For those of you trying to follow us chronologically, we have just published posts covering:
– August 1-3, 2018; Effigy Mounds and National Eagle Center in Wabasha
– September 28-October 2, 2018; The Land of Lincoln
– October 8-10, 2018; Cahokia Mounds, Melvin Price Lock & Dam, Pere Marquette State Park
You will need to scroll back through the posts to find them or search the subjects.
This notice will be removed when we get caught up and are posting closer to real time.
November 18, 2018
Cane River Creole National Historic Park consists of two plantations – Oakland Plantation and Magnolia Plantation – separated by about 10 miles. We visited both. How could we not?
At each location they have nice maps with short descriptions of each building. Each one also has a very informative cell phone tour. If you do the cell phone tour make sure you use the cell phone tour map as the numbering on that map is different from that on the plantation maps. If you can’t get there and just want to hear about the plantations, the cell tour number is 585-421-7340. Stops 1-10 are for Oakland Plantation and stops 11-17 are for Magnolia Plantation. The narrative is extremely well done and very informative.
Cotton field ready for harvest
On our way to Magnolia plantation we passed several cotton fields, most of which had already been harvested. This field had not. In all our travels this is the first time we’ve seen a cotton field ready to harvest. The ranger told us that cotton is related to mallow plants and has big showy blooms earlier in the year. The recent rains had delayed harvest and we saw cotton “balls” all along the sides of the road. The cotton is machine harvested and is rolled into giant round bales. We watched wads of cotton wafting off the ends of the bales as the cotton trucks hauled down the road.
November 16, 2018
The trading post that would become Fort St. Jean Baptiste and the town of Natchitoches was founded over 300 years ago. The site they chose was ideal for making trade connections. The Red River flowed into the Mississippi River nearby, connecting this area to French Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. A bridge was built over the original location of the fort, so this site is a reconstruction based on original maps, drawings, and documents.
Visitor Center
November 15-19, 2018
“Turn on the Holidays” kickoff to Christmas in Natchitoches
We had a very busy five days in Natchitoches (pronounced Nack-a-tish). We took a guided tour of the town and a fort, visited a museum, and spent a day at the Cane River Creole National Historic Park. We also attended their “Turn on the Holidays” festival where they decorate the streets and line both banks of the Cane River with Christmas lights and launch a very impressive fireworks display. They’ll be launching fireworks every Saturday and December 2nd is their BIG Holiday event with parade, Santa… and more fireworks. The 92nd Natchitoches Christmas celebration runs November 17, 2018-January 6, 2018.
We also got to taste the local cuisine… several times… and were happy every time. We hit Lasyone’s first (meat pies, yellow grits, hot spiced Louisiana tea), Maglieaux’s Riverfront (burgers, sweet potato fries, adult beverages), Cane Brake Cafe (beignets), and El Patio Mexican back near our campsite (combo fajitas, Pina Colada). We DID NOT try the alligator on a stick or crawfish pie that was served at the festival. We looked, we thought about it, but we wimped.
November 13-14, 2018
John went to this one on his own while Holly huddled in a heated camper with a head cold. (Too cold, not going! Such a wimp – but a warm, happy wimp.)
For those of you who know me (John) or have followed our blog, you know I can spend hours wandering through a museum and around a historic site. I was done with this one in about an hour. That’s how small it was.
This tiny museum, Arkansas’s first county museum, was a little strange with an “eclectic” collection of buildings and exhibits.
You enter the complex through the main house where you will find the visitor center, gift shop and one room containing a somewhat odd collection of artifacts including this ancient Edison phonograph. There was no information about the item, who owned it, or why it was there. That turned out to be the rule rather than the exception.
Edison phonograph
November 14, 2018
We’ve been using the “Find a Park” site to try to hit all the National Park Properties that interest us in any given state https://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm? This is how we picked up on Arkansas Post. We wanted to camp near the site to reduce drive time so we chose an Army Corps of Engineer Campground just a few minutes away. Our site was up high and right on the Missouri River so we had an awesome view. Unfortunately this is when the snow rolled in. Yes, an inch of SNOW in southeast Arkansas in mid-November. The locals said – “never happens”. We are seriously weather jinxed. We woke to heavy gray skies and snow blowing horizontally past our windows. Little snow dervishes were dancing across the choppy waters of the Arkansas River. It was actually pretty cool right up until we had to go outside; then, not so much.
November 9, 2018
I am very glad we made this stop because it was a real eye opener. What made it especially valuable was our tour guide. He personally knew several of the black students who went to that school when it was forcibly desegregated in 1957. The courage and endurance of those nine students was amazing.
The visitor center was very good with plenty of exhibits describing life during segregation, the truth about “separate but equal”, and the fight for racial equality. We also watched two movies, one a government “propaganda” film produced during the Cold War to counter Soviet claims of American hypocrisy regarding freedom and human rights. We also “toured” the school, which is still in operation, although we just walked through the front doors and into the auditorium where our tour guide talked to us about what went on once the black students finally made it through the door. (If you want a tour, call ahead so you can get on their schedule.)
November 7, 2018
The Fordyce Bathhouse holds the National Park Visitor Center. You can tour the entire building from the hot spring bubbling up in the basement, up to the men’s and women’s spa rooms on the first floor, the music room and lounges and more treatment rooms on the second floor and up to the gymnasium on the third floor.
November 4-12, 2018
Visitor Center
Welcome to the Valley of the Vapors. Sought after and enjoyed by Native Americans, French Explorers and all who have come after. Here you will find fountains and springs spewing water that is heated by pressure deep inside the earth before it travels up through fissures in the rocks and emerges at the surface at an average temperature of 140 degrees. The hot water meets the cooler air and clouds of steam rise and roll with a life of their own. Bring a cup and “quaff the elixir.” Bring a jug and take all you want. This water belongs to the people and is protected from contamination by the National Park Service.
For those of you trying to follow us chronologically, we have just published posts covering July 24 through August 1st of 2018. You will need to scroll back through the posts to find them or jump to July 24 by searching for “North Canoe” which is our first post for that day.
This batch posting covers the rest of Voyageurs National Park, other Northern Minnesota sights and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
This notice will be removed when we get caught up and are posting closer to real time.
Spirit of the Woods 