Natchez, Mississippi Day 1

So, last summer I was supposed to be coming home from England and going straight on a road trip to Natchez, Mississippi.  When I was in Detroit, from London, I got a call from a Houston hospital needing me to activate my power of attorney for my father.  He went into liver failure and was in a coma for 43 (long) days.  When all of that happened I immediately called the (wonderful) people of the Monmouth Plantation in Natchez and asked for our hotel stay to be postponed.  At the end of September and beginning of October (of 2011) we finally got to go.  It was a nice time, as it was 6 weeks into school and I was ready for a little stress relief.

My Aunt B and I drove to Mississippi.  It's a pretty pleasant drive.  We had good weather for the trip. 

I love taking pictures of the state lines!

I also love the large bridges over the many rivers in Louisiana/Mississippi area. 

Soon we were in Mississippi and ready to find Monmouth Plantation in Natchez.

When we arrived at the plantation home we were warmly greeted and shown around the common areas.  We were shown the restaurant, 1818.  We ended up eating here the following night.  It was a wonderful meal with 3 courses.  I'll have to see if I have those pictures for you in the next post.

If you were to come into the "front door" of Monmouth you would see this set-up.  We didn't stay in the actual home that was built.  We got a suite :)

 All the amazing historical accomplishments of the Monmouth Plantation!  Love these!!!

 This would be the courtyard of Monmouth.  The check-in area was to the right.  The main dining area and original home was directly behind me, as I was taking the picture.

Our beautiful room!  My gracious aunt let me stay in the main 4-poster bed.  There was an additional room right to the left of where I was standing to take the picture.  It had a full bed that she enjoyed with a private door to close so when I stay up late I wouldn't bother her with the tv.

 The bathroom was HUGE.  I loved it... Plenty of room for two people to get all fixed up. :)

This was our "cabin" that we stayed in.  It was really 4-5 rooms/suites.  It led right to the parking area and it had the staircase down to a beautiful lake/pond.  Such an amazing place to stay.  I highly recommend it!

Outside our rooms were these amazing rocking chairs.  I had some mimosas when we arrived and the next morning.  It was also really nice to sit out in the early afternoon and listen to the insects starting up, the frogs croaking by the small lake and the birds chirping.  Ahhh, such good memories!

After exploring Monmouth we decided to venture out and get a bite to eat.  I used my travel planning resources to find us a cool bar to get a drink at before eating.  The bell man at the Monmouth also made a dinner recommendation to us.  Because it was all on the mighty Mississippi we decided to head towards that area.  We got to see a beautiful sunset on the Mississippi bend in Natchez.

There were a lot of suggestions/talk of the Natchez Under the Hill Saloon.  We decided to start in this historical building.

It was very quite inside with just 3-4 locals.  But the bartenders were nice and let us sit at a table and just talk.  We each had a beer and then continued to dinner.

The great bell man encouraged us to try the Magnolia Grill which was a 2 minute walk from the Saloon.

We started by trying some delicious fried green tomatoes topped with shrimp, crawfish tails in a hollandaise sauce.  They were so good!

Then I got the grilled catfish and a potato.  It was really salty but very tasty.  I'm pretty sure I ate every bite. The one thing that I was a bit disappointed about were the prices...a bit steep but it's vacation.  Whatcha gonna do?

Across the street from the Magnolia Grill was the Isle of Capri casino.  We walked around and played a few slots.  I realllllly wanted to play dice but I didn't have any cash to lay down.  It's hard to gamble when you're on the first night of your 4 day vacation.  But it was a nice, quaint gambling spot.  Quite the climb to walk back up, though!  We decided to burn off our dinner, though, and not take the convenient golf cart up.  We went back to Monmouth and rested up for a long day of exploring Natchez and the Fall Pilgrimage tour of historical plantation homes.