Eclectic travelers

It might have been 25F when I got up, but it was mid-sixties in the afternoon when I took a seven mile walk.  It was a really great day and we enjoyed talking to the people at the Lower Mississippi River Museum.  The city is no longer truly on the Mississippi.  One morning in 1876 the residents woke up to discover that the river had changed course overnight and left the city high and dry until the Army Corp of Engineers put in a new channel where our boat is docked. The brand new Lower Mississippi River Museum is run by the Army Corp of Engineers. Then we walked through town and I walked out to the National Military Park.  I did not expect juncoes down here And then back through town with lots of flowering dogwood.

A wonderful day of sun - started with 30 degrees when we got up to clear skies and a rising sun as we continued towards Natchez. The boat docked at Natchez Below The Hill Then Kate and I took a wonderful walk through this old Mississippi River southern city.  Our northern minds have a difficult time with the slave past, but we continue to try to find perspective.  A pup found us walking along the street - so damn cute!  And a black lab.  But luckily his collar had a phone number and we found an owner.  shotgun houses Carolina Chickadee Lunch with our new best friends who we met on the street outside the Pig Out  The Northern Southern Belle complete with cold weather coat.  Blue Jay  Ruby Crowned Kinglet  Bluet Cedar Waxwing Back at the dock for the evening and a nighttime departure. 

Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana, but when the treaty was signed in 1803 with Spain they retained two places - Baton Rouge and St. Francisville/Bayou Sara.  In Baton Rouge in the Spanish section the residents took to putting flamingoes on their homes to show that they were West Florida and in Francisville and Baton Rouge there was an uprising by the citizens that created a separate flag and nation of West Florida - Blue Flag with a white star. We enjoyed a walk through the city to see the old capital building which we loved - so different from other capitals. While the old capital looks like a castle the current one looks like a 1930's skyscraper - like the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis.  Our guides as we walked the capital grounds. The cool temps are holding back migration and also stopping the movement of people - except those off the boat.  In the low 30's in the morning this is winter weather for the south. One bird that is another earl...