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[franandaj]

Vicksburg. I slept soundly through the night, at least until about 5:30AM. I woke up to find us completely stopped in amazingly calm water.



I was a little concerned, but figured that they have this stuff down. I don't need to worry. So I got the computer out and was able to upload a few photos one at a time. I may or may not have replied to some TRs, or maybe just my own, but around 6:45-7:00 I put it away, woke Fran, and she suggested I go get a Cappuccino and explore what was up. Speaking of things that don't get old in other TRs, this being able to make your own specialty coffee for free doesn't get old!



To my surprise, we were already landed and the gentleman there said we were free to leave and explore at our leisure. I told him I needed to get breakfast and we'd be on our way. @pkondz See the giant hose I was talking about in the replies, it's in the lower right hand corner of the picture below.




Little did I know that later today I would be walking down that steep road you see in this picture!





Did I mention the river was high?



We headed down to breakfast. This time we were seated with a nice couple from Michigan who may have even been younger than us. We had plans to just get something light from the buffet again, but when I saw Eggs Benedict on the menu and Fran spied the Blueberry Pancakes we decided to go with the menu.



Here is some shots of the dining room, and look over there! In the middle of the picture, I just happened to catch Nigel and Jenny in the picture.







V8 for me.



Coffee as well.



Eggs Benedict, it was good. I’ve had better though.



Blueberry Pancakes for Fran, she liked them a lot.



She did have me get her some sausage from the buffet, and I added some strawberries to the plate which we both enjoyed.



We headed out to the bus stop.



Some of these ramps were quite a challenge for Fran and her scooter.



Looking back at the boat.



We stopped to admire this representation of the various floods that hit the Mississippi River. You'll see two levels there for 1927, the lower one indicates where it breached the levees and flooding began. The second shows where the water level would have been, had the levees been as high as they are today. There will be more on this later.



Today we were going on the hop on hop off bus. We learned a valuable lesson. If your ticket says 8:45, be there at 8:30. The time printed on the ticket is when your bus leaves. So if you show up at 8:45, they put you on the 9AM bus, which is really what we wanted in the first place! This was the first stop called Lower Bluff Art park.







There were several stops on the tour, we were thinking about going to the Coca Cola museum, as Vicksburg was the first place where it was bottled, even if it wasn't invented there. And our other place of interest was the Museum of the Lower Mississippi. The first stop was a shopping center. It didn't open until 10 and it was just after 9AM so that was a bust!

Here’s just a few shots of the town.





This street was still paved with bricks, and the bricks were laid at an angle so that the work animals (horses, donkeys, etc) could walk up the street.



Our next stop was the Church of the Holy Trinity, and then the Anchuca Mansion. Next we went to the Old Courthouse Museum, we considered it, but we didn't get off.



We got to the stop with the Coca-Cola museum and decided it looked at lot smaller than we thought, so we passed.

Canon on the corner, boat in the background.



This building would have been interesting to explore if we had the energy.



The final stop was the Lower Mississippi valley museum.



These are the little signs that they had out at all the stops so you knew where to wait for a bus.



Here we spent a bit of time. In the lobby they had a map of the US and showed the various rivers and how they dissected the country.



We started with a 7 minute film on the region. The first displays showed the history of various water craft that have traversed the Mississippi, from Indian canoes, log rafts that were disassembled and sold for timber after they transported their cargo, all the way to the steamboats of the 1800s.

There was a timeline for the Mississippi valley on one wall indicating all the major events of the region as well as other major US and world events. Reading this timeline it became clear that the US Army Corps of Engineers had a tremendous role in shaping the Mississippi, literally and figuratively. The next wall explained the development of the USACE from their roots in George Washington's times (crossing the Delaware), the Civil War (Burnside’s crossing the Rappahannock with pontoon bridges at Fredricksburg), to their official formation in the 1870s and beyond. These folks have done some amazing feats.

But let's go back to 1927. The flood of 1927 was devastating to the entire region. Tens of thousands of people were displaced as millions of acres of land were flooded. They had this little set up to depict the kinds of tent cities that folks lived in while the Red Cross tended to them. (Without the TV monitors, of course)






[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

The waters began rising in January and it wasn't until September that people could return to their land, but many had nothing left to come back to. President Hoover ordered the USACE to find a solution so that this never happened again. Without going too much into it, for those familiar with how a stream meanders, you'll know it forms snake like bends until the two ends of the snake meet (due to erosion on the banks) and then the flow of water bypasses that part of the river and creates a new bank. The new bank created by the USACE was made of cement so that erosion would not continue and the bank would guide the river in a straight line. When the flood waters rose they could flow into the old bends to create run off locations instead of flooding the cities. They also increased the heights of the levees.

This is however having an effect on the land mass in Southeast Louisiana. A football field-sized area of land is being washed away every hour.

Remember I could have sworn yesterday that we back tracked on our way leaving Greenville? We did! I confirmed it with a Crew Member. Greenville, MS is technically not on the Mississippi any longer, but on an Estuary created by the USACE! It's just upstream from the Mississippi River.

I found out later too that Vicksburg is also on a tributary river, the Yazoo, but I digress. After learning all about the USACE, we visited a small aquarium with fish native to the river.









Then we played a "habitat game" where they had four animals and two local habitats, you had to slide the animal in front of what you thought was correct and then lift up the card to find out if you were right. I played two rounds and when I found there were two more I gave up.

We browsed the rest of the exhibits and I spied this cool model outside. In the early days before computers, the engineers had to build huge models in dirt to test their theories, much like the one shown here.



Lastly they had a tug boat you could tour, I didn't get a picture of the outside, but I did steal this from the internet.



They had it staged for the crew’s quarters.









And other work spaces



And I went up to the Pilot Room









It seems that now they use the main spaces here as community meeting areas.







The kitchen was all dressed up











We considered visiting this place after lunch, but gave it up as we were too tired.



We could have waited for a bus to pick us up, but we could see the boat, so we just walked / scooted back on our own.



This was a coffee shop, I thought the decorations were unique







Fran wanted me to take a picture of the brick streets to illustrate how the bricks are laid so that horses and other animals could climb them easily.



This was an “Art Park” listed as one of the stops on the map. We found ourselves a little bit trapped in here.



Fran had to take the long way.







We had to squeeze the scooter through this little opening to get out of the park!



And then we were back boarding the boat. That was our exciting morning! And we had made it back to the boat before lunch service was cut off. Next up, our afternoon and evening.

 

[franandaj]

Hope you are feeling better!

Jill in CO

Thanks Jill! Starting to get there!

 

[dizneeat]

really hoping you are feeling better soon!

Love the update! Thank you for all the detailed photos - it feels as if we were on vacation with you!

 

[jedijill]

I did not know that Vicksburg was the first place Coke was bottled...learn something new everyday! Interesting looking town...I like the brick streets.

Jill in CO

 

[afwdwfan]

Little did I know that later today I would be walking down that steep road you see in this picture!

As long as this walk didn't turn out like the one in Memphis...

Some of these ramps were quite a challenge for Fran and her scooter.

I can only imagine. I'm sure that depending where the boat stops it is probably at different and sometimes awkward angles each time.

We stopped to admire this representation of the various floods that hit the Mississippi River.

Cool! And you said the river was high while you were there!

Canon on the corner, boat in the background.

The boat is under attack!!!!!

But let's go back to 1927. The flood of 1927 was devastating to the entire region. Tens of thousands of people were displaced as millions of acres of land were flooded. They had this little set up to depict the kinds of tent cities that folks lived in while the Red Cross tended to them. (Without the TV monitors, of course)

What??? They didn't have flat screens back in 1927?????

Remember I could have sworn yesterday that we back tracked on our way leaving Greenville? We did! I confirmed it with a Crew Member. Greenville, MS is technically not on the Mississippi any longer, but on an Estuary created by the USACE! It's just upstream from the Mississippi River.

Hmm... interesting!

We had to squeeze the scooter through this little opening to get out of the park!

Yikes! That had to be a tight fit!

 

[dhorner233]

Interesting tour of Vicksburg! Thanks!

 

[Pinkocto]

I enjoyed the history lesson, thank you! I'm learning all sorts of new things from your and Corinna's TRs. Too funny the maze getting out of that art park.

I'm confused though, currently there is a football stadium being washed away every hour? Even with the changes they made?

Mom would love that coffee machine.

 

[pkondz]

Those lumps were probably chunks of sausage!

Don't think so. Just lumps.
Looked horrible.
But people were greedily scooping it up, so...

Often I have to double check with her and make sure she's not mad or grumpy because she often has quite a sour look on her face, and it's usually for no reason.

I didn't mind it too much because he actually played quietly, so if I had someone in the bar to talk with, we could have had a conversation. Not like clubs today and in my day where you had to yell to be heard over the music.

That's not so bad then.
Otherwise it'd drive me nuts and probably ruin the whole vibe of the trip.

Actually this woman was way more pushy than Fran ever is. I started to realize on this cruise that old people don't really notice that they aren't the only people around.

I don't want to get like that.
Really.

No, we had the same bus drivers the whole time.

Oh, okay.

he said that the longest they have to drive to the next city is two hours.

That's nothing!

They had at least four buses, and I'm guessing that there were extra drivers because the buses were going just about 8 hours every day.

Not a bad gig.
At least it sounds like it.

Passengers were really an afterthought on the original steamboats.

Now that's... weird.
I never thought about that.
You always see on TV and movies these steamboats loaded with people.
But you're absolutely right!

I think this year was one of the anomalies for flooding.

Ah.

I'm not sure. I only caught the last song. I mainly wanted the free champagne!

of course!

And later I found out that I was right. I even commented to the bartender and she didn't know we had actually veered off the river itself.

Huh!

We would have had to arrange for that prior to the cruise or the first night.

Oh, okay. That makes sense.

We thought that she was homophobic, because she had no problem talking to Jenny or Nigel the other tablemates.

See, that's the last thing I think of.
I always give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they've joined the 20th (now 21st!) century.

Thanks! I had to make my own photo opportunities since they didn't have the photographers like Disney cruises.

Oh, geez. I'm such a doofus.
I never even thought of that.

I really need to get out on a cruise some day.
Any cruise.

Actually we have paddlewheel tours here.
But they only last a few hours.
And the boat's nothing like that one.
Umm... I think two decks? Maybe three?
It's been a while.

I think I had plenty of wine that leaving some was OK. They never let your glass get empty unless you told them to stop pouring.

Nice!

 

[pkondz]

I woke up to find us completely stopped in amazingly calm water.

That was... nice? Or disconcerting?

Speaking of things that don't get old in other TRs, this being able to make your own specialty coffee for free doesn't get old!

Not a coffee drinker myself, but I certainly get how that'd be a good thing.

@pkondz See the giant hose I was talking about in the replies, it's in the lower right hand corner of the picture below.

That ramp doesn't look much easier to navigate than the hose it's for.

Little did I know that later today I would be walking down that steep road you see in this picture!

Better down than up.
Unless..... "Brakes! Fran! Use your braaaaaaakes!!!"

Did I mention the river was high?

Nope. Not at all.

when I saw Eggs Benedict on the menu and Fran spied the Blueberry Pancakes we decided to go with the menu.

You had me at the bennies.

In the middle of the picture, I just happened to catch Nigel and Jenny in the picture.

Is she the one in yellow or pink?

Eggs Benedict, it was good. I’ve had better though.

Oddly enough, that's how they look, too.

Nice that you only need to be back 30 minutes prior.

Some of these ramps were quite a challenge for Fran and her scooter.

Why? Too steep at times?

We stopped to admire this representation of the various floods that hit the Mississippi River. You'll see two levels there for 1927, the lower one indicates where it breached the levees and flooding began. The second shows where the water level would have been, had the levees been as high as they are today.

Interesting. We have one of those as well.
Pretty much the entire city was underwater in 1950.

we were thinking about going to the Coca Cola museum,

That would've been interesting. I think I would've done that one.

Here’s just a few shots of the town.

What was your overall impression of the town?

This street was still paved with bricks, and the bricks were laid at an angle so that the work animals (horses, donkeys, etc) could walk up the street.

Interesting.

We got to the stop with the Coca-Cola museum and decided it looked at lot smaller than we thought, so we passed.

Darn.

These are the little signs that they had out at all the stops so you knew where to wait for a bus.

Ah. I was wondering about that.

Here we spent a bit of time. In the lobby they had a map of the US and showed the various rivers and how they dissected the country.

Cool.

They had this little set up to depict the kinds of tent cities that folks lived in while the Red Cross tended to them. (Without the TV monitors, of course)

Thank goodness you mentioned the TVs!

The waters began rising in January and it wasn't until September that people could return to their land

Holy crap!

you'll know it forms snake like bends until the two ends of the snake meet (due to erosion on the banks) and then the flow of water bypasses that part of the river and creates a new bank.

And the other part is called an oxbow.

When the flood waters rose they could flow into the old bends to create run off locations instead of flooding the cities.

clever.

A football field-sized area of land is being washed away every hour.

Holy crap! Seriously?

In the early days before computers, the engineers had to build huge models in dirt to test their theories, much like the one shown here.

That's cool!

We considered visiting this place after lunch, but gave it up as we were too tired.

You guys have had a busy day.

This was a coffee shop, I thought the decorations were unique

Different. That's for sure.

Fran had to take the long way.

See you tomorrow when you get to a point 10 feet away!

 

[Leshaface]

The boat had a capacity of about 420 passengers, but one of our bus drivers told us on one of the excursions that there were probably 350 or so on our voyage. And to answer the question about the average age demographic. I counted approximately 10 people on our voyage who were either our age or younger. There were no kids (well kids under 18), there were obviously families traveling together the but the kids were closer to our age or older. I’m not a great judge of age, but most of the folks we sat with talked about their grandchildren, and some even proudly told us that they were approaching 80 years old.

Thanks for this, so definitely something that we'd do as a couple only then no kids. Fine with me!

I actually saw an advertisement in DS's doctors waiting room last week with the boat you were on and made me think of you guys!

Fran was the only one with her own scooter, but there was at least one woman in a wheelchair, and she was a pushy old broad!

Yikes no thanks!

We got our player’s club cards and looked at the Black Jack table. Full. OK, we’ll go play our $10 free (only good on slots anyways). Of course we eventually blew through the $10 quickly and put some of our own money in the machine. Their slots were really poor and I tried 4-5 different machines and kept just losing and losing. I took my ticket and decided if I couldn’t play black jack I would keep my money. So I went over and stood near the black jack table, after about 5 minutes, it was obvious that all the folks playing were regulars and all knew each other. The pit boss asked me if I wanted to play, and I told her, “Yeah, but it’s all full. Do you have another table opening up?” They told me one would open at 2PM. It was 1:09. I told this information to Fran and we decided if they didn’t want to take our money, we would take it back to the boat with us. I cashed out my ticket and we rolled back over to the boat.

This would have put DH in a real bad mood. You know, you really need to talk to him and tell him that one doesn't win every time they gamble. He has been BUGGING me, especially lately (like I can do anything right now for him at 36 ish weeks pregnant ) about going to Vegas so he can gamble.

Well the husband was at least. We came to notice over the course of the next couple days that there something not right with the woman. We never figured it out, but she ignored us completely at every occasion and never made eye contact during dinner. Whatever. Her problem, not mine.

What a sourpuss.

I love that you're getting your nails done before every trip now!

I even left a half glass of red wine and a full glass of white that Fran had gifted me.

this being able to make your own specialty coffee for free doesn't get old!

OH heck yes!

This is really scary.

Oh my gosh how pretty the streets are! That would be cool to see.

 

[ACDSNY]

Vicksburg looks like a quaint little town.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Did I mention the river was high?

On what?

We stopped to admire this representation of the various floods that hit the Mississippi River. You'll see two levels there for 1927, the lower one indicates where it breached the levees and flooding began. The second shows where the water level would have been, had the levees been as high as they are today.

Wow. That's crazy high. I can't even imagine what that would be like.

This street was still paved with bricks, and the bricks were laid at an angle so that the work animals (horses, donkeys, etc) could walk up the street.

I'm sure that's not easy to make ADA-compliant.

Here we spent a bit of time. In the lobby they had a map of the US and showed the various rivers and how they dissected the country.

Looks pretty interesting.

The waters began rising in January and it wasn't until September that people could return to their land, but many had nothing left to come back to.

Wow, that's awful!

This is however having an effect on the land mass in Southeast Louisiana. A football field-sized area of land is being washed away every hour.

I guess because the river is flowing faster without all the meandering? Faster flow would lead to more erosion.

In the early days before computers, the engineers had to build huge models in dirt to test their theories, much like the one shown here.

Cool!

We had to squeeze the scooter through this little opening to get out of the park!

Hold your breath!

 

[dolphingirl47]

I got behind again as for some reason I no longer got notifications for this thread. Fortunately I am all caught up again.

The sunrise was very pretty.

The breakfast menu looked delicious.

The part of redirecting the flow of water to get rid of the silt problem was really interesting.

I love the look of that swing and the rocking chairs on the front porch. Shame that it was so windy.

How nice that you were actually able to check out the engine room. I would find this utterly fascinating.

That is really neat that the boat does not need a dock.

It's a shame that only the later buses were still available when you found out about the ticket system. I am sorry that the casino did not really work out for you. Lunch looked very nice.

How strange that one of your table mates would not talk to you, but as you said, that was her loss.

I love the early morning photo from Vicksburg. I also enjoyed the photos you took from the bus.

Corinna

 

[mvf-m11c]

The history of Vicksburg was very interesting where you were able to do quite a lot. Learning a lot from your trip report.

 

[franandaj]

So it's been a few crazy weeks since returning from this last trip and less than two more before we are off yet again! I'm getting in this brief PTR update before I get to replies because frankly I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to get to them! Hopefully before I leave on the next trip!

In the last two days the beginning of this trip has turned upside down. Without getting too much into the details of Jim and Alberto's personal lives I'll tell you in a nutshell. A little over a week ago Jim let me know that an important meeting for the two of them was scheduled for April 27 at 10 AM. On the complete other side of LA County, just about as far as you could get (we live near the border of LA County which is next to Orange County). By that time, Fran and I will already be on the airplane en route to Orlando. So he talked about taking the red eye that night and we would hit Universal that morning and they could sleep in the afternoon.

Well come Tuesday night and still Jim had not made any airline reservations by this point its two weeks away from departure time! So finally on Wednesday afternoon, he sent me a confirmation for flights. As their flights were completely price driven (meaning the cheapest flight was more important than any other factor, such as timing, etc) their flight leaves on April 28 at 5:15PM arriving in Orlando at 5:33AM on April 29. For those of you who aren’t completely obsessed with our travel plans, this means that they are going to miss out on the US/IOA portion of the trip completely.

Now those of you who know me, are aware that if I don’t have almost everything for a trip sewn up three months in advance, I start fretting. And this one was no different. With the exception of a couple shuttles, mine and Fran’s portion of the trip has been good to go. I booked the flights and Universal part back in early January. We had agreed to pay for Jim and Alberto’s rooms there because they really don’t have that kind of cash laying around. Here I was with two rooms booked. So the first thing I did was get on the phone to Universal. Thank goodness the deposit I paid back in January was fully refundable. I also tried to make sure that the room Fran and I were staying in was handicapped accessible, that took longer than the cancelation part of the call!

The other thing that I noticed about their flight was that it will be departing at 9PM the day AFTER we check out of the Poly Bungalows! While on the phone with Universal I had sent Jim an email asking what he planned to do that night for lodging but he's not so great at quickly responding to correspondence. I checked dvcmember.com and there was one studio available at Kidani, Standard View. It was only 15 points and Fran said it was OK to offer it to them. So I called him up. He had no idea what they were going to do for that night, so I mentioned the studio and they were happy to take it.

Once I had their accommodations worked out I realized that I had never set up Magical Express for us and now I needed to do it for them as well. It was a little confusing but the nice gentleman on the phone got all of our information correctly and even called me back when we got disconnected!

I guess none of this was that big of a deal, but it took up over two hours of my day yesterday, that I had planned for other things!

The worst part is that I was really looking forward to seeing Universal with Jim and Alberto. Jim is a huge Harry Potter fan and I know that he would love to see it. I guess we’re going to have just settle for seeing the new one that opened last week in Studio City (they call it Hollywood).

Other than the hiccup in Jim and Alberto's plans, things are proceeding nicely with our preparation. Yesterday the "fill in" cat feeder got her briefing. There's quite a bit to it all considering there are codes to unlock the doors, codes for the security system, dry food is served in two places in the house for a total of eight bowls and four flavors. Then there is the whole wet food ritual, and we can't forget the litter boxes.

I have arranged for our owner’s locker to be delivered to the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge and be picked up once we leave the Bungalows.

I've arranged for our Mears shuttles to the Royal Pacific Hotel and then to Disney. Our Behind the Seeds Tour is confirmed, and I've even begun to think about which clothes I'll be bringing along.

Our Magic Bands have arrived. Fran opted out of receiving any new ones this time.



I only need a blue one and then I have bands to match any outfit!



I got super motivated this week and I even cleaned out my travel cooking kit. I replaced all the packets, spices, and condiments in here with newer ones and even made new labels. The last time I updated it was probably around 2008 or 09 when we started staying in DVC units.



Boy there is a lot stuff you need to tend to as a regular visitor to WDW!

But once I sort out my clothes I think I will be good to go. The challenge is to get Fran on board so that we don’t have a repeat of the last departure. I’ll keep you posted. Hopefully she will pick out her clothes far enough in advance that I can sleep the night before we leave!

 

[pkondz]

We had agreed to pay for Jim and Alberto’s rooms there because they really don’t have that kind of cash laying around. Here I was with two rooms booked.

whoops.

I also tried to make sure that the room Fran and I were staying in was handicapped accessible, that took longer than the cancelation part of the call!

That's just... weird.
Opposite of what you'd expect.

The other thing that I noticed about their flight was that it will be departing at 9PM the day AFTER we check out of the Poly Bungalows!

And they didn't notice????

It was a little confusing but the nice gentleman on the phone got all of our information correctly and even called me back when we got disconnected!

Okay, that impresses me.
In this day and age the attitude is almost always "Oh, well. Too bad for them."

I guess none of this was that big of a deal, but it took up over two hours of my day yesterday

That's a big deal. I mean it took two hours!

Then there is the whole wet food ritual, and we can't forget the litter boxes.

Please. Please don't forget the litter boxes.

Ew.

Boy there is a lot stuff you need to tend to as a regular visitor to WDW!

The challenge is to get Fran on board so that we don’t have a repeat of the last departure.

For your sake, I hope not!

 

[dolphingirl47]

For those of you who aren’t completely obsessed with our travel plans, this means that they are going to miss out on the US/IOA portion of the trip completely.

What a shame that they are going to miss that.

Thank goodness the deposit I paid back in January was fully refundable.

That was a bit of luck.

I checked dvcmember.com and there was one studio available at Kidani, Standard View.

I always surprises me that usually sometimes turns up fairly last minute at Kidani or Jambo House. We benefitted from this a few times.

It was only 15 points and Fran said it was OK to offer it to them.

That is very kind of the two of you to take care of this.

I've arranged for our Mears shuttles to the Royal Pacific Hotel and then to Disney. Our Behind the Seeds Tour is confirmed, and I've even begun to think about which clothes I'll be bringing along.

Sounds like you are on a roll. I wish I could do the same thing for our trip and two weeks from now I am officially on leave.

I only need a blue one and then I have bands to match any outfit!

I have a similar collection, but mine includes a blue one. Of course, now they have also added a purple one.

Corinna

 

[afwdwfan]

Here I was with two rooms booked. So the first thing I did was get on the phone to Universal. Thank goodness the deposit I paid back in January was fully refundable. I also tried to make sure that the room Fran and I were staying in was handicapped accessible, that took longer than the cancelation part of the call!

Oh boy... I can only imagine the frustration and stress you felt when you had to deal with all the last minute changes. I'm glad that Universal was good about working with you and able to get you a refund.

Jim is a huge Harry Potter fan and I know that he would love to see it. I guess we’re going to have just settle for seeing the new one that opened last week in Studio City (they call it Hollywood).

That stinks... I'm sure the Hollywood version is just as good (maybe even a little better from what I hear?). Does it have Diagon Alley though? I'm sure he'll be really bummed if he can't see Diagon Alley. It is really pretty amazing.

dry food is served in two places in the house for a total of eight bowls and four flavors. Then there is the whole wet food ritual

Holy crap! Your cats eat better than I do!

I only need a blue one and then I have bands to match any outfit!

And now you can add purple to the collection too...

 

[franandaj]

really hoping you are feeling better soon!

Love the update! Thank you for all the detailed photos - it feels as if we were on vacation with you!

Thanks! I'm definitely feeling better. Not quite 100% but not as bad as I was a week or two ago!

I did not know that Vicksburg was the first place Coke was bottled...learn something new everyday! Interesting looking town...I like the brick streets.

Jill in CO

That's one thing that I loved about this trip! I learned so many new things. I had a small amount of Civil War knowledge, but after the trip I understood a whole lot more about this region and just how important the river is to everyone's lives.

As long as this walk didn't turn out like the one in Memphis...

I can give you a spoiler that there were no more falls!

I can only imagine. I'm sure that depending where the boat stops it is probably at different and sometimes awkward angles each time.

Yeah each time it was different. There were quite a few times that I had to walk her scooter over the top of the ramp.

Cool! And you said the river was high while you were there.

Those times on that wall were times when lives and property were lost. The river was just higher than average. It also affected several of our landing stops.

The boat is under attack!!!!!

This totally cracked me up!

What??? They didn't have flat screens back in 1927?????

Who knew?

Yikes! That had to be a tight fit!

I was ready to take it apart if necessary, but the chassis just fit through.

Interesting tour of Vicksburg! Thanks!

You're welcome. There was certainly more to it. A premium excursion went to the battlefield that afternoon but Fran wanted to save that for a later trip when we went on our own. Now we can't go there until the state gets it's head out of it's you know what!