Friday Fun: Trains

After going through some of my pictures from the last year, a pattern began to emerge.  I get snap-happy about trains.

This was from my visit to Pocahontas.

The train tracks in Indianola from my trip during the fall. (I meant to post pictures a looooong time ago and never did.  But I'm trying to catch up.)

I was really determined to see where the Southern crosses the Dog in Tutwiler that day but didn't make it after all.  So, that's why I took one more photo looking down the tracks.

This yella train was traveling alongside me as I was on my way through Arkansas to visit my sister.  He blew the horn at me and waved since I stopped on the side of the road. 

So colorful!

On my way back from Arkansas, I stopped at the Heathman Plantation on Highway 82 (between Greenville and Indianola).  You can see some other photos of the plantation on the Visit Mississippi Travel Blog.

This one is my absolute fav.

I think of all the railroad lines in the state that have all but dried up and wonder what it would have been like to hop into the passenger car for a day trip or for maybe a longer journey to find new opportunities in a bigger city.

Speaking of Arkansas, we're heading that way this weekend for a special birthday party.  My niece, Drew, is turning 1! 

The Vine That Ate the South

Yes, KUDZU.  

Kudzilla? 

I blogged about it on the Visit Mississippi travel blog in November and low and behold, it Kudzu ain't meeting its match in Hernando.

It's really true.  Goats.  Right outside of town on Highway 304 are the "Kudzu Removal Project" and the "Kudzu Control Demonstrations."  

We didn't see any goats out there grazing but I have before.  In one section, you could tell the goats made quick work of the Kudzu.

Daddy didn't stop, though.  He was on a mission to get us to The Blue & White in Tunica.

It's been a while since I've eaten at the Blue & White.  Over the past few months when I call my parents, Mama has mentioned that she and Daddy drove over to eat.  I kept seeing green...so when W & I were in town about a week ago, a special request was submitted for Sunday lunch at the Blue & White.  

Here's a look at the buffet - it's home cooking at its best.

Fried chicken, roast beef, chicken & dressing

Broccoli & cheese, yams, greens, fried green tomatoes, Brussel sprouts, lima beans and corn.

Yum, Yum.  This is my dad as he patiently waits to eat so I can take a picture.   

(Remember my trip to Ocean Springs?  

My friend Kathryn was not nearly as patient with me...but we were pretty hungry!)

I've had major cravings for fried chicken and yams.  And greens.  The rest is, as they say, gravy.

Their homemade yeast rolls are the best!

On our table was an advertisement for this double decker donut tower.  Sounds like a heart attack explosion on a plate to me (but would be worth it to try a bite).

And here's my sweet tea with the Blue & White story in the background.  The restaurant has been open since 1937.  As you can see in it was an old gas station that eventually just morphed into a restaurant.

A look at part of the restaurant.  It's so kitschy on the inside, which is what makes it such a great stop - and the food is delicious.  You can either get the buffet or order off the menu.  They are open for breakfast and lunch.  Either way, you'll be happy.  

Oh!  And I almost forgot:  Peach Cobbler for Dessert.  Phew.

The Blue & White Restaurant

1355 U.S. 61
Tunica, MS 38676
(662) 363-1371

Life from the Interior: Blurry Part Deux

of a car.  

Much to the chagrin of my husband, sometimes I go ahead and snap photos while driving a movie vehicle.  I can't say I entirely recommend it.

And, well, that's how these came about.

This was either driving over the Yazoo, Tallahatchie, Mississippi or_____________ (can't remember which one.  Can you tell?  Me neither.).  Same story below. 

Anybody recognize this bridge?  It will solve the above mystery.

It's rare I'm up for the sunrise, so naturally this is a special event.  This an especially poignant pictures, seeing as it was the only one to turn out halfway decent.   

The others look like this:

And the sky began to lighten up.

I like this one:

And one particularly foggy morning.

p.s.  I put an extra hoop for you to jump through in the event you would like to post on the blog.  I keep getting all this Chinese spam and it's getting on my nerves.

p.p.s.  I mention the above because a friend said she tried to post and had a hard time with it.  I told her about Chinese spam to which she replied:  "Wonder what weird chicken parts that's made out of?"

Friday Fun

Don't know who this guy was but he's all about some pig...and Elvis..and B.B. King.  Let's just say, he's all about some Memphis.  Can't blame him!

There are so picture-worthy things I spot while behind the wheel but most of the time don't due to well, the obvious constraints - I'm sure you probably do this, too - and then sometimes I go ahead and do it anyway (you'll see what I mean next week). 

(Took this picture back in January or February)

Blurry

When I'm on the road, more often than not, I drive right on past little scenes that are worth exploring.

On I-55 North around the Coldwater River bottoms (approximately 8 miles from Hernando), there is a silo overgrown with kudzu in the middle of a field that always catches my eye.

And I always want to stop in Como because that is where family from my Dad's side is buried.  Soon, I want him to take me back there.  This is the side that was here in the early 1800's.  Truth be told, I would like to visit Mississippi Fred McDowell's grave, too, while in the area.

One thing Walter and I would like to do is save up for a kayak like the one we used at Sea Camp.  

It'd be great kayak in the Coldwater River (on its way to being a designated Blueway) and all through the bottoms.

Keep telling myself next time I'll take the time to stop and explore.  That's my intention on future road trips - to give myself enough time where I won't be in such a hurry to get to my destination.

Reminds me of Cindy Woolf's song "Blurry."

Does anyone else do this?

Also, the Choctaw Indian Fair begins today and goes through Saturday.  I can't wait to watch more stickball!

Day Trip to Ocean Springs

My longtime friend, Kathryn, came into town and stayed with us over the 4th of July weekend. She's on a cross-country walkabout and stopped in Jackson to visit! 

We had such a great time doing a little this and that. She went with us to the screening of the "foodie films" at The Auditorium that me and my colleagues worked on a few weeks ago with Barefoot Workshop instructors Alison Fast and Chandler Griffin.

If you are interested in watching the films we made, click here. The documentary my group did is on Peaches, a historic restaurant on Farish Street (here in Jackson).  I'm so excited to have these skills to build on and continue my work with Mississippi Tourism through more film projects.

Mainly, the holiday weekend was a time for us to rest.  Since I've been going 90-to-nothing the entire month of June...and July hasn't showed signs of slowing, it was time to replenish with rest during a precious little downtime.

Monday, Kathryn and I decided to take a trek to Ocean Springs.  We'd mentioned the Walter Anderson Museum to her and she was also around as Alison and Chandler were talking about their current film work on the Coast.  She'd also never been to that part of the state either, so we decided to get up early and spend the day exploring.

I showed her the largest rocking chair in the world, which Kat promptly decided she'd climb up and get her picture taken.  I did it too. (haha)

Our first stop when we rolled into town naturally had to do with food.  (That should be a no-brainer about me at this point.)

We drove around the Downtown area for a few minutes and then down Government Street...where the Tat-O-Nut shop was closed until July 8.   :(  

Across the street was Phoenicia, a place I've seen but never actually been to eat. Mornings they served breakfast and the rest of the day it's Mediterranean fare.  

I ordered the special - Crab and Shrimp omelet.  Don't get me wrong, it was good but just ok as far as omelets go.  The reason I give it a "so-so" is because it was all shrimp and no crab at all.  Good but coulda been better...

Kathryn got the Eggs Sardou, which is basically Eggs Benedict but with artichoke bottoms and spinach.  Hands down, this was the absolute best choice.  It was unbelievable - so much so, in fact, that I had a raging case of "order regret."

My omelet came with a side of dollar pancakes that were very good and hit the spot.

We both got a side of Asiago cheese grits that were pure heaven.  They had a strong flavor and were kind of creamy.  I would swear by those grits if push came to shove.

I also got some Lebanese coffee that was ok.  I was hoping for something similar to Turkish coffee but it wasn't quite that strong nor did it have the good flavor.  Overall, I would definitely go back and totally recommend it.  I'd just order differently next time.

After breakfast, we rambled over to the Walter Anderson Museum.  It's a gorgeous facility and one that I would definitely visit over and over again. 

I definitely looked at the exhibit differently since my trip to Horn Island.  Looking up at Bob's boat, I thought, he was a tough old bird.

Love what he wrote on this Pelican sketch:

"There are some things that you can only do with love.  You will know that you have love when you do one of them."

It was obvious this was a very kid-friendly room.  There were lots of watercolors and signs like this explaining W.A.'s work, his life and the animals he loved. 

I'm convinced that the next cat I get will be named Robinson. 

We explored the community room and what I love about it is that you always discover a new aspect to the mural to appreciate and admire.  My thoughts kept coming back to the Horn Island experience.   Obviously you can't go there without coming back to the mainland with a different perspective.

You could get lost for hours enjoying the intricacies of his work. 

We drove to the beach and spent some time by the water.  It was a fairly cool and windy day with rain on the way.

Above looks like tar balls - I couldn't tell at the time because some of it was pretty grassy, too, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was.  

Despite what I've heard about parts of the Mississippi Sound waters being closed, there were boaters out, people on jet skis and swimmers, too.

I asked the lady at the museum if she could give us directions to Friendship Oak.  She only knew about Ruskin Oak.  So we drove through a neighborhood and saw a lovely old oak tree on a vacant lot - it's one of the oldest on the Coast and legend says it is associated with author John Ruskin, an Englishman in the 1880s - apparently people still have tea parties there at times to honor him.  I found an interesting website that says the story is a farce but shares interesting history about the land and about Ruskin just the same.  Don't know for sure.  Wasn't the one we were after anyway, so we drove on.

We continued our ramble along 90 over to University of Southern Mississippi's Long Beach campus (now a ghost town with its washed out buildings) and to the oldest of old Live Oak trees.

It was a tremendously huge tree - it won't even do to describe it.  The campus was quiet and peaceful after a hard rain that rolled through.  We enjoyed exploring her branches that were dripping with rainwater, completely awestruck by the massiveness of her size...and girth...and wing span!!  (Kat & I decided she was a big mama of a tree)

If this gives you any idea of the size...

Kat wanted to get a few pictures of the tree carvings along 90 and I wanted to snap a picture of the owlie that I missed last time we were there.  He's missing an eye now...and well, a bird pooped on him, too (that's to be expected...). 

There were tour buses on a particular stretch of 90 with workers cleaning up the beaches.  :(

Our last stop of the day was totally worth the wait.  My friend, Katie, tweeted about this place a couple of weeks ago...she was in Ocean Springs kicking her feet up while I was sweating it out on the Island...

Yum, yum, YUMMO!! Caboose Snowballs!!

You walk in through the driveway where the old railroad tracks still peek out of the ground and on past the house.  

And there's the caboose.  

We decided to look a few minutes before ringing the bell by the order window.  They serve any and every flavor of snowball you could imagine - and creamy flavors, too - the lady who came up behind us got condensed milk on hers - along with Blue Bell ice cream and sundaes - you get the idea.

There are even more flavor combos taped to the window.  Katie was right:  these flavors were well thought out.  There is even a new flavor called "Mississippi Tarball" that is chocolate and coffee flavored.

Just as a side note:  It sort of cracks me up that some of the roadside stands along 49 and even the Caboose advertised "hand-dipped" Blue Bell ice cream.  I know it's folksy and all, but it comes out of a commercial tub, people.  We can hand-dip it ourselves after we get it from the store...Just sayin'.  Give us something homemade!

Ok.  I'm done.

We rang the bell and a lady came out from the house.  She opened the caboose window and asked us what we wanted to order.  Kat and I asked her a couple of questions and got a pretty funny reply.  

Us:  So, what's a "silver fox?"

Her:  All I can tell you is it sorta tastes like almond."

Us:  What's Cajun about the Cajun Cream Cheese?

Her:  All I can tell you is it tastes like cream cheese.

Ummm...ok.  

So, after the insightful explanations, I got half Praline and half Butter Cream.  Kat got half Praline and half Cajun Cream Cheese.  It was sublime.  The Butter Cream was a little too sweet for me but overall a great treat!  There's nothing I love more than good crushed ice.  Especially when it's got Praline flavoring.  Mmmm!

We had a full, fun day on the Coast and came back newly transformed BFF's of course (re: Friendship Tree)!

Had to get a photo of the old Beverly Drive-In right outside of Hattiesburg.  What a cool place.  The only working drive-in in the state is in Pontotoc, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong).