Vicksburg, MS

The first thing you need to know about Vicksburg is that it is hilly… we’re talking San Francisco-type hilly! Next to know is that the city is nearly surrounded by the National Military Park, which commemorates the battlefield of the siege of Vicksburg. It is now a national park filled with statues and monuments. I wonder if its presence has an ongoing effect on the current citizens of Vicksburg. When we visited the park there were people jogging through the park and a group of re-enactors (sp?) getting ready to fight one of the battles yet again.

In addition to all the historical buildings and monuments there are 5 casinos on the riverfront. Despite the heat and humidity we managed to visit 4 of them,,, with the usual results (Gary won and Chris didn’t lose too much).

Louisiana and the start of the Great River Road Trip

More of this hazy, hot and humid… seems like we will never get out of this hot, sticky weather. We haven’t had the air conditioner turned off since we were in Big Bend! But I digress.

Now that we are on the move again we seem to be touring the casinos of Louisiana. First stop was Lake Charles. Actually we stayed in Sulphur (aptly named) for 2 nights while they visited a couple of casinos. Then we moved to Coushatta Casino's RV Park. Very nice place and a great deal… pay for 3 nights get next 2 nights free! Who could say no to that. Then when we checked out, they comped the whole stay!

Natchez was our next stop. We actually stayed across the river in Vidalia, LA at the Riverview RV Park. As the name implies we were right on the river across from Natchez and could watch all the boat and barge traffic floating by. Natchez has one small casino in a riverboat called the Isle of Capri. It also has a myriad of well-preserved antebellum homes which they toured one sweltering morning. Another day they took a drive in the car on the Natchez Trace Scenic Parkway. I’m glad they came back because if they had driven the whole 444 miles, I would never have seen them again.

They took some fun pictures in and around Natchez… enjoy