What We Found in Mississippi
This summer we were able to travel with Nick down to Mississippi on a business trip.
I feel the need to tell you that if you are thinking of going to Mississippi in the smack dab middle of the summer and you’re wondering if it will be hot the answer is…um, yes. Most decidedly yes! The heavens declare the answer is yes. If you find me I will be screaming yes! It was hot, humid, bug filled, and pretty miserable weathere wise.
Since we are on a journey to have the children visit each state we decided to go. I say that because of the nature of Nick's work it doesn't often lead us to popular destinations but rather smack dab into rural America. While I would have loved to travel down to the coast or over to the river bank, we only went as far as the North Eastern corner of the state.
We stayed in Starkville which is home to Mississippi State. It is a GIGANTIC campus! If you are looking for some big whoppin’ school to go to with humidity and flying, biting insects then have I got a place for you!
You know me, I try to find fun things to do when we go places. I am a big believer that even if you’re in the backwoods of a state there is still so much to see. The culture and the people can be such a learning experience and such a joy when we get away from the chain restaurants and actually steep ourselves in the lives of the people we’re surrounded by. This is how we have fun in our family.
However, it proved difficult in Starkville. Very. difficult.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
There was nothing to do. Being there for 5 days I found 1 park, a second hand store, and 2 ice cream stores that were nice. That’s it. The people were sweet but the town proved to have nothing to do with children.
Aren’t you glad you’re here to read this riveting post?
That being said, we were in Starkville for near a week so I had to find something else for us to do.
Thankfully I came across the cutest little town just a short drive away.
The town was Columbus, Mississippi and we loved going there!
If you ever get a chance to go to this town I highly recommend it! On top of being the birthplace of Tennessee Williams, almost all of the homes are antebellum. SO many gorgeous neighborhoods and homes to discover and gaze at. The story goes that during the civil war the town saw the writing on the wall so to speak and became a hospital town , saving the town from inevitable destruction.
Check out of these houses…
Gorgeous, right?
As I’ve mentioned before, I am a history lover and my husband has a degree in architecture so old houses are our love language. We even hunted this house, Waverly Plantation Mansion, down that is in the middle of nowhere. The picture is a touch blurry because it was already closed when we arrived so this photo was taken through the fence.
Another city in Mississippi we were able to enjoy was Tupelo. Birthplace of Elvis Presley, this place is steeped in history and respect for the king.
Here is the house that Elvis grew up in. It was very eye opening. I’m always trying to compensate for the smallness of our lake cottage, warning people about the size, and, my word, this place is way smaller than ours.
Not to mention that this was his only house, not his vacation property.
It made for some great discussions with the children on how it doesn’t really matter how or where you start out. You can follow your dreams no matter what. It’s all about drive people, your drive.
Over all we had an amazing time in Mississippi, but I’ve got to be honest, we did have to do some digging to find some off the beaten path-places. We had a great time and through all of the hard work I feel like we got a really honest look at Mississippi, not a shined up, best look for tourist kind of vision.
