Day 8 - Memphis to Vicksburg

We set off a little later than planned as K didn't feel too good last night so we decided against a big breakfast this morning. We left the hotel about 9 and I grabbed a coffee and a banana to go from the breakfast buffet. It was another roasting day today but overcast again so the photos don't look so good.

Our route for today was highway 61, also known as the Blues Highway, down the Mississippi Delta. Our first stop was Clarksdale which has a lot of blues stuff including the crossroads where Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for sweet guitar skills.  It also has a few blues museums and Morgan Freeman's blues club, Ground Zero. We went a wee walk about the downtown and took lots of pictures but even though it was Saturday morning the downtown was dead. The only other people wandering about were fellow tourists.

We found a nice coffee shop and had a nice wee coffee break before our planned early lunch. At 1130 we headed to Larry's Tamales to try some famous Mississippi style hot tamales. The reason we were there so early is that apparently it gets crazy busy and we didn't want to risk them running out. Mississippi tamales are much smaller than their Mexican counterparts. They are sold by the half dozen, we decided 3 each was enough so we got the minimum order to share. The tamales were incredible,  like properly amazing. Now I understand why the reviews online have people bringing cool boxes and ordering dozens to take home. They were more meat than corn meal and just the right amount of spicy and the sauce was mind blowingly good. There were 2 Swedish guys in when we were,  which bearing in mind this is a hole in the wall with no Facebook never mind a website, in rural Mississippi, shows how well regarded they are. The owner said "Sweden, Scotland - my Lord!", K was delighted. It was only $7 for the 6 so it was a cheap lunch.

We continued on our journey down the Delta and the landscape was super boring, flat, straight and not much going on other than crops. There was also a lot of dust blowing about because it is so flat
We did pass a lot of abandoned buildings which were pretty cool looking but I expected more based on things I'd read about the road. There was a hell of a lot of poverty on the road, Mississippi is the poorest state and that was evident. People in one of the richest countries in the world just shouldn't be living in the conditions that we saw today.

Our other main stop was the Jim Henson Delta Boyhood Exhibit in Leyland where he grew up. It was just a wee free exhibition but it was cute and the woman that worked there was lovely and chatted to us for ages. The cutest room was a room full of muppets merch that had been donated by previous visitors.

We finally arrived in Vicksburg at about 330, it's a town that is popular due to the civil war battlefields and memorials that surround it. Obviously, they were the baddies during the war. The road into town was through the poor, black area. It reminded me of the stuff from the civil rights museum yesterday about how forced segregation may be over but how America is still very segregated.

In stark contrast, the old town centre is very fancy and the buildings are beautiful. We're staying in a guest house called the Duff Green Mansion which was built using slave labour just before the civil war. It's not really the sort of place we would usually stay but most of the hotels are out of town on the highway and we wanted to stay downtown. It is really lovely and fancy and I think a lot of people would like it, I just find small places intimidating. In the morning we have a group breakfast with the other guests then a tour of the building. It was used as a hospital for both sides during the civil war so it should be pretty interesting.

After we checked in we headed for some ice cream since it is so warm and we'd only had some tamales all day. We both had a brownie pecan sundae and it was delicious.

Vicksburg is on the banks of the Yazoo river just where it feeds into the Mississippi. The Levee wall is painted with about 20 murals that tell the history of Vicksburg so we went to see that post ice cream. The murals were amazing and we were snap happy. We went a wee walk about town to see all the historic buildings which was cool. One of the buildings is the first place that decided to bottle coke, previous to this it was only available at the soda fountain so it really was a revolutionary idea.

Our dinner plan was 10 South which is a rooftop bar/restaurant on the 10th floor of a bank building with views over the rivers. It was a wee bit early for dinner so we reserved an outside table in an hour and went to the bar for a while. The views were incredible but because it was hazy the photos are rubbish. I had a brilliant local ipa called southern hops'pitality and K just had diet coke because she was driving. The amazing thing was that they gave her free refills at the bar and she got to take that with her when we got our table. Incredible value. The also gave us wee pretzels with a honey mustard sauce while we were at the bar and another tub when we got our table! There was live music on the patio with a guy playing blues and classic rock. When we got our table the sun started to set over the rivers and it made the whole day worth the drive. It was a genuinely breathtaking sight.

Dinner itself was good, k had a chicken ceasar salad and I had a really delicious burger. The service was great too both at the bar and at the table.

Post dinner we just took a wee trip to walgreens to buy some toothpaste and then headed back to out room. We're just chilling watching food network while I write this (which has taken ages!). We need to plan New Orleans now as we are there for the next 3 nights.

It is still roasting even though it's 11pm. We have the air con going full bung.

Night y'all.

(ignore the weird italic bit, I can't change it on my phone)