Other than a one day visit down to Oxford in the fall of 2011 to visit our friend Drew while he was attending college at Ole Miss, we had never adventured to Mississippi before. Although, the day we chose to drive down to Ole Miss just happened to be an Alabama Roll Tide/Ole Miss Rebels football game, so apparently we got the "full college football experience" tailgating in The Grove and weaving our way through the masses of upwards of 60,000 people packed onto a college campus...but that story can be for another time :)
I had sort-of Google stalked some towns in Mississippi along Interstate 55 and decided that our goal for Wednesday night would be to get 5 to 5.5 hours down the road and stay overnight.
We chose the Holiday Inn Express (or what I thought was the holiday inn express) as our first choice in Batesville, Mississippi. I have always had good luck with Holiday Inn Expresses, so when it's an option, I usually pick them over some of the other chain hotels.
Upon our arrival though, I came to find out that Google was wrong. There was no Express here...Only a Holiday Inn. I was pretty sure that those are generally more expensive than the Holiday Inn Epress-es, and don't include breakfast.
I was right! However: Our room was decent, the showers were hot, and the manager was in good humors that evening when we arrived and gave me $10 off the rate I was first told. So we got our room for under $100.
After checking out Thursday morning, I was hungry, since I didn't get my free continental breakfast that I was expecting, but that's alright because Micah took me to the Huddle House and I got a Mississippi helping of hashbrowns, sausuage, eggs, bacon, cheese, toast, and gravy. ALL in one big pile. My pregnant-self couldn't have been happier.
God bless Mississippi.
We got back on I-55 and drove two hours down the road to Jackson, Mississippi. Other than Jackson being the state capitol, I didn't know much else about the city (or the state of Mississippi, for that matter) So, we decided to take a detour to visit the Old Capitol Museum, located on State Street, a short drive from the Interstate. Oh, and the best part, it's FREE admission and parking!
It was a picture perfect day: sunny, 74 degrees, not a cloud in the sky.
Upon entrance to the building, you are greeted with gorgeous wrap-around staircases to the right and left, with the main foyer straight ahead. This particular picture was taken of the left staircase, where you can also see a table of brochures of other activities and things to do in the city.
The main foyer where the help desk is located is in the center of the building, right under the impressive dome. Standing and looking straight up makes you feel so small.
The first floor focuses on the capitol building itself with a little bit of Mississippi history thrown in there as well. We watched a short video telling the history of the capitol building, WHY they built it where they did, learned about the different renovations that have gone into the restoring it, and a little bit of Mississippi's involvement in the Civil War.
The second floor has bathrooms (which were actually pretty amazing. The women's room smelled like bubble bath!) and then at each end of the building you can go into the Senate room and the House room. This is the room where the House of Representatives met.
The third floor mostly displayed portraits of famous people from Mississippi. Everyone from the governors and first ladies, to war generals, to an artist that sold pottery and his work currently sells for 100's of thousands of dollars. Actually, I wish I remembered his name, because his formal painted portrait stood out from all the others. The Governors and First Ladies were all posed "properly" and wore their finest clothes...this artist is painted in overalls, a hat with holes in it and a shirt with rolled up sleeves.
Anyways, the Old Capitol Museum is certainly worth stopping at if you are going through Jackson Mississippi. I don't think you could spend all day there, but certainly it's worth an hour or two.
I almost wish I had allotted for more time to be spent exploring Mississippi. Staying in one hotel and visiting one museum is hardly a bias to go on when speaking for an entire state, but on first impression, (well, technically second impression) Mississippi seems nice. I look forward to future adventures!
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