Last week my traveling partner
{AKA my mom}
and I took a wonderful trip to
Mississippi. We'd always wanted
to visit the Natchez area in the
spring to tour the antebellum
homes and gardens that are open
to the public.
Like all intrepid explorers, we
had to find a rhythm to our days.
Our sea legs, so to speak.
Because we were in the South
and staying in bed and breakfast establishments,
we started each day with a lovely
BIG breakfast.
Yes, including grits!
Those breakfasts would give us energy
for a day of visiting many of these
antebellum {built before the Civil War}
and Victorian {built between 1840 and 1900} beauties.
On three of the days, the afternoons
included me driving our rental car for
a fair distance, which meant stopping
at the local gas mart for a caffeine jolt
like this
We had some interesting dinners.
One night was at a local joint in Natchez
where we both had hush puppies, a sort
of fried corn fritter and we swapped tastes
of grilled shrimp and fried oysters, which
I have to say are really, really wonderful!
The evenings included movies in our room, feet up
under the canopied bed, swathed in the white terry cloth robes
provided by the plantation....
and plenty of these.
Now, I don't want you to think
that Natchez was all Gone With The Wind
and perfect and shining.
As one of our tour guides explained,
these big homes have been in families
for three to four generations.....
Which many of the families feel
is a privilege
but also can be a burden.
Many of the homes we saw were down
at the heels, so to speak,
with peeling paint and yards that
were crying out to gardeners that had
tended and loved them in years gone by.
We saw a lot of signs like this:
And shops in downtown Natchez that
were vacant and boarded up.
So much potential, but in this economy,
no one to bring it alive.
Did I mention the plantation where we
spent three nights?
Even that had a faded charm.
{Which I can sort of relate to!}
In the end, the good far outweighed
the bad. After the storms and tornadoes
had passed the weather was outstanding
and I was with my darling friend, my mama.
I'll toast to that!
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