Natchez, Ms to San Antonio, Tx

     Debbie and I spent Friday, 3/7/2014, working all the tourist haunts in Natchez.  The Natchez Pilgrimage, which is the yearly festival where all the locals dress in period costumes, and the tours of all the antebellum homes takes place, is scheduled to take place tomorrow, but the weather certainly is not cooperating. Natchez itself looks a little barren with very little color in the trees or flowers.  They really need a week of nice warm weather, and I bet the area would be beautiful.  We crossed the Mississippi from our camping site, the River View RV Park and Resort in Vidalia, Ms, and started our tour at the Natchez Information Center just over the bridge.  We enjoyed a short film on the history of Natchez and formulated a plan to tour Stanton Hall, lunch at the Pig Out Inn Barbecue Restaurant, and cocktails at the Under the Hill Saloon to finish out the day.  We were even able to pick up some cancellation stamps from the National Park Service for our passport tracking our visits to NPS locations. If anyone is going on a trip like this, I would urge them to stop by a National Park Service location and purchase on of their passports.  Each place you visit has a cancellation stamp to help you keep track of where you've been and when you were there.  
     Our first stop was the antebellum home, Stanton Hall.  Stanton Hall was built in 1858 by Frederick Stanton, an Irish immigrant from Belfast, who made his money in the cotton industry.  It was built for the price of $84,000 +/-, but unfortunately Stanton died 1 month after the house was completed.

    The house and property encompass an entire city block in Natchez.  The house is owned today by the Pilgrimage Garden Club, who purchased the home in 1938.  The Natchez Historical Society appear to rule the roost in town.  Homeowners wishing to paint their homes, must first receive approval from them, so they are sometimes referred to as the Natchez Hysterical Society or the Hoop Skirt Mafia.

     Photographing the interior of these homes is also forbidden by the Garden Club, and I was reminded several times prior to the start of the tour.  The home is really quite magnificent with lots of period furniture along with some original furnishings of the Stanton's which have been returned to the house by family members.
     After the tour, we walked around the neighborhoods and were warmly greeted by several homeowners who were more than willing to assist us any way they could.  We walked over to a dining establishment called the Pig Out Inn.  It is a nice little barbecue joint with pink pigs out front welcoming you in.  The pulled pork sandwich was pretty good and Debbie's brisket was pretty tasty.

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     After lunch we walked along the waterfront cliffs overlooking the Mississippi.  They views were amazing and as expected, the Mississippi looked quite powerful even from a ways away.  We wandered into an antique shop, and I struck up a conversation with the proprietor.  Lo and behold, he was a retired LE Officer with the State of Louisiana Attorney General's Office.  To Debbie's frustration, we stood there telling war stories a bit longer than we should have, and soon she was encouraging me to move on.  Down the street, we climbed aboard a horse drawn carriage, and had a lovely tour around town, catching up on all the local gossip with the driver. He pointed out the "old court house" built circa 1840, which is still in use today as the court house.  The top floor of the jail was used as the hangin' room, and people would come and fill the whole town to view the hanging.  If you really want to find out about a town, jump aboard the horse drawn carriage.  The drivers know everything about everything!!
     Of course we had to visit St Mary's Basilica whose construction began in 1842.  The interior was quite stunning and the stained glass windows were magnificent.

     As the day wore down, I started hinting to Debbie that I was getting a little thirsty, and she heartily agreed that maybe it was time to head down to the Under the Hill Saloon.  Now, the Under the Hill Saloon is located down on the waterfront of Natchez, and in its day, was no place for a nice couple like us to be venturing.  Rumor has it that the area of Natchez known as "under the hill" was known to have gambling establishments, saloons, and brothels!  Didn't sound like a bad place to me.  So down we headed toward the waterfront, and we soon located the Under the Hill Saloon.

The story goes that Mark Twain used to frequent this fine establishment. And the carriage driver told us that it was customary for bar patrons to get checked for weapons before they entered the building.  If they didn't have one, they were given one...cause no one should go in empty handed!! The inside didn't look much nicer than the outside, but the beer was cold, and we soon struck up a conversation with a gentleman at the bar.  Debbie got his attention after she ordered a Southern Pecan Ale.  He explained to us that Southern Pecan Ale is brewed by the Lazy Magnolia Brewery in Kiln, Ms, the hometown of Brett Favre. Kiln, Ms is probably better known as the location for the movie Steel Magnolia.   Now that's something everyone needs to know.
     On Saturday we headed out of Vidalia, destined for Houston, Tx, about 300 miles away. I was not impressed with the highways of Texas.  They really need to invest a little of their oil money into the roads.  With just a little screw up on my part at the very end of the day, the trip was uneventful, and we arrived at our campsite at the Northlake RV Resort in Houston.  Debbie worked hard on the way over checking the reviews of several camping locations.  Northlake RV Resort is part of the Passport America group and sounded like a nice place, so we took a chance.  What a wonderful park!  The roads were all paved, along with the RV sites.  Full hookups.  Nice clubhouse overlooking a pond with a fountain in the middle.  Pool and hot tub.  A nice clean park.  Since we are members, we received 50% off the normal price, and had a very nice spot for around $22.00!  Gotta love it!
     This morning we headed out for San Antonio, another 200 + mile day.  Texas interstates are nasty.  I can't wait to slow this trip down and get off these interstates.  But we have to make 1 more stop in San Angelo on Tuesday, so we have to keep moving west.  We arrived in San Antonio without any problems, and made a quick trip over to the area known as the Riverwalk.  Tomorrow we're destined to tour The Alamo, and most likely some of the Missions around town.  I'll write about that adventure next time.  The weather is still nasty down here.  About 37 degrees today in San Antonio.  Gotta start warming up sometime!!!