Tuesday, July 01, 2014

We're Home

We left northern Mississippi and drove home today, taking our time, stopping to look at things that interested us.  Like this:
The Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, MS.  Clarksdale is the epicenter of the blues music scene in Mississippi.  Directly across the street is the Blues museum,  It's a cool spot to visit, and while it wasn't yet open, we stopped long enough to pay homage to the blues greats.

An interesting mural on the other side of the building.
Northern Mississippi used to be extremely poor, some of the poorest counties in the country.  You can still see evidence of crushing poverty all along Highway 61, but change has already begun.  Lots of tourist industry in the area.  Milady, I, and our BIL and SIL dropped a fair bundle, both on lodging, meals, entertainment over a four day period, and while we spent some time in the casinos, we also spent time talking to people.

I was talking to a porter yesterday and he told me that before the casinos came in , Tunica county was the poorest county in Mississippi, and now it's one of the richest.

The Mississippi Delta country, north of Jackson along the Mississippi river is a place of great natural wealth, both in the soil that supports crops and the people who spring from that soil.  It's a great area if you want to experience southern culture, and I recommend it to the inquisitive traveler.

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