Southern Hospitality Tour

I apologize for not being able to Blog with you since Day 2 of our tour, but computers have not been available again until tonight. I'll try to get you caught up.

Day 3: We enjoyed a morning coffee break at the quaint Ferguson's Country Store just outside St. Joe, Arkansas. Built of solid oak timbers and mountain stones, Ferguson's stands much as it did 150 years ago. Their frosted rolls were "yum, yum!" Ferguson's is also known for featuring one of the widest selections of solid oak furniture, which we enjoyed "oohing" and "ahing" over. Unfortunately, Jon (Schmugge, our driver) said "no" to slipping any of the pieces into the bay area of the bus, so we could only "ooh" and "ah."
The Clinton Presidential Library and Museum was our afternoon destination. This is the 12th Presidential library to be built. Located on the banks of the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock, the structure contains 20,000 square feet of exhibition, including full-scale replicas of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. We enjoyed seeing displays of some of the gifts the Clintons received while they were in the White House. A special treat was seeing the traveling Miniature White House, which is presently at the museum.

Day 4: We are a wealth of information on the Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, thanks to the excellence of Pat Tucker, who guided us on our tour of the battlefield this morning.
Short sleeves were comfortable as we continued our day in Natchez. We were treated to a very exuberant evening's entertainment of "A Southern Road to Freedom." This "Natchez saga of the African-American from slavery to modern times" was presented by the Holy Family Catholic Church Gospel Choir in their church sanctuary.

Day 5: We spent a full day going back in time to when Natchez had more wealth than any other place in America. We witnessed - through touring 3 antebellum homes - how the wealthy put much into their homes. During free time in downtown Natchez, many visited three of the historic churches, one of which contains two Tiffany stained glass windows. A horse-drawn carriage tour and lunch at Carriage House Restaurant completed the daytime activities.
In the evening we attended "The Historic Natchez Pageant" - a musical production depicting scenes of the Old South presented by over 200 local performers in elaborate period costumes.
The weather continued to be very comfortable - without jackets.

Day 6: The French Quarter of New Orleans is as vibrant as ever. However, our city tour of New Orleans showed us areas that are still very far from normal since Katrina. The good news for us was Jon said he could see real positive changes since he was last here a year ago. We did experience a rain shower during the tour, but it cleared again for our evening.
This evening we enjoyed dinner of gumbo, shrimp creole, bread pudding with whiskey sauce and pralines - all made specifically for us by Chef Kevin Belton at the New Orleans School of Cooking. Yum!!

As you can see we have experienced and enjoyed many sights in the past 4 days. I look forward to sharing the rest of our journey in the following 4 days.

Sandy Moose, Tour Director