4 June 2025, Wednesday

We had been in touch by email with our friends from Washington, Doug and Nancy, who had moved to Texas a few years ago. We made arrangements to meet them for dinner and ‘quattro chiacchierare’ Italian for ‘chats’. We met in the charming old town of Jefferson, Texas, some distance east of Frisco. We had much to catch up on and a very nice dinner.

5 June 2025, Thursday

We had read about the Cane River Creole plantation national park in Louisiana and it was on the route (mostly) to Vicksburg. I had hoped for an experience like a folk museum with people in costume demonstrating crafts from their culture, but what we got was a brief walk through a Cajun home built in the 1830’s and remodeled multiple times to accommodate changing lifestyles, the most recent in 1960’s with all appliances from that time period. Not much of a history lesson there.

We drove to Vicksburg and checked into our lodging, The Inn at Cedar Creek. The main house was built pre-Civil War, and the furnishings, while probably not original, were appropriate for the time period of construction. We had an excellent dinner in the Inn restaurant. After dinner we tried to plan our visit, which was challenging as there are many places to visit. One piece of history was a very small cannon ball lodged in the wall of a sitting room facing the river. Memory of the Civil War.

   The Cannonball

6 June 2025, Friday

Busy day! We were pleased that the museums opened early and were all within a short walking distance of each other.

First stop was Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum. It gave us quite an appreciation for the river, a major transportation river, hundreds of miles long and central to the development of our country. But, when natural disasters strike, it can be devastating. Next to the museum is the river motor vessel Mississippi IV which served as a working vessel from 1961 to 1993.

A short walk from the River Museum is the Old Depot Museum, once the station for passengers coming by rail to Vicksburg. Inside there were beautifully crafted model trains and a very detailed and impressive diorama of the Battle of Vicksburg. The manager of the museum was very knowledgeable about the battle and happy to answer questions.

Next stop was the Catfish Row museum, which is a culture museum with displays about the varied cultures that have made a home in Vicksburg.

After lunch we strolled up the street to the Vicksburg Civil War Museum, small but very informative.

We drove to the Vicksburg National Military Park, watched an excellent film about the battle, then drove the designated tour route. It was a surprise that there were so many monuments honoring companies from the North who were combatants at Vicksburg - Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois were all represented.

Slightly out of the park is the very interesting ironclad ship, the Cairo. It was sunk in the Yazoo River in 1862 when it was struck by two underwater torpedoes. It sank in 12 minutes, thankfully with no loss of life. It was discovered, fully submerged in 1956. And with great effort recovered and is now on display. There was a short video about the recovery effort, it was quite an engineering feat as the ship is enormous and was covered in mud from its 100 years in the Yazoo.

We headed back to our lodging, rested a bit and had another excellent meal, in this case large enough that we had enough left over for lunch on Saturday.

7 June 2025, Saturday

Our next destination was Hattiesburg and the drive was frustrating because there was a lot of construction. We checked into our hotel then made our way to the excellent Mississippi Military Museum. It covered military history from the years before we were a nation to Operation Desert Storm.

Dinner was a challenge. We walked to a nearby restaurant, ordered our meals and were served with lukewarm fare. We sent it back and were served again lukewarm fare. We paid for two glasses of wine and left, drove a few blocks and picked up a wonderful meal for takeaway at an Italian restaurant, large enough it gave us leftovers for lunch on Sunday. Our entree was a lovely chicken with pecan. Need to find that recipe!

8 June 2025, Sunday

We drove from Hattiesburg, Ms. to Fort Morgan, Al. and spent some time exploring the fort which is now a state park. The fort is at the end of a peninsula which ships must pass to sail to Mobile. In 1682 to 1763 it was claimed by France but since has changed hands six times - Britain, Spain, United States, Montgomery Rifles (at the start of the Civil War), the Confederacy, and finally the United States. It was last used in military service during WWII.

   Flags of Countries That Have Controlled the Fort

From Fort Morgan we drove to Pensacola, part of the peninsula is in Alabama, the rest in Florida. The number of hotels and condos, particularly in the Alabama section was amazing. We were amused that the speed limit was posted at 26 mph. Also we passed a couple of signs advising that there were alligator crossings and otter crossings.

   A Strange Speed Limit

Once checked into our hotel we spent a fair amount of time planning our visit to Pensacola as there is much to see and timing is challenging.

9 June 2025, Monday

The Naval Air Museum in Pensacola is one of the best we’ve ever been to. The Blue Angels are stationed there, but their history is a small part of the story. There are excellent displays showing the development of flight and a lot of information about the development of air craft carriers. We were fortunate in our timing as we were able to join a free tour led by a now-retired flight instructor who really knows his history. There are many historic aircraft, including one that had been deployed in the famous WWII Battle of Midway, which was a turning point for Allies against Japan.

   First Navy Amphibian Plane

A second building had displays and aircraft from the Vietnam War as well as Desert Storm. I learned later that there are plans to create a museum for Air Force Special Forces that will also be at Pensacola.

In all we spent five hours at the museum and were tired but very impressed.

We had purchased tickets for a dolphin watch and had an address and map but had a terrible time finding the pickup point. Two phone calls to the company yielded two sets of wrong information. It was sheer luck that we spied the boat coming to the pier.

The boat took us a couple of miles west of Pensacola Beach where the crew must have known the dolphins would be feeding. There wasn’t much to see, really, only the emerging from the water to take a breath, then diving underwater, but it was interesting and the ocean breeze very pleasant.

   A Couple of Dolphins

By the time the boat returned to dock it was dusk and we had about 30 miles to get to the restaurant we had chosen for dinner. A couple of wrong turns, lots of traffic and fatigue made it a very unpleasant experience, but we got through dinner, returned to the hotel, had some wine and headed to bed.

10 June 2025, Tuesday

One of the primary reasons we came to Pensacola was to see The Blue Angels in practice. There are a couple of good viewing areas, neither of which are easily accessible: on the Naval Air Station Pensacola or at a national park across the bay. Both have long lines and entering the base requires security checks. We found a waterfront parking lot not too far from the entrance to the park and thought we’d be able to see the practice, but, alas, the jets were too far away to make them readily visible. Maybe some other place and other time.

Pensacola is an old city with a rich history so after the practice was over we drove to the historic old town, checked with the historical museum and bought tickets to a guided tour. We had lunch in an Irish pub first and were grateful when the server suggested that we split plate our meal because the servings are so large. Good plan.

The walking tour covered an old Episcopal Church, no longer an active parish, and three homes dating from 1805, 1871 and 1890. The guide, a student at the local university, used the furnishings and decor to explain what life was like in those days. There is also a colonial style cook house on the grounds where the staff tries to produce the food that would have been common in the colonial times. A hardy group those folks were.

   Church Window and Our Tour Guide

Tomorrow we begin our drive home, hoping that the weather is good as there has been flooding in Mississippi and other southern states.

12 June 2025, Thursday

Heading home – yesterday we drove from Pensacola to a small town in Mississippi, Brookhaven. The drive was uneventful and mostly scenic as our route was on state highways rather than the interstates. There is nothing of note about Brookhaven.

Today we drove to Shreveport, Louisiana and part of the drive was pleasant enough and part was horrible because of a heavy thunderstorm with buckets of rain. We’ve been to Shreveport before so didn’t do any sightseeing and had a forgettable meal in a restaurant near our hotel.

Tomorrow we drive home. The weather is supposed to be good and we’ll be glad to be home.

Generally the trip was pleasant, a lot of history and geography, but we are sure that with the exception of driving the Natchez Trace again (someday) if we never visit Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama again, that’s fine.