Thursday on the Trace (5/1/14)

Thursdays.  After yesterday's marathon day, we got a pretty good night's sleep and a decent start today.  By 9:25 we were back on the Trace (since it was only about 2 miles), and saw 3 deer right away. I had just taken a photo of the pretty, empty road in front of us.  As soon as I put the camera down, those three deer jumped across the road.  Just by a minute or two, I missed getting them in my picture accidentally!

We had a few more stops on the Trace that we wanted to see, but Joe was worn out from yesterday and wanted to stop early.  Our first stop was the historic town site of Rocky Springs.  Here we encountered another very nice Mississippian, who stopped and told us about this site (we had driven on past because she was parked in our way).  So we went back and walked through it.  There was a pretty church that is still open and being used, along with cisterns and safes left from the days when the town thrived.

Down the road from that was the Owens Creek Waterfall, which fortunately was running a little bit.

 Our next stop was the Sunken Trace, a deeply eroded section of the original Trace that we could walk down into.

The last site we had marked to stop at was Mount Locust, a "restored plantation."  But actually it was an old inn.  It had a nice setting and was restored in good shape.

We decided to end our day so we found a place to camp, the Natchez State Park, just a few miles off the Trace.   We had about 10 miles of the Trace still to run, but we could save that for tomorrow. I called ahead and got directions, but we had to wait about 20 minutes for the park ranger to get back to the office to check us in.  The park was on a beautiful lake, and our site was very nice.  We hooked up electricity and took a nap!

We were off the road at 2:00, and set up camp by 2:35.  We only drove 88 miles today, and the weather was beautiful.

We finished the Trace in the car, and then drove around Natchez to look over the town and find some place for dinner.
 

 There are lots of huge churches in Mississippi -- of all denominations.  And Natchez has a Grand Hotel that takes up an entire block.  It is only 4-5 stories high, but it is quite impressive.

We considered trying to take a city tour tomorrow, but we found our way around sufficiently that we decided it was not necessary.  Here was another encounter with a nice Mississippian -- the Visitor Center was closed when I went up to the door, and this guy asked me if I needed a map.  I said yes, and he said he had a couple in his truck (he thought I wanted a state map, but he was more than kind, and willing to give me his).  He told me about the tours and recommended his favorite.

We then drove down to the river, and found a nice place to eat right on the waterfront -- Magnolia Grill.  We got some beautiful pictures of the bridge over the Mississippi River at sunset, and the poppies blooming along the riverfront.

After dinner, we drove out to the National Cemetery, then back along the waterfront.  We ended up at the Magnolia Bluffs casino right on the river for a little while (I broke even, Joe spent $20). On our way back to the state park, we saw two raccoons. We were back at the RV and in bed by 10:00.

The three Mississippi towns we drove through were nice, with beautiful churches and yards. And the people were just wonderful.  Mississippi gets high marks from both of us.