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Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

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Road Trip day 14: Marathon Lake to Pitkin Pitkin, LA, Friday, 29 July 2016 2:02pm

Our original sketchy plan for this trip had us camping one last night before heading back to Austin, but we decided to take it a bit easier and stay at a B&B instead.

After having one of the best meals of the trip at the Jackson Mississippi Farmer's Market (there's a restaurant there even when the farmer's market is not open) and indulging in some popsicles (lime buttermilk, goat cheese honey fig, and cherry cheesecake), we spent most of the day driving, first along pleasant little state highways and then on a section of the Natchez Trace Parkway.

We stopped for a couple of the historical attractions on the Parkway: a cotton plantation-turned hotel, and the second largest earthen ceremonial mound north of Mexico. The mound was impressively huge, especially when you consider what simple techniques were used to build it. It reminded me a bit of Newgrange.

We made another stop at a winery that makes wine from Muscadine grapes. They were pretty unusual wines. Very sweet, but with a strong grape-skin note that reminded me of grappa.

After was crossed into Louisiana, we stopped for dinner at a tasty cajun place.

We're spending the night at Allen Acres, a bed and breakfast surrounded by elaborate plantings designed to draw in birds and butterflies. In addition to the resident dog, cats, and guinea fowl, we saw hummingbirds and hummingbird moths.