Florence, AL - March 27 - 28

Even though we were only in Florence for about 36 hours, I can't believe all that we saw and did with my friends Rick and Rilly. Rick was a 4th grade classmate that I haven't seen for at least 43+ years and we were reunited at our 40th high school reunion!. He and Rilly had us flying over Florence and the Tennessee River, boating and kayaking on the river, hiking, wining and dining and we even managed to get an oil change in! For those who know Harry well, it was a challenge for him to get into a small plane. This is Harry's story to tell someday over a glass of wine but he held on for dear life, lived and enjoyed the view! It was a blast!

Rick has two restaurants in Florence, Trattoria di Ricatoni and City Hardware.They are both fabulous and I can't really recommend one over the other. Tom and Jean or any one else following in our footprints, you just have to try both! Ricatoni's is Italian and City Hardware a blend of gourmet, the spice of local dishes as well as wonderful sushi. I had grits and shrimp but tasted the meatloaf, crab cakes, tuna, sushi . . . All so good but save room for dessert!

We stayed up at Rilly's house on the bluff overlooking the Tennessee with stairs and more stairs down to the water. The river was Nina's first swim on the trip and she was in 7th heaven.

Thursday morning, we started our curve back east to catch up with Steve and Ellen in the Smoky Mountains.

Florence pictures

Choctaw Lake - March 24 - March 26

After finding the Jeff Busby Park a little busy and tight, we decided to explore the Tombigee National Forest near Ackerman, MS and stayed at the Choctaw Lake Recreational Area. Along the way, we passed through French Camp. 

Frenchman's Camp was a stand or inn owned by Louis LeFleur around 1810. Now the historic district of log cabins and other structures is operated by French Camp Academy. This is a school 1st grade through 12th for troubled children as well as local students.We met many working various jobs as we walked around the houses as well as mentor parent/grandparents. We had thought we would only spend 20-30" but half the day later, we were still there. Everyone was friendly, shared their world and table for lunch. A must is the potato soup at the Council House Cafe.

Choctaw was beautiful. We had a campsite (#8) right down on the lake. There are miles of trails and this campground seemed to be off the beaten path enough (17 miles from the Trace) that we practically had the place to our selves. In fact the second night we and one other camper were the only ones there. This was a great choice.

The third night, we continued up to Tishomingo on Bay Springs Lake. This is an Army Corp of Engineers property for water management of the Tombigbee River. There are several campgrounds but only one open this time of year, Piney Grove Campground. Last night we thought our campsite was a 10 but this also was beach front. Great facilities for laundry, showers, etc. so we were all cleaned up for our next stop in Florence, AL to visit friends.

More pictures

Natchez Trace - Part 1 - March 22 - 23

Finally we started our way up the Natchez Trace. The map shows lots of points of interest but many seem to be sites where something happened or a structure once stood but is now a grassland, forest or creek. The road itself is a peaceful meandering road with wildflowers, forests and farmland and no stop signs, lights or billboards for over 500 miles. Boatmen would float their crops and produce down the Mississippi to Natchez, sell their flatboats and walk back up the 400 miles over the Trace. 

We decided to move at a slow pace and enjoy the wilderness. Stops we liked were Emerald Mound, Mount Locust Inn and the Sunken Trace. We wanted an easy, relaxing day and stopped at Rocky Springs Campground (mile marker 55). This is one of 3 dry camping grounds in the National Park that is free. We had been forewarned that Canadians making the trip back home the end of March/first of April make it difficult to get sites but we were early. This campground was wonderful with huge sites and nice hiking trails, some on the old Trace.We would have loved to have stayed one more day but felt we needed to get a bit further along before the weekend rush.

Reluctantly, we left the next morning. We drove through the Vicksburg National Military Park and stopped at the Mississippi Craft Center before continuing north to our next campground, Jeff Busby. J. Busby was a lot more crowded than the 15 sites listed and there was a camp host who seemed to manipulate who could stay where even though it's on a first come first serve basis. He was odd. We intended to stay a couple nights to get us through Saturday but think we will check out Choctaw Lake Recreation Area in the Tombigbee National Forest 17 miles away tomorrow. Stay tuned!

More photos

Lake Fausse to Natchez, MS - March 20 - 21

Our plan was to stay in Lake Fausse for a week to relax and slow the pace. As the days passed, we realized that we wanted more time going up the Natchez Trace and there were warnings for severe thunder storms and possible tornadoes. Lake Fausse was pretty flooded when we arrived and although the water had receded quite a bit, sandbags were being offered to residents for the impending storm. We felt as though we were already below sea level!

The final day was spent going to the Chitimacha Museum and on to Avery Island.We/I succumbed to touring the Tabasco factory while Harry and Nina napped. Most remarkable was tasting Jalapeno ice cream. In some ways, it was a metaphor of the area. Cool and refreshing with a burning finish. I was having a hard time shaking the humidity and heat. It was time to move on.

We packed up the next day and headed to Natchez watching NOAA's Storm Prediction Center website all along the way. My brother is a storm chaser and envious I'm sure that I will see a tornado before him, he keeps us posted. No competition little brother, you can have this one! On our way out, we decided to explore the gravel Levee Road south. The road was well graded and although quite dusty, well worth the ride for the birds, wildlife and scenery. There were many beehives along the way. The big mistake was opening the window to take pictures. The hives were on one side of the road and wildflowers on the other with bees flying through our van!

Backing into our campsite at Natchez State Park, there was a "dream catcher" hanging from a tree behind our van. Strange but I took this as an omen that everything would be fine. In fact, the night was a beautiful 69 degrees, cooked out, campfire, marshmallows and no bad dreams. Great campsite and facilities.

The following day, we rode out the T storms, tornado watch and walked around Natchez - what a beautiful place!

Take a look at the pictures

Evening addendum: We took a walk along a nature trail down to the lake. At the shore, I asked Harry if there could be alligators. Within seconds of his saying no, there was a huge splash 3 yards from us as a gator took off! Looking around, we saw several bird remains and realized we were probably in the lair! Exit!

The birds have flown the nest! – March 16 - 19

Harry and I headed off on our own to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in St. Martinville, LA but not before we picked up another 1½ lbs of shrimp for dinner at Jerry’s. Up until this point, we have been traveling and learning from our experienced friends.

The drive up was interesting because the GPS took us to the east side of the park along a road by the levee that turned out to be a gravel/dirt road. We opted not to go that route. 30+ miles later, we arrived at the park to find it quite flooded from the 12” of rain from several days before. We weren’t by the swamp. We were in it! 

Lake Fausse was once part of Atchafalaya Basin. It's a vast swamp enclosed by the levees of Bayou Teche and the Mississippi right in the middle of Cajun country. The night sounds are pretty incredible here. I need to add a tape recorder to my wish list! Fireflys, bright stars, wood wasps and lots of critters.

Saturday, we fell upon an Acadian festival in St. Martinville along the Bayou Teche. There was music, crafts, food, reenactments and boats. We saw Creole rowboats, Jon boats and dugout canoes made of cedar. It was pretty cool. Fried catfish, sweet potatoes and Jambalaya for lunch topped with beignets for dessert? Why not! And we brought back boiled crayfish for dinner. This tasted more like a poor man’s lobster to me but glad to have given it a try.

Sunday, the park emptied out of all the families that were there for school break. We rented a canoe and paddled out with night crawlers, rods and camera. The first splash, one of us jumped. Next an alligator sighting and it was my turn! We later learned that the alligators have just come out of hibernation and are mating. They tend to be a bit more aggressive but the ones we saw seemed benign although I'm glad I didn't hear any of this talk before going out.

More pictures

Mardi Gras Time – March 12 - March 15

We separated paths with S & E to join the Fishers and Kathy in New Orleans, LA at Bayou Segnette State Park. A ferry trip across from Algiers brought us into New Orleans, the French Quarter and Muffuletta sandwiches for lunch at Central Grocery. This is another world.

The next day, we all went to Houmas Plantation in Darrow and then picked up fresh shrimp for grilled apps.

Cycling around the campsite our last day, we saw white ibis and black bellied whistling ducks. Finding it a bit hot, we jumped in the van and did a walking/driving tour around the Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery in New Orleans and then back to Jerry’s Seafood for more grilled shrimp for dinner.

Pictures tell the story better 

Davis Bayou National Seashore, MS – March 8 - March 11

We continued west to Ocean Springs, MS with Steve & Ellen while the rest headed just south of Pascagoula about 20 miles away. The Davis Bayou cCampground is at the MS end of the Gulf Island National Seashore. This is very different than the east end with bayous and alligators. 

Ellen really wanted to see the MS Sandhill Cranes so off we went on a search at the MS Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge assuming this was the place to go to see the birds. It turned out that the 100 or so cranes were all nesting in the inner part of the refuge where we couldn't get to but we did get "tattoos" followed up by a fabulous barbecue at The Shed! This sign at The Shed had Harry's name written all over it and hopefully is an omen of all good things to come or at least the attitude to accept the bumps!


We had lots of prime time lazing around the campsite birding, cycling, painting and watching the maiden voyage of S & E’s kayak. We also went to the 1^st Annual Gautier Antique & Flea Market where I had my first beignet, Ellen almost came home with Glenda, a shelter pup, we almost saw Newt Gingrich (but didn't want to wait) and continued up to Mobile, AL to see the garden district.

More pictures here

Ft. Picken's at Gulf Island National Seashore – March 2 - March 7

This is a magical barrier island off Pensacola, FL with sands as white as white, dunes with incredible vegetation and lots of bird life. The devastation from hurricanes killed many trees which in turn have become home to osprey and great blue heron.

Ellen, I and Nina enjoyed many bird walks in sun, haze and rain. All of us overindulged at an oyster fest at Peg Leg Pete’s where $10 bought all you could eat as long as you didn’t mind the wait in line for 6 oysters at a time. Tom, Steve and Harry got at least 18! Too full, we had to return another day to get their infamous grouper sandwich but not before we fished for our own. 

The first attempt was humbling when the locals were averaging 1 fish per minute over the rail to our one for the morning caught by Tom! You could look in the water and see schools of Sheepshead, a fish that hangs by the pilings eating all the critters swimming around the oysters. We started with live fiddler crabs and small hooks. The locals were really helpful offering nets, larger hooks and encouragement but all for not. Another trip was made to the bait shop for live shrimp, an assortment of hooks and then Round 2 at the fishing pier in the afternoon. This time it paid off with 3 fish plus one more and a story for Harry! We were all elbow to elbow with fisherpeople on the pier. The man next to Harry left his pole unattended when a fish hit and over the side it went. We know his name was Roger because all you could hear from his wife was “Oh Roger, Oh Roger!" Shortly thereafter, Harry got a hit. As he reeled his "fish" in, he had a pole on one side of his line and fish on the other. Roger asked Harry whether he would rather have the pole or fish and being a good sport, he took the fish. We all ate well that night.

The pictures tell all!