Mississippi Trip

April 2004

	Elaine and Lisa with a fluffy scarf made by Aunt Fay
	Bob and Lisa show off rings they got in Arizona.
	Elaine and William at breakfast with Bob and Lisa
	Sculpture at a rest stop/welcome station in Kentucky
	Elaine greets Kentucky.
	We stayed the night in Nashville, at a hotel near Vanderbilt University
	We stopped for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe
	While we were waiting for dinner, we located Eric Clapton's guitar. Grainy telephoto picture, sorry!
	Also while we were waiting, we spied a booth in an alcove with beads at the entrance, lava lamp and psychedelic posters inside. When were seated, we asked if they could put us in that booth. They did!
	As they seated us there, they told us it was the Love Shack
	More Love Shack
	More Love Shack
	More Love Shack
	More Love Shack
	More Love Shack
	Bridge over the Cumberland River near the Hard Rock Cafe
	Nashville's finest on Broadway (Nashville's main street)
	After dinner we went to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. It's an art museum housed in the former post office. Details at the Frist web site. We saw a cool exhibition of masterpieces from the Phillips Collection in Washington DC. The Phillips is being remodeled, so many of its best pieces are on tour, including Renoir's "Boating Party". We also saw a series of paintings from the 40s by Jacob Lawrence about African American migration to the North. These paintings were awesome.
	Another exterior shot of the Frist
	We couldn't take pictures of the exhibition at the Frist, but I snuck a picture of an architechtural detail in the vestibule.
	A prominent landmark in Nashville is the BellSouth building. We thought it looked like the boss character in Dilbert. It's quite a monument to modern capitalism - almost a cathedral. This night-time picture is wobbly and blurred, but it's kind of fun. Here is a real picture of the building:
	They built a plaster and cardboard full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Nashville for the Centennial Exhibition in 1897. After the exhibition it remained standing, but deteriorated rapidly. It was later rebuilt (with concrete) and then renovated, so it's in pretty good condition today. There's a statue of Athena inside (to whom the Parthenon in Greece is a temple), but we couldn't see it because we were there at night.
	Griffon and gargoyle on the Parthenon
	Our hotel in Nashville supplied an Elvis cape for its lion statue just outside the door.
	A fountain and sculpture in front of our hotel
	We stayed in Nashville one night, and then left in the morning. We took a route to Mississippi that is extremely direct, but has a low speed limit (50 mph) and thus is not very popular. But it takes about the same amount of time because the distance is shorter. And they don't allow trucks! It's the Natchez Trace Parkway, which goes from Nashville, to Natchez, Mississippi. More...
	It's a historic road that dates from the early 19th century. Today's Parkway (administered by the National Park Service - I'm sure tree-hugging park rangers really love Parkway duty) roughly follows the route of the original trace, and there are numerous opportunities to walk on the original trace, shown here and above.
	Spring was just getting underway in southern Tennessee - there were few leaves on the trees, but the redbud trees were in full bloom.
	We stopped at an overlook and a passing bicyclist took our picture.
	The bicyclist on his way back to Nashville.
	Elaine points out a sign about the old Trace.
	William on the old Trace
	Another sign of spring - a may apple at the side of the old Trace
	Shelf mushrooms on a rotting stump next to the old Trace
	Perhaps the most famous traveler on the Natchez Trace was Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame. By 1809 he was governor of Louisiana territory, and was on his way back to Washington to defend some expense reports to the Treasury Department. He mysteriously died (probably suicide) near the site of this plaque.
	Memorial to Meriwether Lewis, including his grave site.
	A butterfly came by at the Lewis site
	Historical plaque.
	The ruins of the Grinder Stand.
	We completed our trip down the Trace, exited it in northwest Alabama and then continued west to Corinth Mississippi, where Elaine's sister Barb and brother-in-law Hank II live near their son Hank III and daughter-in-law Vikki. We hung around doing family stuff (lots of pinochle!) and then went for a road trip across Mississippi. The six of us boarded a borrowed Ford Expedition - a huge vehicle by any measure. But none of us looked forward to boarding the back seat! Hank II can be seen folded into its confines, next to Vikki. Barb's in the middle seat.
	Hank III drove most of the time - his darling spouse Vikki contributed a major stretch.
	Our first stop was Oxford, home of Ole Miss, John Grisham, and William Faulkner. We drove through the university. This is the Rebel Shop (Ole Miss book store).
	Oxford
	Statue in Oxford
	Oxford city hall
	If you've read Grisham, you know all Mississippi towns have a square (at least county seats do) - here is Oxford's
	William with the proud banner of Ole Miss
	Rowan Oak
	Vikki and Barb approach Rowan Oak
	Rowan Oak. We couldn't tour the house, unfortunately, because it was undergoing renovation.
	After we were done in Oxford, we drove on to Jackson and checked into our hotel. We could see the state capitol building from our hotel window.
	After checking into the hotel, we walked over to the Mississippi Arts Pavilion. We passed this little lunch stand on the way.
	Andy Jackson poses imposingly just outside the arts pavilion. He's a major proponent of cell phone transmission.
	The Mississippi Arts Pavilion. We went there to see a special exhibit called "The Glory of Baroque Dresden", which featured the collection started by Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony and King of Poland in the 18th century. It included armor, porcelain, art works, jewelry and more. Details can be seen here.
	We couldn't take pictures in the exhibition, but here is the exhibition brochure.
	The highlight of the exhibition for me was the display of a painting by Vermeer, "The Procuress". It was the first time a Vermeer was ever exhibited in the American south. The state of Mississippi paid a chunk of change to have the painting restored by experts in Dresden, and I'm sure our admission fees helped pay for that restoration. This picture was scanned in from the exhibition brochure.
	Catfish sculpture near the Mississippi Arts Pavilion
	We had dinner at Copeland's, in Jackson.
	The next morning we set out for the Mississippi State Capitol building
	Detail at the top of the Capitol dome.
	Figurehead from the U.S.S. Mississippi, donated to the state by the U.S. Navy in 1909. On display on the Capitol grounds.
	The Capitol dome, from the under side.
	Detail of blind justice, just under the capitol dome. Does it look like she's peaking out from the blindfold?
	The floor on the third story included numerous prismatic skylight bricks. These permitted natural light from overhead skylights to filter through to the second story.
	Stained glass in the ceiling of the second story displays the light filtering through from above. (Same deal as the lighting in the Seattle underground - for those who saw those pictures.)
	Vikki's uncle Travis Little is the President Pro Tempore of the Mississippi Senate. Really! He warmly welcomed us here outside his office, and proclaimed his welcome to us publicly and on the record when the Senate convened that morning. And he gave us souvenir pens!
	We left Jackson to go on to Vicksburg. It's the site of a six-week siege by Union troops culminating in the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. It was a key victory for the North, since it secured the entire Mississippi River. Our first stop was an antebellum mansion known as McRaven House.
	Another McRaven House sign
	Azaleas blooming at McRaven House.
	A fireplace "shield" at McRaven House. An example of Petit Point craft - takes years and years to finish.
	McRaven House survived the Civil War, but it suffered many direct hits by mortar fire. Here are some remnants thereof.
	A Civil War trench behind the McRaven House
	More azaleas at McRaven House
	Ditto
	Re-creation of ??? at Vicksburg battlefield.
	Louisiana war memorial on the battlefield.
	Cannons.
	A trench.
	Mississippi memorial to African-Americans killed at Vicksburg
	A tunnel at the battlefield.
	The U.S.S. Cairo hit a Confederate mine on the Yazoo River not too far from Vicksburg, in 1862, the year before the Vicksburg siege. It was one of a fleet of about six steam-propelled ironclad gunboats built specifically to regain dominion over the Mississippi River basin. The Cairo did not see action in Vicksburg, but others like it did, and were pivotal to the Yankee victory. The Cairo was raised from the water in 1964, in relatively good condition, but then it languished in the salt air near Pascagoula, MS for 13 years before being move to its current home at the Vicksburg battlefield, where it undergoes continuous conservation.
	The bow of the U.S.S. Cairo.
	The ship's bell, in the adjacent museum.
	The ship's paddle wheel.
	We pose in front of the U.S.S. Cairo
	After we finished at the battlefield, we went to Cedar Grove Mansion in Vicksburg, another antebellum home, and had a wonderful dinner.
	More Cedar Grove Mansion
	Vikki and our hostess at Cedar Grove!
	That was it for our road trip across Mississippi. We came back to Corinth late that night. The next day we visited Curlee House, an antebellum home on display in Corinth.
	The hallway in Curlee House.
	More Curlee House
	A ??? tree
	???
	The U.S. National Cemetery in Corinth.
	More U.S. National Cemetery
	Barb with Vikki's grandson Trip, at a select catfish and steak restaurant in Iuka, MS.
	Vikki and her son Michael and daughter-in-law Alicia
	Elaine and her nephew's step-grandchild Trip.
	After a great trip (which included another stop in Dayton to visit cousin Lisa and her husband Bob, who supplied Elaine with bunny ears in honor of Easter), we arrive home and went to dinner with our son Ben at Logan's, the only restaurant we could find open on Easter.