Mississippi | Fulltime Ramblings

Back Across the River

Posted on March 14, 2016 by taleena4

We never did make it back into the Paragon Casino before heading off to Vicksburg, Mississippi and the Ameristar Casino and RV Park. We just weren’t really in the mood and we had a few things we needed to do (like catch up on laundry) before moving back across the Mississippi River. All in all, we had a good time in Louisiana, but it was time to get out of the low-lying areas of the state before we got caught by a bunch of very slow-moving thunderstorms that were predicted to head our way. And boy were we glad we did move to the higher side of the Mississippi River! We had one good weather day to tour Vicksburg National Military Park before the skies opened up and dumped on us for five days straight, causing massive flooding in many areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. Thankfully the Ameristar Casino’s RV park is located on the south side of Vicksburg proper, and protected from the Muddy Mississippi by massively tall bluffs.

But back to our day at Vicksburg National Military Park. Vicksburg, like Gettysburg in Pennsylvania or Petersburg in Virginia, was a Civil War battle that drove one of the major nails into the Confederate coffin. It gave the Union complete control of the entire length of the Mississippi River, and prevented the Confederacy from easily moving much-needed supplies and troops from one place to another. It was also one of those battles that could have turned out much differently if competent leadership on the Confederate side had been in place (the Confederate commanding officer of the forces at Vicksburg, John C. Pemberton, resigned his commission as lieutenant general in disgrace afterwards). A string of forts and defenses that could have been an almost impregnable stronghold became, over the course of 47 days, a steel-jawed trap. It also became one of the best-marked Civil War battlefields, due to surviving veterans from both sides being asked to indicate exactly where they were positioned during the siege when the Vicksburg National Memorial Park was created in 1899. Because of this, over 1300 monuments, plaques, and markers dot the battlegrounds and troop positions surrounding Vicksburg and it is very easy to visualize the struggle that engulfed this area during the siege.

A recreated example of a Confederate defensive line outside the Vicksburg National Military Park Visitor Center.

A portion of the battlefields of Vicksburg.

Shirley House, which has been restored to its 1863 appearance. One of the blue Union troop markers can been seen just to the side of the home.

A 20-minute movie is shown in the visitor center and gives an excellent narrative of the siege through the eyes of both citizens and soldiers, while a 16-mile long road tour winds through the park itself. The park also includes 20 miles of trenches and earthworks, the U.S.S. Cairo museum which is home of the first warship sunk by an electronically detonated torpedo (mine), two antebellum homes (the Shirley Home pictured above is one of these), and the Vicksburg National Cemetery, established in 1866. The defensive lines around Vicksburg also continue outside of the park proper, which made staying at the Ameristar Casino RV Park interesting, as it was located right next to the very southern end of the lines. Heck, you can’t even go to Walmart from the RV park without seeing a handful of officer’s busts and troop position plaques along the way!

A portion of the Wisconsin troop memorial.

A statue of Major General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union forces at Vicksburg.

The U.S.S. Cairo, a Union ironclad sunk in the Yazoo River during the preliminary attacks on Vicksburg and rediscovered in 1959.

The site of the surrender of Vicksburg to Union control.

One of the officer’s busts on the way to Walmart from the Ameristar Casino and RV Park.

We didn’t do a whole lot of gambling at the Ameristar, only taking the shuttle over to the riverboat twice for about 30 minutes of video poker each time. The gaming simply didn’t feel as good as it had over at the Paragon, despite the machines having a slightly better pay chart at the Ameristar. The weather also didn’t contribute to doing much of anything else, and we were lucky to get enough of a break in the constant downpour to go out to a nice dinner at Walnut Hills Restaurant, an 1880 home turned into a restaurant, on Friday night. Then we were off to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to stay at Deerlick Creek, an Army Corps of Engineers park and campground for 6 nights. It’s our first foray into staying any length of time without a sewer hookup, so hopefully it works out well for us.

A Study in Contrasts

Posted on February 17, 2016 by taleena4

After the crazy revelry of Mardi Gras in the American birthplace of the holiday (not New Orleans, as many people assume), we headed about an hour and a half west to Bay St Louis, MS, and the Silver Slipper Casino and RV Park for some well-deserved beachfront relaxation. The RV park is about a half-mile east of the casino itself, on a two-lane road that runs right along the edge of the beach. It’s a fairly no-frills park, offering only water, electric, and sewer hookups and a free 24-hour shuttle to the casino, but the view of the Gulf of Mexico out of the back window of our Montana was absolutely to die for. And since you get a free night’s stay if you sign up for the casino’s player’s card (something we do anyway when we visit a casino), it is definitely worth the price of $35 a night.

The view from our back window at the Silver Slipper Casino’s RV park.

After arriving at the RV park, we got settled and then ventured over to the casino to get our player’s cards and check out the games available. There was no poker room unfortunately, and the video poker was fairly low payback, but we did see a single $5 blackjack table as we cruised the floor – better than nothing, but definitely not Vegas. We each threw a $20 through the video poker before dinner, with Lewis losing his and me only making $2.50 off mine, which of course I tipped to the cage cashier and simply pocketed my starting $20. Then we visited the casino buffet, which was very tasty if a tad expensive (typical). Neither of us was feeling up to gambling any longer, so we went back to the RV.

The next morning, since Hancock County, MS allows dogs on their beaches, I took Ginger out on a long line to have her first experience with the sand and surf. You would have thought she was a puppy again! She bounced and raced around, rolled in the sand, tried to eat the sand, dug a small hole in the sand and got it up her nose, chased seagull shadows, splashed in the water, tried to play with seaweed and driftwood, etc. It was obviously her new favorite place, and something we’ll keep in mind as we travel.

Ginger checking out waves in the Gulf of Mexico.

We had dinner at the casino’s café that evening, but never really did get in the mood to gamble over the 3 nights we stayed at Silver Slipper. We blew a grand total of $60 on video poker between the 2 of us and that was it. We just weren’t feeling it; even the $5 blackjack wasn’t calling our names like it usually would have been. Oh well, there’s always some other day and some other casino. I personally think some of our less-than-excited attitude could be attributed to the slightly depressing atmosphere of the general area. You see, Bay St Louis was hit very hard by Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 – much harder than the news coverage of that time showed as it focused on the flooding of New Orleans. Most of the area surrounding the casino (which was not there at the time) was buried under approximately 30 feet of storm surge with another 7 feet or so of waves on top of that. It scoured the area completely bare of its beautiful historic buildings and now all that’s left to see as you drive down the road are overgrown, empty foundations and broken pilings where the former homes and businesses stood. Some homesites are slowly being rebuilt, but even 10 years later, it’s very easy to see the devastation left by the hurricane.

After our time at the Silver Slipper was done, we hooked up again and went a bit farther west to spend a week in New Orleans at Pontchartrain Landing – our most expensive stay so far. Even with our 50% Passport America discount, it’s still costing just over $320 for 7 nights. Ouch. But it’s a gated RV park with full hookups, free cable and Wi-fi, plus there’s a shuttle that runs to the French Quarter so we won’t have to pay the ridiculous parking fees in town and we can party it up in the town whose motto is Laissez les bons temps rouler – let the good times roll!

Our first full day here, we caught the 10am shuttle to the French Quarter to spend some time exploring. Of course our first stop was Café Du Monde to have beignets and café au lait – a requirement for any visit to New Orleans. The wind made eating the powdered sugar-covered pastries a bit of a messy proposition, but they were still absolutely delicious. Even Lewis, who isn’t much of a sweet eater, polished off two of them with his café au lait. Then it was off to browse through the French Market proper, where we picked up a couple items and checked out what our options might be for lunch later. That done, we bounced over to cruise Bourbon Street and a couple side streets. Yep, lots of bars, tourist trap gift shops, and, lest New Orleans be sexist, various establishments offering both male and female revues and even the requisite gay bar and dance club. Laissez les bons temps rouler indeed!

We partook of a drink special at one of the Bourbon Street bars, visited Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo (a real tourist trap, but the altar did have a little nice tingle to it when I placed my offering on it), then headed back towards the French Market, hitting a few more shops on the way. We also patronized a street vendor on Decatur Street who was producing gorgeous pen-drawn artwork, and parted with a bit of cash as we passed some of the homeless who are very common in this city. We grabbed a late lunch in the French Market, then it was time for our shuttle back to the RV park. All in all, an interesting day.