USA – but construction halted on it when the Civil War began. The exterior was complete – but only the basement was ever finished for the family to live in. Very cool house!

So – if you love old homes (touring them not necessariy living in them!) and Southern Hospitality – take a trip to Natchez. They have a wonderful Spring Pilgrimage that must be just wonderful!

In our travels down the Natchez Trace (which we just completed on Wednesday) we came across several Indian Mounds – sacred mounds built by the Natchez Indians hundreds of years ago. The final one on the trace is near Natchez and is called the Emerald Mounds. It really is huge and there is a lot of history attached to it. However, while it might have been a temple mound with great significance to the Natchez Tribes centuries ago, today it serves the folks of Natchez as a wanna-be sledding hill!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
=)