Note: My brother and my husband gave me a stern talking to. So please make this correction from a few days ago: Our delightful dining partners were three single men, two of whom are best friends. The third is a federal judge with a great sense of humor! We left our luggage outside our room…

Today, was a day of walking the boat, bow to stern, around the rails and up and down every staircase. It was actually yesterday when I photographed the stacks coming down to go under a bridge, but it happened again today. We also visited the engine room for a long look at the pistons, then…

John and I like to get the most out of every opportunity.  Today, however, we were going to have to make a choice. The boat wasn’t supposed to dock until noon, just when our excursion started. That meant that we couldn’t do the hop on hop off bus as we’d been doing other days. I…

Today started with the Hop on, Hop off bus tour of Vicksburg. We didn’t have time for much before our excursion started, but we did visit the Old Depot Museum with the coolest set of electric trains east of the Mississippi. The outstanding feature though was the diorama of the Battle of Vicksburg. Too bad…

We started the day right off with history. The bus driver narrated between the miles. We learned that this area was first populated by the Natchez Indians who befriended the French, who then took too much land, caused a disagreement, and then killed the entire population. Not a great introduction to the town. The good…

We started early at breakfast with a Michigan group. The things you learn. Did you know that your hand is in the shape of Michigan and if you want to show that you went around the state, you just show your outstretched palm and outline the thumb and all around the four fingers? Nothing to…

The night noises on the boat are going to take a bit of getting used to. Still, we were up on time and on the bus for our plantation tour of Nottoway. Our guides were real showmen in period dress. The big points were that the 64-room house (50,000 sq feet) took John and Emily…

We were packed at 8 am with luggage ready. We had breakfast downstairs (grits and gravy) and then it was off to our bus tour of New Orleans. The tour guide was full of true and odd facts (who knew that Nicholas Cage has a tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery?  He loves this city…

Today was a day for the miles. We walked 6 of them. We had planned with a move in mind. Since we’ll be staying at the Hilton Riverside tonight as part of our cruise, we packed early and moved our luggage down to Hoyt’s office, then headed out for college visits! It’s been a few…

Even though we’re in Civil War country, the National WWII Museum is fabulous. We spent 5 1/2 hours there today—before lunch! It was just so riveting (no pun intended!) We each received dog tags for a different soldier that we could follow through the museum. John’s solider was a true hero who was brought home…