Even though it's been only fourteen days, it seems like I've been gone forever. Turns out that reading while wandering the backroads of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana (along with a little bit of Tennessee) is not nearly as easy as I hoped it would be - mainly because I was pretty much exhausted by the heat by the end of each day for the entire trip. I am way behind on book reviewing - and the books are growing hazier in my mind by the minute - but I decided to begin with a quick "Hello Post" and a few pictures as I ease myself back into Book Chasing.
So here are a few pictures that give a taste of what I've been up to for the last two weeks:
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One of the 20-or-so murals on buildings in Clarksdale, MS
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| A view from the side of B.B. King's Gravesite |
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| The only surviving structure in the Vicksburg Battleground Park |
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| Another of the Clarksdale, MS, murals |
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| Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, Ms, site of America's first Memorial Day celebration |
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| "Contraband Camp," Corinth, MS, home of freed slaves during the Civil War |
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| Birthplace of Elvis Presley, Tupelo, MS |
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| Muscle Shoals Studios, AL; toilet Mick Jagger composed "Wild Horses" on |
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| Hellen Keller home near Muscle Shoals, AL |
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| Louisiana State capitol building, Baton Rouge, LA |
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| View from one side of 27th floor, LA State Capitol |
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| Cathedral in Lafayette, LA |
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| 500+ year old tree on cathedral grounds |
All of these photos should be "clickable" for a larger, more detailed look.
The pictures are kind of all over the map - and so was my wandering. I never had more than a general destination in mind, and usually lost a lot of potential road time in favor of long conversations with the locals. It was a great trip, and it was exactly what I needed at that moment. More later if anyone is interested, but I do promise to get back to book-talk very soon. I've missed all of you, and can't wait to catch up on what everyone has been up to.
...as for Hurricane Beryl, it's looking better for the upper Texas Gulf Coast today. We are likely to get some decent rain, but not the flooding rains we often get - and not a lot of wind.
Hi Sam, glad your back. We missed you and it sounds like you had a great trip and very interesting pictures. I particularly liked seeing the photos of Elvis' house and Helen Keller's home. The Elvis home small but cute, although depending on how big a family Elvis had it could be cramped. Nice seeing Helen Keller's home too. Nowadays kids growing up don't hear about her as much as we did and that's a shame. What an amazing woman she was. Stay safe from Hurricane Beryl.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kathy. It's good to be back and to feel some new "energy" about my daily routine. I think 14 days is about as long as I can stand on the road because the idea of packing up every morning and unpacking every night gets so tiresome after a while.
DeleteThat Elvis house photo was taken from the backside of the little shotgun house. That little fence was not part of it, nor did it likely ever look so freshly painted, but Elvis and his parents were its only occupants before Mr. Presley found that he couldn't afford even that and moved the family to Memphis for work. It is really tiny on the inside...just two rooms.
I agree about Helen Keller. Most of us, including me, remember only what we learned in the movies about her early life. I picked up a nice little paperback edition of her autobiography in the gift shop that I hope to read relatively soon. I'm curious about her.
Those photos are very good and I wish I could have seen all those places. I have been to New Orleans (decades ago) but not the rest. I especially liked the photo shot from the Louisiana state capitol. I bet that was a tiring and hot trip.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you are back, safe and sound.
Thanks, Tracy. The Louisiana capitol building is really something. Hard to believe it was built in 1932 in just fourteen months. It's really spectacular, both on the inside and the outside. My great uncle was a compatriot of the assassinated governor Huey Long and was all lined up and likely to become the state's next Lt. Governor when Long was killed inside the building, so there's a lot of history there that I'm interested in.
DeleteIt's great to be home after all that heat...but lots of catching up to do now.
That tree is amazing and I love the view from the LA state building. Your roadtrip sounds wonderful and talking with the locals for us was always very special so I don't blame you for choosing that over getting back on the road. Thanks for sharing, Sam!
ReplyDeleteThat old tree is really something, isn't it. They have the major branches propped up now so that it doesn't collapse on itself. Without all that care it would have likely been gone decades ago, I imagine.
DeleteCath, those conversations resulted in lots of insight into the little towns we passed through and what life there is like for the locals. Also got some interesting tips on "don't miss" spots that way. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are doing well.
Looks and sounds like you had a great road trip! I'm so glad. And I hope you don't end up flooding or having wind damage as Hurricane Beryl passes by.
ReplyDeleteGreat trip, Lark. But I'm sure happy to be surrounded by air conditioning again. ha It's almost mid-day on Sunday morning, and we are still waiting to learn more about what is about to happen. I'm not thrilled that the storm seems to keep veering more and more to the east, but what happens, happens. It's all kind of old-hat after as many hurricanes and tropical storms as I've seen in my lifetime. Just hoping we don't lose power for too long because this heat will be hard to deal with if that happens.
DeleteGreat photos! And good history behind them too. BB King, Elvis, and Mick Jagger ... wonderful to see these sites as I might not ever get to all of them. Helen Keller too! I love to go to museum homes of such iconic figures. What a great road trip. And you survived the heat .... thx for the recap on some of things you saw ... Gives me a zest for travel ... when things get a bit cooler.
ReplyDeleteIt was really fun. We tried to make the most of it without driving too many miles in any one day. That's why we concentrated on just three states this time around. We drank lots and lots of water on the trip, spent a small fortune on cold bottled water, in fact. Ha. But we learned pretty quickly to pace ourselves without letting steps or rough terrain stop us from seeing what we were there to see. I was surprised that so many young and youngish people would drive so far to see certain things and then decide not to exert themselves in the heat. One 40-something woman was loudly on her cell phone at the base of a steep set of stairs while she waited for her late-60's father to come back down. Said she didn't want to sweat that much.
DeleteI love the pictures. I don't know the South at all. Have been only to Florida (and I don't know if it is considered part of it). I didn't think the US had 500 year-old trees. Wowza. I've never heard of Contraband Camp. Whew.
ReplyDeleteLove Elvis' house. Can you go in? And I'd not heard the Jagger story. One of their best songs, methinks.
What a good, good trip.
Nan, this was one of my favorite trips in a long time because it was concentrated in three states I've usually rushed through on my way somewhere farther away. We literally did wander on more than one occasion, each of which led us to unexpected experiences and places we would have never experienced for ourselves.
DeleteYou can go inside the Elvis house, but this is the first time I've done that part of the tour area. It's all self-guided but they sell three different tour tickets now. There's an interesting little museum, the house, and Elvis's old church (which has been moved to the site from a few blocks away).
The Jagger story caught me by surprise, too. We had a private tour because of sheer luck, and the old man guiding us was there when much of the history happened. He was willing to answer questions as long as I had any, and we talked music for over an hour because as they say, "The soundtrack of our lives was recorded in Muscle Shoals." Jagger was supposedly locked in the bathroom for only two hours before he came out with the song.