More signs.

I rarely read all the signs. I'd like to blame the kids, but the reality is that I usually am not a sign reader. The teacher in me is horrified about this. So, most of the time, I take pictures of the signs in case I change my mind about reading them at a later time.

I really (really!) do read a lot of them when we get home, but rarely when we are out.

These signs explain how Belmont, Columbus and Cairo were connected during this war time. For those of you who aren't sign readers, the answer is the river. All these towns were on the river, but opposite sides. The river was a major transportation route for supplies and people, so controlling the river was important.

Kentucky: Columbus-Belmont State park

While we didn't start out on a Civil war trip, it turned out a lot of the places we stopped had a lot of Civil war history. So, the closest place to stop and explore we could find was called Columbus- Belmont state park.

It looked really interesting online and the website indicated it would be open on Sunday occasionally. Sadly, the visitor center was not open. We were still able to enjoy quite a bit of the park, although we were wishing we could have seen the full museum.

Welcome to Kentucky

After finishing up in Arkansas, we hit the road for our Kentucky adventure!

Arkansas Nature preserve: Wapanocca National Wildlife refugecypress swamp

We drove through Arkansas, but we didn't really stop and DO anything in Arkansas. After putting kids to bed and feeling Amelia's burning head many, many times, John and I sat down to figure out our game plan for the following day.

We needed to drive home, but we also wanted to make brief- ish stops in both Arkansas and Kentucky. We wanted to stop long enough to see something and we didn't want to drive too far out of our way. In our research, we found slim pickings. It would seem that most of the major attractions in Kentucky were in the eastern half of the state and western half of Arkansas. Which we wouldn't be traveling through.

We were able to locate a nature preserve just off the highway in Arkansas that was home to cypress trees. Cypress trees used to be somewhat common, but have been cut down for their valuable lumber.

As it was a Sunday, the resource nature center wasn't open, but we enjoyed a quick drive through the park. It was very pretty and the trees were amazing. The kids were less impressed and were quickly ready to move on. We got out and took a quick walk and then went back to the highway.

Cotton fields

I'm not sure why this was so amazing to see, but it was really interesting to see cotton growing in the field. It really looks like cotton balls growing in a plant.

Welcome to Arkansas!

Shiloh wrap up

The kids were so good at Shiloh! We were so glad we pushed ourselves to make the drive and explore something we hadn't originally planned on doing.

We left about an hour later than we planned, but we had some snacks in the car.

Original plans called for us to find a place along the way back in Mississippi for us to eat, in order to check Mississippi off of our states list. I was planning on locating this destination on our way back using my phone. However, with the morning's unplanned stop in Corinth, Mississippi, we no longer needed to stop.

We decided to just head back towards Memphis and find somewhere on the way to eat. We went back a different way than we came and while it was light, we all enjoyed the pretty countryside. I did some serious Google-ing while the kids watched a movie in the back seat and John drove. The flaw in our plan was the gorgeous countryside between Memphis and Shiloh contained almost no towns. The only places I was finding to eat were gas stations. We weren't that hungry (yet), so I went further afield in my searching. I came across a family style BBQ place in my internet searching that was right off the highway. When we got closer, we couldn't find anything until we were almost past it. Turns out, it was a tiny trailer in a parking lot selling BBQ. No place to sit, no lights in the parking lot. It probably was excellent food, but

1) the kids were not fans of the bbq we ate the previous night. I was going to have full on mutiny on my hands if I tried to get them to eat it again.

2) bbq is not the kind of thing you want to eat in your vehicle if you can avoid it. Especially little kids eating bbq.

So we continued onward. Finally, I realized we were just going to have to wait until Memphis. We would be eating at 7:30, but there wasn't much else along the way. At some point, someone mentioned they wanted pizza and suddenly that was all anyone wanted to eat. Once the idea was planted, no one could be talked into something different. (That isn't entirely true. I probably could have sold the kids on pancakes, ice cream or cupcakes. Sadly, none of those ideas sounded as good as pizza to me.)

So I googled myself the closest pizza restaurant with passing marks in Memphis. Then, I located their menu online and Everyone came to a consensus about what they wanted to eat. I used the gps on my phone to estimate how long it would take to get to the location. Then, I called ahead and ordered our food. I explained to the super nice employee that I was traveling with little kids and we were running late. And Hungry. Super hungry. In conclusion, my smart phone has made my life so much better.

We arrived and identified ourselves. Food was brought to our table and we inhaled it. Everyone but Amelia. Our family of 5 was crammed into a tiny booth. We didn't care because we were hungry. The kids had ordered fountain soda (a HUGE treat). However, all Amelia wanted to do was lay down on the bench and fall asleep. She wouldn't eat. She wouldn't drink. It wasn't until I had something to eat in me that I realized she wasn't just being annoying (sorry Amelia! Moms make mistakes when they are hungry too!). Amelia was burning up.

Old plan: gas station, swimming pool, family game of cards and to bed.

New plan: gas station for gas and medicine, back to hotel for Amelia to go to bed.

The poor girl was so pitiful. I felt terrible and suddenly her earlier behavior all started to make sense. The complaining and complaining and not wanting to explore different places all made much more sense when you understood that she didn't feel well.*. My poor girl!




* she ran a fever off and on for a few more days until I finally took her in to have her diagnosed with strep throat. I would have taken her earlier, but she insisted her throat did not hurt at all. Oops.

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