Natchez, MS

What a delightful getaway we had! We spent the weekend in historic Natchez, MS and had such a great time. I stayed in the 1888 Wensel House Bed and Breakfast (http://www.1888wenselhouse.com/). The owners were so delightful. The other residents of the home were people from LA displaced by Katrina. We'd all sit around at breakfast and exchange stories. Everyone has been affected in some way during the storm.

Friday night we ate at Pearl Street Pasta. The atmostphere was amazing, the food great, but the service was HORRIBLE. The place had been recommended to me by many, so I know they were certainly just having a bad night. We ordered a bottle of White Zinfendel (the last bottle they had) and she cracked it trying to open it!! We received our salads an hour and a half after we placed our order. She asked us "what did you order again?" at that time... We knew we were in trouble then!! The food was good.. It was just disheartening having to spend the amount we did with the service we received. Anyway, on to more delightful things!

My sweetie has been enjoying cigars as of late, so we were able to find a tobacco store with a walk in humidor and he found some good things...

Saturday we had a busy, busy, day. We went to the Natchez welcome center, toured Longwood plantation which was amazing (photo listed above), ate at Fat Mama's tamales (the most amazing margaritas on the planet (http://www.fatmamastamales.com/order.html), went to a very quaint bookstore (Turning Pages), visited the famous Darby's and bought some wonderful fudge (http://www.darbysfudge.com/Fudge%20Tales.htm) , this amazing gourmet pet store (Fydeaux - we were probably there 45 minutes just talking to the owners. They were such neat people http://www.fydeauxspetco.com/dishes.htm), toured the William Johnson museum (so very interesting;Natchez is full of neat history. Johnson was a free man of color who was very wealthy. He lent money to the banks of Natchez! Interestingly, he had his own slaves. He kept a diary, which I think I'd love to read). (http://www.natchez.ms.us/custom/webpage.cfm?content=News&id=39)

That evening we ate at Pig Out Barbecue which was wonderful. We sat at Slough Daddy's outdoor restaurant/pub and listened to some live music and then took a carriage ride around down. That was absolutely delightful. It was just the two of us, the evening was very pleasant, and the driver knew so many neat little facts about Natchez and its history. Below is one of the stories he told us.

There was a man that owned a pub. He had an elephant that only paying customers could see, to attract business. A couple of customers thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if the elephant was drunk so they brought buckets of ale out for it to drink. The elephant became out of control, broke down the fence and was tearing through the neighborhood. They eventually had to kill it to cease the destruction. Our tour guide said, "Now, I wasn't there, so I don't know if it's true or not; but I will tell you there is a law in Natchez that says you cannot give alcohol to
an elephant". We thought that was rather humorous.

Sunday we went and looked out at the Mississippi River a while. We then took a drive through the historic Cemetary in Natchez. It was amazing to see these tombstones that were over a century old. It was beautiful and peaceful out there. We also drove through the Natchez National Cemetary. There were dozens upon dozens of unknown soldiers' graves.

On the way home we stopped and my brother's and I was able to visit with them, my sis and my precious niece! She is growing up so fast.

Ok - our wonderful weekend has been shared with you! We took some photos; unfortunately I do not have a digital camera yet, so I'll have to wait until they are developed to share them with all (and I am HORRIBLE about procrastinating and getting photos developed - hopefully these will be done quickly).

We had a delightful time in Natchez and I hope we can go back soon. There were so many things we wanted to do, but just didn't have the time or energy to do them. Hope you can go visit too! Natchez is a delightful, interesting, friendly town.