November 25, 2011

November 25, 2011

BLACK FRIDAY!  The Dane girls didn’t hit the stores until about 7:30, so we weren’t typical Black Friday shoppers, but it was about all we could handle.  We shopped a variety of places, all of us making purchases.  

At 12:00, we met the boys at Cock-of-the-Walk, our favorite place for fried catfish, fried pickles, and hush puppies.  With very happy

tummies, we decided to go to Vicksburg to visit the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Our first stop in Vicksburg was downtown on the Mississippi River.  They have built a wall to keep back the water during flood season.  Murals depicting scenes of Vicksburg history are painted on the sections of the wall.

Brent’s carload of “tourists” wanted to go to the Coca Cola Museum before going to the military park.  Lori, Natalia, and I wanted to visit the Vicksburg National Cemetery in the park.  We went on ahead, but for some strange reason (lack of cash at the entrance booth?????) the Coca Cola Museum visit was not to happen today.  Brent’s group came on to the park, and after driving past many historical markers they made their way to the display of the USS Cairo Gunboat.  Lori’s carload drove through the cemetery, but didn’t find places to park and walk around.

The map showed a city cemetery south of the park.  It had a large section where Confederate soldiers were buried.  Natalia was able to navigate, via her iPhone, to the cemetery.  We drove around, taking a few pictures, before parking and walking among the markers.

I had my iPhone set on geocaching and noticed there was a cache 220 feet from where we parked the car.  Off I went in search of the container.  I located it in a hollow tree stump about 4 feet tall.  I had to use the flashlight app my iPhone to see down inside the stump.  As I was checking it out, I had visions of another stump that I looked in nearly three years ago.  This time I wasn’t covered by a swarm of killer bees, but I couldn’t reach far enough down to grab the container.  Lori came to the rescue.  On the second try she was able to reach the “prize,” all the time muttering about the things she had to do for me! After I signed the log book, I didn’t need help replacing the cache.  I just “hucked” it in the stump and left.

By the time we left the cemetery it was nearly dark.  We met Brent’s crew at a convenience store where we got water, etc. for the trip back to Brandon.

We were all really tired so after eating leftovers for supper, Lori took a couple of tired kids back to their hotel and those of us left behind didn’t accomplish a whole lot for the rest of the evening.