Fall 2017 - Part 2 - Still Trying to Catch Up!

Oklahoma Fall 2017

I've been a Pioneer Woman blog reader and fan for many years.  I loved visiting her Mercantile in Pawhuska, Oklahoma and loved that my sister and brother-in-law drove up from Edmond to meet us there for breakfast and some shopping! (Great food, by the way!)

Since we were in the area, we did a little other sightseeing with a trip to Woolaroc which has a fantastic collection of Western art, native wildlife and firearms.  The next day we drove by the  Frank Lloyd Wright designed Price Tower  in Bartlesville but unfortunately had missed the next tour.

We moved on to Oklahoma City where we got to meet a new great niece and spend a little family time with my sister and her crew. 

Next Stop, Texas!

We spent a few days exploring Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  Gorgeous place, but it was a good thing it was fall and not summer! 

The highlight of the visit to the Amarillo area was meeting up with a friend and former employee from 30+ years ago.  It was great to see Jon and some of his family!




Campgrounds:

Riverside RV Resort and Campground, Bartlesville OK  😃Enjoyed our stay.  Nice pull thru site. Easy access.  Would return. FHU $$$

Twin Fountains RV Park, Oklahoma City, OK 😐Good location for visiting family. Easy access. Pull thru site but was too close to front of park. Noisy and other sites appeared to be un-level. FHU $$$$

Palo Duro State Park, Sagebrush Campground,  Canyon/Amarillo, TX 😀Great natural setting.  Pretty views. Steep entrance road. Site was level. Would return. EW $$

Moving on up the Mississippi April 27-May 1

Next stop - Natchez, Mississippi.  We drove through the corner of Louisiana on our way to the Natchez MS area where we crossed the Mississippi over to Vidalia, Louisiana again to our campground on the banks of the river.  Appropriately called River View RV Park and Resort.

There were a few casualties along the way.  The "love bugs" were thick as we drove up from the Gulf.  First chore when we got to the campground was to wash their remains from the front of the coach before they became permanent decorations.

It was nice to have full hookups for our stay here.  The park/resort is quite large and most of the sites are pull throughs.  It was only about one third full at the most while we were here. There is a nice path along the levee which we walked every day.

We enjoyed checking out one of the local restaurants.  At Roux 61 we split a Seafood Muffaletta and sweet potato fries, then had plenty for another meal.  It was good, but I think either a regular muffaletta or a regular fish sandwich might have been better.  Our taste buds were a little confused !

Natchez is the oldest settlement on the Mississippi and home to so much history.  We enjoyed a visit to Melrose, a Greek Revival Style home that is owned by the National Park Service.  

The front of the home with faux marble painted columns.

The back porch over-looking the back kitchen, dairy and slave quarters.
 

This is one of the few homes in the area open to the public with many of the original furnishings. Notice the "punkah", a mahogany fan that was operated by a slave as the guests enjoyed their meal free of flies!

The home was built by the McMurran family in the 1840's and they furnished their home with the finest available at that time.  There are other homes to tour in the area and we also stopped by the William Johnson House.  Johnson, an emancipated black man, was a successful businessman in Natchez in the 1840's.  The park service has  used his diaries to make a nice informative display here. I can't believe we didn't take any photos. 

We ended up extending our stay at River View RV Park because of the forecast of bad weather in the area.  Having planned to begin our drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway on Sunday, we waited until Monday to leave the area.  It's a good thing we did because we later saw evidence of tornadoes along the Parkway.  This was the screen-shot of the  storm that came through our campground early Sunday when our phones were shreeking tornado warnings.  This is one of my biggest fears.  I guess my husband doesn't really have that fear since all he said was to "just go back to sleep" ! Ha! Like that would happen.  Of course, we were fine. 

It was almost exactly seven years ago when we in Natchez before.  It was a completely different mode of travel though and if you are new here, you can read about our motorcycle trip through the same areas HERE.