Mississippi Day 8 (New Orleans, LA): The Last Day

Today is our last day of our Mississippi Trip.

Today we disembarked the ship and took a tour of the Garden District of New Orleans. We got to see some of the most beautiful properties in the area and we stopped at Morning Call for beignets and café au lait and a local cemetery. The beignets were amazing! The Garden District was once a neighborhood of very large plantations with huge gardens. There were only 2 properties per block. Later the properties were divided up and sold to the wealthy who did not want to live in the French Quarter. The Garden District was once known for the grand gardens on the plantations but is now known for its beautiful architecture.

After our tour we checked in our bags at our hotel and headed out to the French Market near Crescent Park. The French Market was originally a Native American Trading Post that started where Café Du Monde is and organically grew as it was rebuilt and renovated many times. The area doesn’t seem that big but there were a lot of vendors packed into the vendor stalls. It took me a while to get through all of them.

When we were finished with the market we headed back to our hotel and checked in. Our next stop was dinner.

We ate dinner at a restaurant that one of the ship staff had recommended. It was much better than that place we ate at next to our hotel. We ordered similar items at both restaurants but the restaurant we ate at today did it much better. One of the best things we ordered was the alligator. The waitress described alligator as having a pork texture with a chicken taste and she couldn't be more right. I expected to taste gamy but it wasn't at all. I loved it!  

After dinner we went back to our hotel and prepared for our flight home tomorrow.

This trip has been amazing! We learned a lot about the antebellum era in the south, saw some beautiful plantations and museums and heard some very interesting stories. We also explored a new city, ate some amazing food and got to experience a whole new culture. As always, we met some amazing people along the way.

What an adventure! Here’s to many more!

Mississippi Day 7 (Day at sea): Amazing Food, Gingerbread Houses and A Special Christmas Show

We got to sleep in today and it was wonderful. 

We got room service today because we woke up late and I didn’t feel like going out to the buffet. We didn’t have any excursions because we spent all day at sea but there were plenty of other activities going on around the ship.

The food today has been absolutely phenomenal! I ordered a grilled steak for breakfast, had prime rib for lunch and it was lobster night tonight! I don’t think I’ve ever had that much good food in one day.

Before lunch we spent a lot of time decorating gingerbread houses with the rest of the cruisers. It was a lot of fun! Our gingerbread house had a music theme so we recreated the resident musicians of the ship in gingerbread form. This was quite a messy activity and there was candy everywhere! It’s amazing what you can do when you have hundreds and hundreds of pounds of candy at your disposal! Ok… that was an exaggeration, but we had all the candy we could ever use. After lunch we attended a farewell reception in the main theater. The captain had to man the bridge because the water was a little rocky so the first mate gave the farewell speech.

We’re disembarking the ship tomorrow morning so we packed up throughout the day. I really dislike packing!

After dinner we lounged around for a while and went to the nightly show. Tonight’s show was a special Christmas musical. They told a few Christmas stories and performed Jingle Bells, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, Feliz Navidad, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Sleigh Ride, Winter Wonderland, Let It Snow, The Christmas Song, Cool Yule, The Chanukah Song (We Are Lights), Grown-Up Christmas List, Santa Clause Is Coming To Town, Santa Baby, Baby It’s Cold Outside, Silent Night, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, O come, O come, Emmanuel, Away In a Manger, White Christmas and ended with a mashup of Let It Snow and Winter Wonderland.

After the show we finished packing and went to bed. This trip isn't quite over yet! We still have another day In New Orleans.

Mississippi Day 6 (Vicksburg, MS): Anchuca Mansion, Old Courthouse Museum and The M/V Mississippi IV at The Lower Mississippi River Museum

Today we get to explore Vicksburg, Mississippi.

On our hop on hop off tour we hit mostly boutiques, antique stores and historic sites. Some of the highlights of the tour were the Anchuca Mansion, Old Courthouse Museum and The Lower Mississippi River Museum. All of the stops were pretty close together so we mostly walked between stops.

Vicksburg originally belonged to the Natchez Indians until the French colonized the area and built Fort Saint Pierre in 1719. The Natchez Took their land back during the Natchez War destroying the fort and homes of the settlers. The French colonist teamed up with the Choctaw tribe, who were enemies of the Natchez, and ultimately defeated the Natchez. In 1790 the Spanish built a military outpost where Fort Saint Pierre was, Fort Nogales, but lost it to the Americans in 1798 and it became Walnut Hills. Vicksburg was incorporated in 1825 named after Newitt Vick. Vicksburg was lost to the Union during the Siege of Vicksburg. This was a major turning point in the war giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River. Its high location made it impossible to attack.

The Anchuca Mansion is a 2-story Mansion built in 1830 as a Federal style mansion by a local politician, J.W. Mauldin. It was sold to a merchant 10 years later and remodeled to its current Greek Revival style. The house was converted to a hospital after the Siege of Vicksburg. Jefferson Davis’s brother, Joseph Emory Davis had owned the mansion for a short time and in 1869 Jefferson Davis gave his one of his last public addresses to Vicksburg on the balcony of this mansion. Currently the Anchuca Mansion is a Bed and Breakfast and gives daily tours. The Balcony is one of the main attractions of the tour.

The Old Courthouse Museum is a very interesting landmark and one that I would consider a must see. Many famous trials were conducted here and it houses artifacts from Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Theodore Roosevelt. They have a crazy amount of art, flags, clothing, toys and furniture on display. This Courthouse was built by the Weldon brothers in 1858 and the property was donated to Vicksburg by Newitt Vick-- It took 2 years to complete.

The Lower Mississippi River Museum is the only museum site to house a fully restored dry docked riverboat, The M/V Mississippi IV. Before the river boat was decommissioned it was a towboat that delivered supplies and equipment to project sites along the Mississippi River. Museum guests have access to all 4 levels of the ship, the main deckhouse, second deckhouse, Texas deckhouse and the pilot house. It took us forever to explore the vessel, longer than the actual museum.

We visited the Coca-Cola museum then headed back to the boat for lunch and back out again on our own to visit an antique store and a few other boutiques at our own. This was the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling center. My sister and I headed back before the rest of our group and lounged around before dinner. 

Tonight’s show was a solo show by one of the resident musicians of the ship. He told us a few stories and performed songs that he was exposed to growing up and were meaningful to him. His set list consisted of Yesterday, a harmonica instrumental of Shenandoah, Blowin’ In The Wind, A Boy Named Sue, an original song by his band Astoria Boulevard, Leaving On A Jet Plane, Puff The Magic Dragon, Ponch and Lefty, Take It Easy, You Never Even Called Me By My Name, American Girl, Born to Run and ended with This Land Is Your Land.

After the show we went straight to our rooms for bed.

Today has been a very long day. Good thing we don’t have anything planed for tomorrow. I get to sleep in!

Mississippi Day 5 (Natchez, MI): The Rosalie Mansion, Magnolia Hall and Stanton Hall

Today we’ll be in Natchez, MI on another hop on hop off tour.

Natchez is the oldest city on the Mississippi River known for its mansions. Before Mississippi was acquired by the US in the Revolutionary War, Natchez was the capital of the territory of Mississippi. This hop on hop off tour had a few more stops on its itinerary than yesterdays. There were more markets, boutiques and antique stores. The Rosalie Mansion, Magnolia Hall and Stanton Hall were a few of the places on the tour.

The Rosalie Mansion is a 3-story brick mansion built in 1823 by Peter Little that inspired the designs of many other Greek Revival mansions and helped shape Antebellum architecture. In 1863 the mansion was the main headquarters for Walter Gresham and the Union during the Civil War.

Magnolia Hall is a Greek Revival mansion built in 1858 by Thomas Henderson and is one of the last mansions to be built before the Civil War. The exterior of the house was constructed to resemble brownstone which was very prestigious at the time. It’s actually stucco layered over brick. This mansion is known for its costume collection and the Parterre Garden on the grounds is a must see.

Stanton Hall is a 2-story mansion that takes up a whole 2-acre city block. This hall was built in 1851 by Frederick Stanton and is a replica of his home in Ireland. Fredrick died of yellow fever 6 months after it’s completion. This was supposed to be his dream and spared no expense in making it so. These guys were that “indoor plumbing” rich that I talked about in my other blog post. Fredrick Stanton was a cotton broker. The interior of Stanton Hall is elaborately decorated with marble, wall-to-wall carpet, giant mirrors and gasoliers made of brass and gold. The interior was used for the mini-series, North and South with Patrick Swayze.

After we completed our hop-on-hop off tour we went back to the ship for lunch and headed out to a few of the stops that we skipped the first time around.

We finally made it to the specialty restaurant today. It wasn’t much different than the regular sit down restaurant. The food they served was just a different variation on the food in the sit down restaurant with better wine.

The entertainment headliner tonight was Henry Rhodes who performed mainly blue tunes with a couple of Christmas songs sprinkled in. He started out with Got My Whiskey, On My Way, The Thrill Is Gone, I’ll Play the Blues for You, Down Home Blues, Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Hole In The Wall, Let’s Straighten It Out and ended with Superstition. After he came back out for an encore and performed A Real Mother For Ya.

We didn’t do anything after the show… Just went to bed. Tomorrow we continue along the Mississippi River to Vicksburg.

Mississippi Day 4 (St. Francisville, LA): Myrtles Plantation, A Ghost Story and A Country Cabernet Show

The highlight of the day was The Myrtle Plantation which is known for its paranormal activity and ghost stories.

Our excursion was a hop off hop off excursion today. We got up super early to catch the first bus and stopped at many markets, boutique shops and Myrtles Plantation. Our first stop was Audubon Market where we got snacks and continued through all of the stops. A lot of the places were walking distance between each other so it was easier to just walk than wait for a bus.

Myrtles Plantation isn’t as big as the plantation we went to yesterday but it has more character. It’s considered one of the more haunted places in America and has been featured on many paranormal shows. Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 by David Bradford and was originally called Laurel Grove. Because of David’s involvement in the Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion he lived there alone until 1799 when he was pardoned by John Adams. It was then that he was able to bring the rest of his family to the plantation from Pennsylvania. Nine years after David died his wife, Elisabeth Bradford, hired Clarke Woodruff to manage the property in 1817. When Elisabeth died in 1831 Clarke took ownership the property and sold it 3 years later to Ruffin Stirling who completely remodeled the plantation which expanded the main house to nearly double its original size. Ruffin also changed the name of the plantation to what it is today, The Myrtles, after the flowers that grow there. Currently the Plantation is a functioning hotel and hosts special Halloween tours during Halloween.

It’s said that The Myrtles Plantation was built on top of an Indian burial ground, hosts at least 12 ghosts and is the site of 10 murders. The only documented murder is the murder of William Winter. William was an attorney who acquired the plantation in 1865. The murder came to the Myrtle Plantation by horse and called for a lawyer named William Winter. When William stepped outside the murder asked who he was and after confirmation, shot him twice. William staggered up the stairs yelling his wife’s name, Sarah. Sarah ran to William meeting him on the 17^th stair of the main staircase where William died. Occupants have reported to hear gun shots, staggering foot steps on the stairs and the ghost of William yelling for Sarah. 

After the stop at the plantation we continued our hop on hop off tour to the rest of the markets and boutiques. Then it was back to the ship for lunch.

We had some down time after lunch. I used that time to catch up with my blog, email’s and social media. I was also able to sneak in a nap before dinner. The cruise line also hosted a champagne reception for people that have traveled the cruise line in the past. Those are always fun. We canceled our reservation at the specialty restaurant and ate at the regular sit-down restaurant tonight because we liked their menu better. Maybe we’ll go another day.

Tonight’s show was a country cabaret show. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I was pleasantly surprised. There set list consisted of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Your Cheating Heart, It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, Oh Lonesome Me, Tennessee Waltz, Coal Miners Daughter, Walk The Line, Ring of Fire, Two Doors Down, Here You Come Again, The River, Friends In Low Places, Is There Life Out There, Yakety Sax, Take Me Home Country Roads, King of The Road, On The Road Again, The Gambler, Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Sixteen Tons, Rose Garden, Stand By Your Man, Achy Breaky Heart, Harpe Valley PTA, Fancy, The Way You Love Me, Islands In The Stream and ended with 9 to 5. It was a very cool show.

After the show I ordered room service then went to bed. Tomorrow we go to Natchez, Mississippi. One of the highlights of our trip.

Mississippi Day 3 (White Castle, LA): Nottoway Plantation, A Missed Lecture and A River Themed Performance

Today started out super foggy! I could barely see anything directly in front of me.

We went to the Nottoway Plantation-- the world’s largest antebellum plantation. The Nottoway Plantation is a 15 acre plantation built in 1858 by John Randolph and architect Henry Howard. The main house is a huge 3 story 53,000 sq. foot mansion with 64 impressive rooms. It also had luxuries like indoor plumbing, hot and cold running water, gas lighting, and a bell system which wasn’t unheard-of for the time but reserved for the extremely wealthy… Like “indoor plumbing” wealthy. Sometime after the property was built the plans were destroyed. Nobody knows if it was an accident or if they were destroyed to prevent an identical plantation from being constructed.

Currently the Nottoway Plantation is a functioning hotel, museum, restaurant and bar. There was also a Christmas Market going on were local artists sold their wares. There wasn’t much I was interested in so we explored the rest of the plantation. We found the pool, servants’ quarters and the Randolph family cemetery.

After we got back, we had lunch then attended a river lecture. I actually fell asleep during the lecture so there isn’t much to report about that. We were also going to dine at the specialty restaurant on board but it turns out that our reservation is for tomorrow. Bummer!

Tonight’s headliner was Bobby Durham (Not to be confused with Bobby Darrin). Bobby is a soloist local to Louisiana. He opened with an original song then Mighty Mississippi, Columbus Stockade Blues, That Lucky Old Sun, When my Dreamboat Comes Home, Deed I Do, Skylark, Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler (Let The Good Times Roll), Blues For Dixie and ended with Jambalaya (On the Bayou). 

After the show it was bedtime... No room service, just bedtime.

Also, we have not come across any White Castle's while we were here- neither the restaurant nor an actual white castle.

Mississippi Day 1 and 2 (New Orleans, LA): Exploring The French Quarter, Shopping, Paddle Boats, Snacks and More Snacks

After 2 planes, and a taxi ride we arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana! The Crescent City! The Big Easy! NOLA!

On this trip we’ll be sailing up and down the lower portion of the Mississippi River.

Yesterday we wondered around the French Quarter, looking for a Cajun or Creole place to eat. There are so many restaurants out here and not enough time to try them all! We ended up at the restaurant next door to our hotel. There was a lot of people out and about-- the culture out here is a lot different than in California. I absolutely love it! After we ordered our food, went back to our hotel, ate, lounged around for a bit and went to bed. Tomorrow we’ll have half a day explore some more. I was going to write a blog entry but there’s wasn’t much to write.

Today was fun! We checked out of our hotel and continued to explore the French Quarter during the day. There’s so much shopping around here! I recognized a lot of design elements from the French Quarter in Disneyland. One thing that was disappointing was the lack of public restrooms. There are absolutely no public restrooms around here! We spent a lot of time going back and fourth between our hotel restroom and the only public restroom in the area.

After an eternity of shopping we went back to our hotel to hang out for a bit and headed out to get a snack. Somehow, we ended up at a business park with a food court… There was an actual food court at the business park!!! As cool as that sounds we weren’t able to get a snack because they were closing. Their schedule caters to the building's occupants so they close when everyone leaves. We ended up getting a sandwich at a spot downstairs.

When we arrived at on our ship we unpacked, ate and went to the nightly show. This is the first time I’ve been on a paddle boat and it’s the coolest thing. I’ve been on cruise ships, river boats but I’ve never been on a paddle boat. We explored the boat and went to the theater for the show. There’s a 24 hour snack lounge on this boat. Oh no!

Tonight’s show was called RiverSong, a cabaret show with a Mississippi River theme. They performed Take A Ride On A Riverboat by LeRoux, Roll On Mississippi by Charley Pride, Is It True What They Say About Dixie, Moon River, Old Man River, Lazy River, Cry Me A River, Basin Street Blues, an instrumental arrangement of Down By The Riverside, Take Me To The River, New Orleans by Hoagy Carmichael, River In The Rain, Muddy Water from Big River Musical, The River of Dreams by Billy Joel and they ended with two versions of Proud Mary!

After the show we got room service and retired for the night. Yeah, we were to lazy to go to the snack lounge. What a life we live...