Fall Break; Our Trip Along the Trace

Well, it seems like a long time since I've posted anything here. Our days are pretty much the same day after day, and we haven't been any where or done anything noteworthy for a while. Luckily for us, last week was Fall Break. I had a day off of babysitting, and Ethan had a day off of class (okay, so he actually just skipped his class that day, shhhhhh don't tell anyone!) so we decided to do something fun while the weather is still beautiful.
We spent days looking around online, scanning our atlas, perusing lists of day trip ideas for our area, and finally decided on a destination. The plan was to leave Friday morning and adventure around all day, camp that night and then adventure our way back home all day Saturday, and that's exactly what we did.
We got up bright and early Friday morning, loaded all our gear in the car and headed out.

We didn't know where we'd be at lunch time, so we made up some Green Chili Burritos and had them warming up in the window for whenever we got hungry. SO YUMMY!

We drove up to Tupelo, MS, passing lots of cotton fields all white and ready to harvest. I have to admit, seeing the cotton in the fields and in the big bales along the roadside makes me a little homesick for Thatcher.

Want a better look at any of the pictures on my blog? Just click the picture for a larger view. ( Don't worry, I know this particular picture isn't anything special, but just in case you want to see some other one I thought I'd let you know.)

In Tupelo, we got on the Natchez-Trace Parkway and headed northwest-ish. We'd heard good things about the Parkway and thought we'd check it out, although I have to admit we had our doubts. I mean, just how cool can a road get?  We were both forced to admit that it's pretty darn cool. You never see any buildings, and rarely see signs of other humans. Other than the occasional power line or overpass, it's just you and the road. The grass is neatly trimmed, without a speck of garbage. It's really just a beautiful roadway. There are pull-outs marking interesting sights along the way, and we stopped at several of these, though we only got out at one.

Pharr Mounds, the largest and most important archaeological site in Mississippi. 

The view upstream as we crossed the Tenn-Tom. Those are the locks that enable boats to get around the Bay Springs Lake Dam. 

The Cypress trees are changing colors for the fall, aren't they pretty?

We decided to get out at the pull out for the Tenn-Tom Waterway. Erik was sure excited to get to run around outside for a little while!

Headed from the parking lot to the waterway. 

So excited!

Erik spent most of the day doing one of two things. For more details, see exhibits A and B

Exhibit A. Snuggling with Elmo and taking a nap. 

Exhibit B. We call this fuzzy picking. You know, like berry picking, except he's picking the little fuzzies off his blanket. 

Another reason we call it fuzzy picking. Just like berry picking, sometimes you get one that's just too big and inviting to save for later and you have to enjoy it now. 

The first leg our our trip ended as we exited the Trace and headed east along the top part of Mississippi and into Alabama. Stay tuned for where we went next!