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We will be going from New Orleans to Jackson via I-55 then going to Little Rock. Is there anything to do/see along this route? We plan on spending the night near Jackson (not in, i've heard a lot of bad about it). We are also considering going to Gulfport, but right now i'm leaning towards no.If there is anything that really interests me, i would consider spending an extra day in Mississippi.
Jackson is quite good for shopping and restaurants (the Renaissance for stores like Apple and Brooks Brothers; the brand new outlet mall in Pearl with stores like Saks Off Fifth, and Fondren for cool in-town restaurants such as Nicks, Walkers, and Babalu).
Otherwise you might want to drive along the Mississippi River, to Natchez, Vicksburg, and then maybe cross over the river north of Greenville. Natchez is loaded with historic architecture, with the most antebellum homes in America, and Vicksburg with interesting civil war battlefields. The terrain in this area is also beautiful.
And north of Vicksburg you can drive for a couple of hours through the Delta, to see Mississippi's fabled landscape of Delta cotton, catfish, corn, soybeans, rice, and may others, before crossing the bridge over into Arkansas.
If you choose to stop by the Mississippi Gulf Coast, try Bay St Louis for a quaint town with restaurants overlooking the bay; Ocean Springs for quaint and bustling downtown area near the beach; and Biloxi for Beau Rivage, Hard Rock,and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville casinos. This is a really fun area to spend a few days.
Jackson is quite good for shopping and restaurants (the Renaissance for stores like Apple and Brooks Brothers; the brand new outlet mall in Pearl with stores like Saks Off Fifth, and Fondren for cool in-town restaurants such as Nicks, Walkers, and Babalu).
Otherwise you might want to drive along the Mississippi River, to Natchez, Vicksburg, and then maybe cross over the river north of Greenville. Natchez is loaded with historic architecture, with the most antebellum homes in America, and Vicksburg with interesting civil war battlefields. The terrain in this area is also beautiful.
And north of Vicksburg you can drive for a couple of hours through the Delta, to see Mississippi's fabled landscape of Delta cotton, catfish, corn, soybeans, rice, and may others, before crossing the bridge over into Arkansas.
If you choose to stop by the Mississippi Gulf Coast, try Bay St Louis for a quaint town with restaurants overlooking the bay; Ocean Springs for quaint and bustling downtown area near the beach; and Biloxi for Beau Rivage, Hard Rock,and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville casinos. This is a really fun area to spend a few days.
This. I can't think of any cool towns along I-55. Highway 61 is what you want to take if you want to see the river towns. I remember when I was about 16, just got my license. My parents went to Diamond Jacks to gamble and I took there car around the city for a while. I wasn't used to the hills and stuff, it was really pretty coming from south LA.
.Being a good little Googler, I've extracted this from Google (having discovered that Colorado 303's profile is open only to friends)
"That's what keeps me away from the city. I guess i'm more of the middle of the road because i'm pro guns and death penalty but i'm also pro gay marriage and pro choice. i'm also Atheist"
And also: "well when i say city i'm talking about cities, towns, etc. Alamosa isn't that bad, I almost went to Adams State but decided on Colorado Mesa instead. i don't really like Walsenburg though. What's wrong with the western slope?"
I gather that he/she is still college age. Uses words like 'cool' a lot, in a very perky sort of way, which I find odd. Maybe that's still a current thing in Colorado, although I can't remember it being used much by the under-50 crowd when I've been in Aspen...
Actually, OP started this thread, and here's the first post: " What is your least favorite city in Colorado and your favorite? Why? and if you don't mind, say where you're from. I think that the Denver metro can count as one place.
I would have to say that Brighton/the Denver metro is my favorite since i'm from Brighton. For my least favorite, I would have to say Trinidad because it's just a nasty ghetto little town followed close by Pueblo and Colorado Springs. Pueblo because it's kind of ghetto and Springs because of the conservative lean to it."
Interesting! Colorado Springs is the setting for an article which my Ad Man saved from an early-Eighties gay magazine, called "Dancing Naked with the Rednecks". When we were in college, our little 'Pod' (like whales travel in a pod) of friends/co-investors/study-group were trying to decide where to move, when we escaped Mississippi. We assembled articles we felt gave us a truer-than-usual glimpse of life in other places (this was long before City-Data came along...) Leigh W. Rutledge, the Author of this article, described an insane level of homophobia in the general population; a gay bar full of self-hating and vicious gays; a transexual who traipsed through the city streets while loudly encouraged by locals to commit suicide; and a park where closeted, married 'straight' men (including cops) drove around the park's 'loop', day and night, looking for anonymous and unemotional sex with other men. The overall picture of the town was about what OP apparently means by "Conservative".
I remember when Dylan and Eric sorted-out a few of the bullies at Columbine. We in Mississippi were amazed by the sight of all those stocky, towheaded, crew-cut jocks hugging each other in grief. "They sure do have a lot of blonds in Colorado". Well, it turns out that the muscular blond underclass were not exactly the sweet kind of stocky blonds from Denmark. Those bullying towheads descend from the same problematic corner of the British Empire as the gingerish underclass in Mississippi (Hint: The IQ in their native land is 93 - about like Croatia's and Albania's). That would be the base for "Conservatives" in Colorado. Same demographic base (among whites, at least) for the sort of "Conservatism" Colorado 303 is going to find objectionable in Mississippi. And I remember some brouhaha about a mining camp in Colorado, involving much shooting and massacres and a Rockefeller or two. Scandinavian miners would just have gone elsewhere (and doubtless did, just in time to number among the founders of California's Golden Era). This bunch (ancestors of the Columbine bullies, in part, I'd imagine...) decided to dig in their heels and riot and carry on and starve and be pitiful (and such-as). I suppose that's a manifestation of the Celtic Mind, as opposed to the Norse Mind.
Well, Colorado 303, in Mississippi, you've got a whole lot of 'Ghetto', and a whole lot of 'Conservatives'. The preponderance of both is what sends the rest of us fleeing to other places. And plenty of Mississippi's Ghetto folk vote for hate laws in greater numbers than do the 'Conservatives'. There is one abortion clinic in the state, and it is under incessant attack from the usual cast of characters. And Mississippians voted, in the highest numbers of any state, against Gay Marriage. Nobody I know in Mississippi, Gays included, really cares, one way or another, about Gay Marriage. But the fact that Mississippians would vote, in record numbers, against such an innocuous thing, served as an index of precisely how pervasive stupidity and hatefulness are, in that state. After the Anti-Gay-Marriage vote, all kinds of people in Mississippi said, "Things are never going to get any better, here." Kids picked far-off colleges, and announced they'd not be returning to The South, after graduation. Their parents mostly just said, "Can't blame ya honey! Pick a good place, and we'll move out there when we retire. Get out of here while you can!"
On the bright side, Mississippians love them some guns, and lovethem some Death Penalty. (Me, I'm for expanding the Death Penalty to include all sorts of crimes like Human Trafficking, Drug Trafficking, and Identity Theft. And while purposefully being totally ignorant of guns, we sure do love being surrounded by well-armed Gentile neighbors, out here in Lake O')
Frankly, your preferences mesh rather well with those of any Upper Middle Class Mississippian - except for the 'Atheist' part. I'd keep quiet about that. While most enlightened Mississippians are (secretly or overtly) Agnostic, only the really Sick Puppies there are Atheists. The sick puppies who are Atheists are to be found in Jackson's Belhaven and Fondren Districts. Generally, Mississippi's religious institutions are rather benign, and so don't knock people so out-of-orbit as to make Atheists out of them.
Anyway, Belhaven and Fondren lead me to start telling you about What To Do in Mississippi. On the Belhaven-leaning edge of Fondren is the Rainbow Whole Foods Co-op. Best health food/vitamins source between Atlanta and Dallas. Non-profit, and so you can trust the vitamins and produce to be Not From China(as they tend to be at a certain big "Health Food" chain that's become as ubiquitous as Starbucks)Rainbow Co-op There's a great Vegan/Organic cafe there, for lunch, and a wonderful Computer Co-op within the micro-mall. Just be advised that conformity is rampant in Mississippi (that Celtic Mind, again...), and the localized conformism around rainbow dictates that Obama is good. Guns are Bad... and pretty-much everything people were supposed to think, in the Boulder Colorado of 1972. I'm not sure whether there's a time warp worm hole leading from 1972 Boulder to Present-day Fondren, or if somebody just found an ancient book written in Boulder, and it became Fondren's Talmud. Anyway, if you want to experience the Boulder of your Parents' youth, go to Rainbow.
I see that someone, possibly with an excellent prescription for something hopefully manufactured by a company on whose Board I sit, has already hit the high points of our lovely state, while I was typing the above. (the way I see it, every time someone gets their prescription adjusted upward, Little Gloria gets another handmade silk tassel from Germany, for her curtains.... sort of like when a bell rings, it means another Angel has gotten her wings). Nonetheless, I shall proceed...
Unless you want to spend a week driving around, I'd not stray too far off I55. Canton has a wonderful old Courthouse Square, and has a film industry of sorts, and was the location for "A Time to Kill". Currently, the town is embroiled in the "Kimberly, "Baboon's A--" Readus Affair". Kimberly seems to have likened another woman to the colorful part of a Baboon, while exiting a polling place, carrying some ballots that needed working-on. http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/201...imidation.html You'll be able to say, "I was there, while that was going on."!
A tad farther down I55 is the Nissan Plant - biggest thing to happen to Mississippi since the Civil War, and due mostly to the moxy of the Mayor of Madison, the intrepid and transcendent Mary Hawkins Butler (she went to Sweden, and brought back Volvo, but Volvo, meanwhile, got eaten by a Ford/Nissan 'initiative' - which resulted in Nissan's opening there the largest auto plant in the WORLD, at the time.) But anyway, the King of Sweden gave hera major medal, for her trade initiatives and the Sister City relationship between Madison and Solleftia, Sweden. Madison has possibly the onlySwedish American Chamber of Commerce in the Deep South, and there are Swedish businesses creating quite a few jobs there.
Madison has a really nice Hilton Garden Inn, right off the 'I', which is a good place to stay. Nearby is Beagle Bagel, which offers a nice range of deli items, in an upbeat and airy setting: https://www.facebook.com/beaglebagelmadison. In the same Normandy-style building is what amounts to The Rich Man's LL Bean:http://circle7online.com/ The Owner, besides being one of the most beautiful men I've ever laid eyes on, is a true International Adventurer, or Global Trekker....or whatever you call people who go off driving vintage Jaguars in transcontinental races and doing adventurous things in Patagonia and the Kamchatka. So the gear he sells was chosen by someone who's actually lived the life - not some little buyer who went to some fashion school in Daaaay-uh-leey-iss, or to NYU. And, his 'real job'/day job is in Heavy Construction - so he's a genuine he-man (as opposed to some posturing little Larry-the-Cable-Guy type, who buys his hunting gear at WalMart). In the opinion of EVERY wealthy (male) sporting enthusiast I know, this is probably THE most worthwhile place you could visit in Mississippi. My Sons like Circle7 OK, but spend their free time bagging blondes - and you don't need a lot of sportswear - or any kind of 'wear' - on Ibiza or Wreck Beach. They just go there to buy their Aldens, when they're in Mississippi.
Just across the 'I', there's Haute Pig (Pronounced "Haughty", because it's considered disgraceful, in Mississippi, to pronounce French words properly). Rich crowd, but you'd never know it. Definitive Bar-be-Que, and I send bidnismen there, to be buttered-up, when I want to bend them to my will. http://www.hautepig.com/. Then, there's Mama Hamil's, which is definitive Missippi Home Cookin': http://www.hamils.com/ This is everything that I suffered through three degrees and eight years of college to get away from. But still, I send associates there with bidnismen, to give them the authentic experience. It's considered the absolute best 'Home-style' food in the state.
Last edited by GrandviewGloria; 12-15-2013 at 02:30 PM..
Yeah. I don't really think our subject Chickydoodle from Denver is going to do much more that blaze through the state with her windows up and doors locked But if it was me I'd jog over to Natchez to pick up US 61 and head North.
I think I'd take it all the way to Clarksdale. Then, after spending the night in the Shack Up Inn, I'd jog West again to pick up MS 1 heading North just so I can see what a REAL cotton field looks like. MS 1 dead ends in to US 49, so you'll turn left and cross the Mississippi River into Arkansas. Then, follow US 49 and you will get to I 40. On to Little Rock.
If the weather is good, I like to travel with the windows rolled down. (Oops! Showing my age! Windows don't roll anymore; now they "power") I expect people to wave and expect a wave in return.
I have traveled a lot, though. Basically I started a road trip in 1963, and finally came home in 2010. It was a long trip.
In the beginning, there was no freeway and someone always came out to pump gas and ask where I was headed, but that was a long time ago. Best I can figure I have driven about 1.5 million miles since 1963, and 750,000 miles of that was in an 18 wheeler. The 18 wheeler was fun and I got to see a lot, but my favorite miles have been experienced in my own car or truck. I never "over plan" a trip. Never have. I just set out and play the whole thing by ear. People don't do that enough, I don't think. They try to orchestrate the whole thing.
Maybe if you're a woman that's a good idea, but I'm not a woman and I ain't hardly skeerd of anybody. No one has ever tried to hurt me and plenty of people have tried to help, and I don't expect that to change.
So, Colorado, whether you are a Dood or a Doodette probably will influence your route and your routine. Don't be skeert, though. Talk to people. Keep your windows down if you can, and stay off that dang cellphone! There is nothing uglier than someone chatting away on the cellphone as he pulls into my lane.
The Retail Architecture of Madison is rather remarkable. What you'll think is old was built yesterday. Fifteen years ago, the town was basically nothing... just a few depressing tracts of minimal ranch houses built for retirees and the working poor. Then Mayor Mary came along, and now the town is a gold-plated lifeboat, filled with a zany assortment of millionaires, intelligentsia, and high-ranking 'agents' of various entities. You have Cosa Nostra elders, members of princely families from India, Russian Mob, Dixie Mafia, much of Misssissippi's Black Aristocracy, much of the Mississippi Delta's Aristocracy (think 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'), most of the engineers in the state, megapreachers and megafootballcoaches with half-million-Dollar salaries, Japanese Industrialists, most of the doctors in the state, Movie Stars, and all sorts of successful entrepreneurs ... all pulling up to the Strawberry Cafe in white Lexus SUVs, 'incognito' behind their sunglasses, and sauntering inside wearing flip-flops The Strawberry Cafe - Madison | Urbanspoon. The town is very casual, and very quiet - busy, important people - people with second homes in Beverly Hills and Cap Ferrat - people who don't want to be bothered : and some of the retail buildings are out-of-this-world... and already in Urban Planning history books.
As you can see, Madison's movie theatre was named for me!: https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net...90477685_a.jpgWorld Premiere for 'The Help' was held there. (and you can go to 'Fab Fondren', in Jackson and still see much of the set design done for local filming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Fs-yyw9cY). Mississippi loves to subsidize movies which demonize White Mississippians and generally fecalize the state. Isn't that what tax Dollars are for?
Generally, the Madison location of any big box store is The Nicest One in the World. Here's one of the Grocery Stores: http://www.pickeringfirm.com/news/wp.../Kroger_08.jpg That's actual stone and real brick - not just plastic stucco over styrofoam, like you'd see elsewhere.
And Here's the Madison Steinmart, on Grandview Boulevard: http://madisonthecitychamber.com/files/354_gallery.jpg Jake Stein would be so proud! The wonderful thing about Madison is that experiences usually reserved for rich people are available to ordinary folk. Someone with an ordinary budget can walk into that fabulous building and buy the things inside. And here's a detail of an ordinary drugstore in the town: //www.city-data.com/forum/attac...en-cvs-gym.jpg Like I said: you don't have to be rich...
In Jackson, there's the Old Capitol and the New Capitol. Both are amazing, although I prefer the new one. Apparently, the guided tour is pretty good. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...in_Jackson.jpg The most beautiful building in the state, IMHO, and on a par with the most beautiful buildings from the Paris 1900 exposition, is this one on Capitol Street, across from the Governor's Mansion: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3007/2...a73b325b_o.jpg
Oh, and maybe I should mention that Swinging is a huge thing around Jackson. People there are either 'righteous' or 'damned' - often alternating or switching between the two. You can be a "Slave to Satan" one day, and then suddenly (once that becomes impractical), switch over to a whole new way of getting attention: "Death of a BoyToy" @All Rights Reserved William B Wasser - a set on Flickr And just in case you missed that impressive chest shot... http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3421/3...6bfc452d_o.jpg The Swinging Scene keeps popping up in local scandals. There are groups for all ages/social classes/levels of attractiveness. Jackson Jambalaya: Judge has a few things to say about Claiborne Frazier Some of those people look seriously hot, and are classed as "Wealthy Socialites" Plaintiff Injured While "Swinging" With Another Couple Loses Lawsuit | Mississippi Litigation Review & Commentary. I don't know if Atheists believe in that sort of thing, but if you do, then Adultfriendfinders and sites like that are where these people advertize. I've been in the middle of a session with a spectacular personal trainer at a Jackson Metro gym, when my Trainer would pull his shirt up, turn toward a wall of mirrors, and send off a pic of himself. "Who are you sending that to?" He'd show me. "Oh, mercygoodness!" Actually, that's happened multiple times with multiple trainers. They, and half the gyms' patrons, seem preoccupied with scoping-out Internet hookups - both 'one-on-one' and 'group'. I only object, when they turn into Phone Zombies, and tie up equipment because they're paying more attention to their communications devices than they are to their weightlifting. And it seems to be much more common around Jacktown than it is in Portland.
And New Orleans is an even bigger Garden of Eden, for that pursuit, with Saint Tammany Parish being touted as "The Swinging Capital of America." But really, I'd recommend the Jackson Metro area for Swinging, since you could, apparently, get 'damned'and 'redeemed' in the same day there, with ease. In Southern California, you can go from the Desert, through snow-capped mountains, and down to the Beach, in an afternoon. The Deep South equivalent of that is in Jackson, where you can go from "Slave to Satan" to "Purified & Righteous" in a similar amount of time. I mean, if you wanted to do something other than the usual touristy stuff...
Last edited by GrandviewGloria; 12-15-2013 at 06:18 PM..
It is hard to imagine a more boring way to spend two hours than driving through the Delta. Much as you may love Mississippi you have to admit that it was short changed when they passed out scenic landscapes.
It is hard to imagine a more boring way to spend two hours than driving through the Delta. Much as you may love Mississippi you have to admit that it was short changed when they passed out scenic landscapes.
Right you are, there is not much scenic about it, especially for those of us that have seen it.
But is the view from I-55 any better? I don't think so, and a stranger who wishes to claim he has seen Mississippi will come away better informed if he has seen the delta.
A few months back I visited Tunica area and I thought it was lovely. They have a very nice museum there that is worth a stop.
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