Tunica (this is a long one)

Hey y'all,
So, Tunica was... interesting... Um, it really is a gambling town. As in, there wasn't much else to do there! Thankfully Michael's conference there was only two and a half days. We thought it would be a nice cheap vacation for us. It ended up being okay, but when we arrived, I had my doubts! We stayed at different hotel than where the conference was held, so each morning the kids and I dropped Michael off at "Sam's Town." Being cheap, I mean frugal, the kids and I had breakfast in the van. We went to the grocery store and got bananas and juices and such. All that together cost less than it would have for us to eat breakfast one day, even at fast food! Anyway, the kids thought it was fun, and having the juice pouches for breakfast was a huge treat for them. We went to the local outlet mall one day and even picked up the kids Easter outfits there. We tried to go to the Riverpark the first day, but it was SO cold; we did the museum part and then went and bought jackets at the outlet mall! We went back to the Riverpark the next day and walked through the wetland and along the river. (The Mississippi, that is.) We drove to Memphis and past Graceland. Talk about a bad part of town... One evening we ate at Paula Deen's buffet that was in one of the other casino/hotels. Seriously, it was casinos and casinos only in this town! Kind of sad, really. Anyway, enjoy the pictures... there are quite a few.

Colin enjoying his breakfast after dropping daddy off at the conference.

This was the path to the wetland walk. It was SO cold. The weather said sunny and 70's, even when we watched that morning! It wasn't!!! Molly was freezing!!

We ended up walking through the museum at the Riverpark. There were a few aquariums. The kids really enjoyed them. This is a very large snapping turtle.

Molly's face here is PRICELESS!! We was looking at a rather large and very ugly catfish.

Colin LOVES watching fish. I think he could have stood there for hours.

Colin was fascinated with this bear; Molly wanted nothing to do with it!

There was a look out on the top floor of the museum. This is one view of the Mississippi.

So, we drove past Graceland. This was the only picture I took. (I was driving.) I was really afraid to stop! It was in a trashy, run down area. I was really surprised. I would have thought the Graceland people would want to clean it up a bit for tourists, but I guess they don't have to, people still come.

The kids love Paula. Colin knew who it was immediately! It was so cute that he went up and "held" her hand!

The food at Paula's restaurant was so good. I really don't think it would have been possible to try a bit of everything, but what we did eat was delicious! Molly really loved the desserts. And, that ice cream WAS really good. :)

Colin loved it too!

The lights at night were pretty. Colin just said "wwwwooooowwww" over and over each night. These are the lights at the hotel where we stayed.

Here Molly was taking daddy's order. She was SO cute. She even told him the specials and the vegetable of the day! I have video and it is priceless!

Here is Michael's ticket (his order, written down by Molly). I love watching my kids play and pretend and be creative!

Note: we have jackets now! Actually, they didn't really need them this day. The weather was closer to the actual forecast, though they still said it was sunny. I can assure it, it wasn't! However, we were finally ready for the Riverpark Trail.

The trail was a 2 mile walk through a wetland and wooded area. The brochure from the park said we could see various wildlife, so we were on a hunt. We were hoping to see deer or beaver or birds, etc. This boardwalk led through the wetland. It was incredible. I would love to see in in the summer and/or fall. We heard TONS of frogs through this part, but we didn't see any.

A view of the wetland.

Here we were looking for beaver. It was so pretty in the woods. Again, I would love to see it in the summer/fall. No sign of beaver.... :(

So far all we have seen is birds, but we were pretty excited to see various tracks. Here is one example of what we found. We never did see any wildlife other than birds. I did see a red headed woodpecker though. I was disappointed that the kids didn't see it. It was pretty.

When we got back close to the river, we saw a very large barge. The kids thought this was pretty cool.

This is still part of the walk, but it goes along the river and has several outlook points. We had fun exploring.

Here's another view of the river from one of the outlook spots.

And, here is the back end of the barge.

We went to Sonic for lunch one day. Molly was really into her corn dog!! :)

This is Sam's Town. This is where Michael's conference was held. I thought, of all the casinos, this one was the neatest. I liked that it tried to look like an old west town.

Here we were "going to Jackson." We picked Michael up from the conference and we were "on the road again." Colin's latest thing is telling Michael when the radio is too loud. He will cover his ears and yell, "too woud! too wouuuuuuuud!" It's pretty funny. (Usually, he is right!) :)

Well, there you have it, our first (and last) family trip to Tunica, MS. Stay tuned for picutres and tales from the Natchez Trace Parkway. We drove that from Jackson to Tupelo on Saturday after the conference.

Until next time...