GIRLS WEEKEND

While the boys were at the Cubaree Campout this weekend, Cora and I had a date night (a fancy dinner and glass bottle root beer at Rusty's downtown), finished decorating the house for Halloween, and scouted out a potential trail route for our upcoming Girl Scout hike (there was a LOT of blowdown due to the tornadoes last April, so we're thinking this will not be a good route for our littlest Scouts, or some of the parents/grandparents). She slept up in daddy's spot in our bed and got to goof off on her Kindle until late at night. She was sooo happy to have me all to herself for 30 hours or so and it made me feel pretty special.

(She thought that tree stump looked like the Upside Down...)

(It's always reassuring to find the orange blazes when you haven't seen one in a while due to having to go around big tree falls and jump over small ravines)

DINNER AND A HAUNTING

 

OKTOBERFEST 2019

Cottonwood hosted it's second annual Oktoberfest celebration today and you know we weren't going to miss a chance to eat festive foods and drink amazing beers!

After lunch, we moved upstairs for some rooftop fun!

James loves that the elevator to the rooftop has a fake grass floor ;-)

There was photobooth posing, there was dancing (that's Cora's old babysitter, Miss Elizabeth, swinging her around the roof), there were more beers, and there was some arm wrestling... We had a great time! We left Jay there for a couple hours while I took Cora to a birthday party, then took Grambot and James home to chill, then I joined Jay again for a bit longer before picking Cora up from her party. It was a great low-key way to start the weekend.

COTTONWOOD ROOFTOP OPENING

Free leis and Hawaiian-themed appetizers, fancy cocktails, and the best pizza in town made for a fun evening up on the new rooftop at Cottonwood!

(Their favorite spot, evening counting the new roof, is the low bar right in front of the pizza oven. It's warmer, and has great Wifi and accessible plugs to charge their Kindles)

FREEDOM WEEK 2019

Due to Tropical Storm Barry, we nixed our plans to go down to Natchez after dropping the kids at camp and instead came back up to town and headed to our favorite establishments for the afternoon: Cottonwood for beer and darts, then 10 South for an early dinner.

We had a quiet week at home, getting chores done and enjoying the peace and quiet, then planned a fun adventure for Friday afternoon/evening before picking up the kids on Saturday morning. We started with lunch at the Old Country Store in Lorman, Mississippi (Hwy 61 South, on the way to Natchez) after working a half day, then checked into a hotel and enjoyed an evening on the town in Natchez, visiting the brewery and our favorite restaurant, and getting a lot of steps walking the downtown streets. 

The unassuming exterior of The Old Country Store yielded arguably the best fried chicken we've ever had! We met Mr. D while we were dining, as he sung happy birthday to a nearby table. We'd heard about this place years ago and never made the trip (it's a long drive for lunch), and are so glad we finally had time and an excuse to stop by. Our advice? Just don't go unless you're HUNGRY! It's a southern buffet of comfort foods and you are expected to eat your fill. Mr. D will tell you that if you leave his restaurant hungry, it's not his fault!

Slice of the Mighty Mississippi (view from our room)

Natchez Brewing was all decked out in purple and gold (clearly celebrating a game of some sort)

We walked down to Magnolia Bluffs Casino (for fun, not to gamble), then back up along the elevated riverwalk (due to flooding over the usual route), and eventually all the way to The Camp, where we parked ourselves for a couple hours of appetizers, beer, and dinner, before walking all the way back up the hill and over to our hotel.

(We had to add to the chalkboard again, just like last year!)