Awesome Times- by Maddy

        We’ve had a really great two weeks so far! We went to Tennessee and saw Stones River National Battlefield where we got Junior Ranger booklets, which were activity books for the Battlefield. There were a certain number of activities that you had to do in order to be sworn in as a junior ranger and get badges. There was some good stuff in the Visitor Center too! We saw a small movie and did some of the activities in the booklet that were meant for the Center. There were also plaques all around the park outside and we walked to every one, which was all together about three miles long! We also went to a cemetery and saw the gravestones of all the fighters. After we were done with that, we finished it off by becoming junior rangers and getting badges and pins! There was a nice old guy, Mr. Bob Turpin, who swore us in as rangers and also told us a lot about the battle. After the ranger things were done, Mom told Mr. Bob about our trip and he said to bring brownies the next time we came. :) 

Mr. Bob Turpin telling us about the battle

Next we came to Mississippi and did the Vicksburg National Battlefield where we drove around in our mini van and saw all the monuments of the states of the soldiers that gave there lives for this battle. The battle lasted 47 days and the Illinois monument was a dome that had 47 steps!

The Illinois Memorial at Vicksburg Military Park

The RV park we went to next was in Natchez and it had a pretty lake next to it, woods, and a small park! Elliot and I explored a lot, taking pictures of vegetation, wildlife, nature scenes, and more. There was a small creek running into the river and on the end of it where there wasn’t much water there was a vine that we all swung across and it was really fun!

Enjoying dinner over the fire at Natchez St. Park

While we where in Natchez, we went to the Pig Out BBQ Inn where I tried BBQ sauce and I loved it! There was a picture of a pig with a huge, and I mean huge, smily grin on its face. :)  We also went to a Plantation house, the Rosalie House. 

Real southern BBQ

Next, we drove all the way down to New Orleans in Louisiana and met my Grandparents on my Mom’s side of the family. We went to a certain restaurant and ice cream place 2 times! 

We visited an insectarium where we saw many different kinds of insects from butterflies to cockroaches! We got souvenirs and the boys ate bugs like crickets and wax worms, but not me! Yuck! 

Maddy with a friend on her head

On one of the beautiful nights in New Orleans we went on a Dinner Jazz Cruise on a really big boat with a buffet and lots of yummy stuff like macaroni and cheese, catfish, and pork. Yum! 

For transportation we had to ride a ferry across the Mississippi River for 2$ a person.

The last awesome thing we did was a Louisiana swamp tour where we got to see real wild alligators, quite a few actually, and the tour guide (his name was Reggie) fed the alligators marshmallows and put one on one of the alligator’s heads! It was pretty fun and also really cool. We got to feel alligator scales and hold a real young alligator! It was AWESOME!! :) :)

Louisiana swamp friend