Not a very pretty morning, but we wanted to at least let the kids get a glimpse of the French Quarter, so we drove over to Canal street, then turned directly onto Bourbon Street. This is about the only time I want to be in this area is during the morning. It is just so nasty, as people are washing off the sidewalks. The building are nice to see, but characters in the streets were a little sketchy. We did not get out of the car, but took our time letting the kids get a view of bar after bar, some voodoo stores, and finally on our way out, a view of a very pretty Jackson square. But with bad weather predicted on our trip, we were ready to get heading home.
Our trip went really well until slightly above Hattiesburg where the wind and rain was VERY ROUGH. I was going about 40 mph, with little to no visibility at times, so when Davis said a bathroom stop was needed, and it was right at a LOVE gas station exit, it worked perfectly. We stopped and let the storms move by, while eating some McDonalds. Back on the road, we saw about 4 cars that had run off the road within about 10 miles from where we pulled off. Sometimes blessings come thru full bladders.
And our last adventure on this trip was to the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience (MAX) in Meridian Mississippi. I had never heard of this, but saw a billboard when we were heading to Lucedale on our way down. And driving into Meridian (first time) off of the interstate, I really didn't know what to expect, that is not much of a city. But right in the middle of this city, sits the MAX museum, and it was really impressive. It has to have been built very recently. Everything was very modern. And apparently a Tuesday afternoon directly after tornado weather is not the tourist season, so we had the museum all to ourself...I mean completely to ourself.
We learned about so many people from the Arts all from Mississippi. It was cool to learn their story, and their beginnings in small town MS. Oprah, Morgan Freeman, Elvis, Jim Henson to name a few. They had a really cool music exhibit where you could learn about the original "soul" musicians around MS. And the story of Tennessee Williams was neat just to hear others talking about his influence. One line of his is now one of my favorites "An hour is not just an hour, but a piece of eternity dropped into our hands". Wow!
Our crew spent two pieces of eternity at this museum most people have never heard about, but it was amazing. Ruby and I colored pieces for a patchwork quilt. Ruby typed on a real typewriter for the first time. We went into a church building in the middle of the museum, and Magan finally found the Eagle Elvis costume she could not find in all of Graceland.
A fun little two night getaway to start the year. School starts back tomorrow for the kids. Work and AHG and Scouts and Church start back as well...I long for these family moments and times together. Wish I could just capture these times with a few pictures and stories about the things that happened.
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