Other landmarks in Vicksburg

I wrote some about Cedar Grove from my phone. Here are a few pics of the house from the outside. I wonder what the gardens and pool are like in the summer time.

Ah Vicksburg Pictures

The night I stayed in Vicksburg the news was broadcasting storm warnings - strong winds potential hurricanes. I always get nervous when I travel because I know the city I am in but most alerts are noted by county. I usually don't know county. The rain passed by the next day.

I have to say the bridges over the Mississippi were impressive. And to think I have been on bridges over the Mississippi at the other end of the state when I was in Memphis. I know Memphis is not in Mississippi but Tennessee is at the other end of MS.

Picture download

I need to edit and post the pics I took in Vicksburg. That is kind of my intention for the weekend. We shall see how that goes.
I have pics from my birthday and pics from the Bahamas as well. So I guess I need to get on that. I was thinking for 2010 I would make more of an effort to get some news out here. Especially now that I am trying out the concept of a laptop at home. We shall see how that goes as well.

Vicksburg National Military Park

I keep calling it the battlefield, which it it, but above is the official name. It is the main reason I extended my business trip and came out this way. I don't know what I expected but I am pretty sure what I found wasn't what I had in mind.
At the entrance of the park - like all National Parks - there is a welcome center with information on the site, a gift shop and a movie. The movie helped. Unlike others in my family I am not well versed on the battles of the war. The movie explained how Grant and Sherman moved in, the reasoning to their tactics, the decisions made by the Confederacy and how some of it is still studied today by the military.
And then off I went for a 16 mile drive or so. I need to do some research on how the park came about. To state that there are multiple monuments throughout the park would be an understatement. I am curious as to how they all came about.
The path of the park takes you first along Union lines. There are markers and points of interest along the way. Then you meander back along Confederate lines. To think of the time spent and the lives lost makes it all very sobering.
It made for an interesting day.

Next time - I am staying for a cooking class for sure!

Driving Tour

Besides picking Shannon's brain I also requested some info from the Vicksburg CVB. The booklet and map they sent ahead of time was helpful. It gave me a good idea of what else was there and the lay of the land. A big piece that seemed to be highlighted was a driving tour of the city. There were 2 routes. Originally I thought - driving around the city is surely a waste of time. But when the day turned out gray and blustery I decided to give it a try. It was worth it. A lot of the streets are steeped in history but don't necessarily require walking all around.
So I left Cedar Grove and meandered one way on the blue trail (also in search of gas) then headed back on the red trail towards the battlefield.
Overlooking the Mississippi was probably the most impressive.
Various historical markers along random streets marking battle was also unqiue. Helps you realise why it is so hard to forget for the people who live there day in and day out.
The only stop I made on the drive was the Old Court House. There were all sorts of pieces on display from all eras. I avoided the clothing room - it so gives me the heebie jeebies. But the room with all the china was neat. Some of the silver was beautiful. I can only imagine what it looked like all polished and on display in the homes.
Upstairs was the court room. The 24 foot ceilings - WOW!
And the fact I learned in that leg - Jefferson Davis I'd from Vicksburg. And here I always thought he was from SC - don't know why.

Cedar Grove

To start my day of site-seeing I headed over to Cedar Grove Mansion. It is a B+B so I hoped I could get some breakfast. Shannon has been telling me about this for years... There is still damage to the house from the Civil War.
So I found my way there. It was a chilly cloudy day that unfortunately accentuated the gloom and not the beauty of the old buildings (and city). I walked around back past this quaint pool and through the back door. This part of the house was definitely modernized for travelers. After discussion of the cost of breakfast (since I wasn't staying at the home) I was seated in a dinner room that looked like it could have been a porch at some point. And breakfast was wonderful - blueberry pancakes with whipped cream, bacon, eggs, coffee. Truth be told it kept me going all day.
After breakfast I tool a self guided walking tour of the home. The gaping hole in the front door and palor floor from Union cannonballs definitely makes you think. And they had a bunch of other original pieces in the house as well. The story goes Grant stayed in the house after the seige of Vicksburg so it wasn't destroyed. I walked around the gardens as well. Oh to have such a yard - gardens, fountains, fish ponds, statues (huh-kinda sounds like my parents yard - theirs had a more Jersey feel to it however).
I am glad I made my way over there.

casino night

Those of you who follow along know casinos aren't my thing. We have casino nights for work and I don't participate. Somewhere in my planning I decided I would go to Vicksburg. Its a parental civil war thing. In making my reservations I decided I would stay at a casino. Because you know I would never step into one off the street for the heck of it. And the hotel rate was WAY reasonable. Let's just say it is like an out of body experience. For $40 a night the room is actually quite nice. The casino - which technically is on the water - is sensory overload.
For $2 I have had 2 beers. I am sitting at the bar watching the crowd. It is loud. It is flashy (literally). The Tarheels are the tele. And there are some people. I don't know what I expected. I think this was close.
This is a part of Americana. Something you don't really get to experience elsewhere. I won't gamble - I spent all day discussing the importance of saving money. It goes against my grain. But I watch it all in awe.
Similar to amusement parks I can understand how this could be another reason why other countries hate us. What an incredible waste of time and space.
And I will sit through my second beer and continue to take it all in.

olive garden

The next night I had a quick dinner at the olive garden. Did not get the same response.
Who woulds thunk that - lol

birthday

The actual day was spent traveling to Mississippi. Truth be told - I don't know how or why we decided that would be a good time for me to go. But off I went. I was excited as I knew I could grab dinner at Giadinas for my birthday. Wasn't sure if I would have company but new I would enjoy myself none the less. That is probably an understatement.
I envisioned myself sitting at the bar having some dinner doing some people watching. On a Tuesday night I suspected the people watching would be limited. I was wrong. A dinner party had reserved the dining room for the evening. And the people for dinner were quite entertaining.
I spoke for some time to a couple from MI. They were nice and interesting people. We discussed what brought us to MS. Their story was more interesting than mine. They were there on a mystery tour me work. When they went on for dinner I sat by myself for a while.
Ahhh and this sounds vane but... When in a small town that employees mostly men for 2 large manufacturing companies - single blonde girl (I suppose at 40 I can't be considered girl) doesn't go unnoticed for very long. I ended up having a very random course of conversations with one of the locals. Well he was a transplant but more local than me. I have to say it was rather fun - we talked work, sports, kids (his obviously) and how Yankees find themselves in the Delta. I liked the fact there was no pressure to promote my turning 40. I liked the annonymity. I liked that I knew I would wake up the next day and spend it with some of the nicest people around.
So it may have been mostly strangers and stuff but I enjoyed it.
Next time I will stay longer.

catching up

Well the party was 2 weekends ago and there is lots I could post about that. And I need to. But right now I am more about right now.

birthday celebration

Well the invites and emails have been sent. Happy hour on Friday. That's a way to get out a bit. I suppose I could have picked a more hoppin venue to entertain Deb and my mom... But I think PJ will do.
I still need to work on the menu - food, drink and music that is. Will try to do some of that today.
And I think that should be underway. My early birthday presents to myself - my new car and patio - are looking great back here behind the house. Now if I could only get that 9 year old present to stop wondering off as I sit here relaxing. He is intent on finding food scraps - you would be surprised how many people do leave remnant food just out on their patios etc. Better go track him down.

September in Milwaukee

I had a good idea this evening when chatting with a friend. Perhaps I can coordinate going to a baseball game when I am in MKE. That would be that new stadium where the crane collapsed and those workers died. Well I won't dwell on that.
But I will headed there later this month.
I am looking forward to seeing some old friends. I know they are work related but I consider them friends none the less.

And lastly in multiple postings...

the Splash & Dash was yesterday... you need to check out the tri pages to see more on all that...
and with that, can you believe it is almost the end of the summer? wow that just flew by...

Jetta

And the car purchase definitely has had an impact on my thoughts about travel. I dropped some $$ on a downpayment for a new car. So that definitely takes presidence (or is that precedence) on the cash flow aspect. And I am loving my new car. Have only had it for a week. And am barely driving it. But love it all the same. I need to take some pics of my fun new ride.

August is Kentucky

I am going to Kentucky for work this month. I was thinking I would stay a little longer while I was there to check out the sites. There is a horse farm thing that I wanted to check out. And then there is all this bourbon stuff. See how technical I am on all this. Given my minimal knowledge and obvious minimal interest I decided coming home for the weekend would be better than sticking around out there.

July's trip was supposed to be Savannah

But July came and went and I never really got around to making final plans.
I got so into the training for the Splash & Dash and some other things going away just didn't happen.
Maybe I will add Savannah to the fall or winter time frame. We shall see.

pics pf france

my mom took close to 1,000 pictures of her french holiday
she has sent some out but not all of them...
i thought i would pic and choose some for out here... but figure if you got an email from her you saw some and i just don't have the desire to whittle down the selection even further

France?

Well can't wait to hear all about that...

The New World of Coke

No, not the new coke. The New World of Coke. It's good to say you have been there once. The memorabilia is impressive. And a few free swigs of various sodas is OK. But other than that, not much to see. Well unless you count the ever present reminders of my clients are everywhere. Bet they don't even know they are on display at the World of Coke.

Brattonsville re-visited

We went back to check out the trails.
My personal trainer considers this cross-training.
So check out the tri blog

www.anewtriangle.blogspot.com

The Georgia Aquarium

I consider my visit to the Georgia Aquarium my beach visit for June.
So check out the beach blog for details.

www.to-the-beach-2009.blogspot.com

The air smells sweet

While at dinner with a friend in Atlanta on Friday night that is how he described the air in Charlotte. I found it an odd descriptor. I never really thought of it in that light before. But hey after having a bad air quality headache from my time in Atlanta for 4 days. I may say I am in agreement with him. The air may be a bit sweeter here. So I have beat feet around some of the local parks - part training, part just to get out. Check out the other blog for some commentary.
www.anewtriangle.blogspot.com

Garden!

My friend Karen had asked that I continue to take some pictures of my flowers. As some of you may know I am trying to get my wee bit of grass in my backyard replaced with cement to expand the patio. As a result I haven't done too much with respect to gardening this year. My thought is I will slowly add to it once the work is done.

As for the work - I need to get the plan approved by the HOA and then line up the actual work.

It will probably be some time yet. So here are a few flowers while I work through the red tape etc...

Happy Fathers' Day

Last year I posted a bunch of pics.

http://edblholidaygreeting.blogspot.com/2008/06/happy-fathers-day.html

It was all a result of searching for one picture in particular. This year I found that picture. I remember taking this picture. I was little. We were in Palm Springs. We are in the front yard of Tonta Lisa's house. And I needed to be very careful with the camera. The camera that now sits on my bookshelf in the hallway. We took some shots of me too. I think I was about 4.

Think Spring

Well with the heat we may already call it summer ... but it took some time to collect the pics. You know mother nature is particular that way...

And since yesterday was D-Day I couldn't overlook posting a pic of the flag in the front of the house.

And I was going to crop down this shot as I didn't really want to memorialize the faded chairs on the porch. But then I saw Maddi looking out the front window and decided to leave it as is.

And somewhere in there start the calla lilies

These always seem to come back. They just don't team with flowers like they did the first year. And sometimes the pink colour isn't as strong. This year looks to be a good year.

Next Up - Lantana

Now I must admit when I bought this little ground cover of a plant I don't recall ever having seen one before. I just knew it as a resort in Bermuda. Now that it has been succeeding oh so well in my front yard for the past 4 years I have to say I see them everywhere. But I am so pleased with it. I ever gave 2 as gifts this Spring just for the heck of it. I may have to take some shots of it later in the season when it has pretty much taken over the front yard.

The first year I got it, I trimmed it way back at the end of the season and piled the pine straw real thick over it. And to my delight it came back the next year and have been just as lucky every year since.

Easter Lilies

As I mentioned some of the first flowers to push on through are the Easter lilies. Over the years I have taken the potted Easter lilies I buy (or anyone else has lying around) and have planted them in my front yard. I am quite pleased with the collection I have created. I would like to get some more. Maybe next year at Easter I will remember that. And anyone else - if you get Easter lilies that you are just going to dispose of please let me know. I will surely throw them in the ground at my house.... And they have bloomed quite beautifully this year. And the smell is as charming as ever. Not as powerful as a whole field of Easter lilies but it's still nice.

First signs of Spring

Well the first signs are usually some daffodils and crocuses. For some reason this year I did not capture any pictures of them when they came up. For the amount of bulbs of the 2 that I planted it is a shame that only a few have come back over the years.

Another sign of Spring are the Easter lilies. They push on up through the ground rather early. Again, no pics. Probably just wasn't warm outside and I didn't think to take a picture. So when it all comes down to it. The first real shock of colour and coming to life would be the azaleas. Somehow I ended up with the only pink azaleas on the block. They are quite beautiful when they bloom. But let me say - quite the eye sore any other time.

From Mom's camera

Here are the pics my mom took while visiting. Have to say I am surprised there are only 110 pics. She usually goes for double that.

If you can't see the pictures in this email, click here to see it in a web browser:http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=hyy5ha3.39vv4w4b&x=0&h=1&y=nu77am&localeid=en_US