Mississippi, Football, and Sweater Weather
Anthony and I are heading out this morning for Jackson, MS to watch Cole Gaddy play college football for Belhaven University. We have known Cole since birth and he and his family are dear to us, so we are anxious to support him. I even brought out his schools’colors to wear. When I go all in, I go all in.
Not sure if you can see it, but I am wearing a sleeveless top, because it is mid-September, and we are in the Deep South, and this is what happens, and I don’t like it one bit. I generally complain about the heat from June until October because I don’t like to be hot. I never complain about winter temps and you will never hear me complain about the rain, unless I am having to drive in it. Football season in the South is spent trying to figure out what to wear. Jeans or shorts, team sweatshirt or tank top, flip flops or cute booties, a scarf or a bucket of ice. It is a miserable time, but we do it because we love the game and the people who are playing. Also, we know it will eventually be SWEATER WEATHER!!! Yesterday I talked to Kira as she was coming out of a department store in Manhattan, where she had just bought a sweater because she said it was starting to get chilly. I wanted to cry. When are WE going to be able to do that? December?!?!?! Okay, I am admittedly a bit salty over this weather, and will wear my cardigan sweater to the game tonight out of protest. I will also take it off when I get there and use it as a seat cushion.
We arrived in Jackson and to our lunch spot at 1:00. Google helped me find The Iron Horse Grill which is a spot downtown that is also a music museum. We did not visit the museum, but it looked like it would be a cool experience. Not sure if anyone has noticed this, but if you save a trip on google maps, it will start sending you suggestions of what to do and where to eat when you are on your trip. That both makes me happy and creeps me out a little. Our computers know too much! I found this restaurant from a traveler's blog that Google thought I would like to read, and voila! When we pulled into the parking lot, I started seeing all these flying insects hit our car, and thought for a second that I was on the Gulf Coast because they were the ever pesky Love Bugs! I probably carried half a dozen into the restaurant with me. They are the most annoying insects, because they look obscene. If you don’t know what I am taking about, look them up. They are pretty much exhibitionists who don’t have a problem getting in your face, hair, and clothes.
The restaurant is very cool, and as usual, I recommend always looking for the cool spot in the downtown area, because more times than not, it is an old building that has been restored without taking away its charm. This place was no different. I did not get a photo of the cute railroad track that runs along under the ceiling in the back part of the restaurant, complete with functioning train, and I didn’t get a photo of our food, which was quite good. We had wings, and chips with salsa for our appetizer. Anthony had a ribeye with baked potato and grilled asparagus, and I had chipotle spiced shrimp fajitas with mango salsa, rice and beans. Both dishes were really good, and since they have a Sunday brunch, we may just be back tomorrow. I will take more photos then.
We arrived to our hotel after lunch, and our room still had that new room smell. The hotel is very new, and quite nice. It was a Hilton Home 2 Suites and had everything we needed, which was basically an air conditioner, fridge, and TV. We relaxed a bit in the room, visited with Cole's parents and his girlfriend and her parents, and watched one game on TV and the other (JSU) on my iPad. We headed to Belhaven University around 5:30 for what we thought was a 6 p.m. game, but it actually started at 7, so we were super early. The good news is that all the seats had backs and there was actually a breeze blowing, so we enjoyed pre-game.
We got to see Cole warm up for his first collegiate start and were happy to see him on the jumbo tron when they were announcing the starting line-up.
His parents, Craig and Tori were also very proud, and headed up Cole's cheering section.
The university itself is very lovely, even when you have to walk about a quarter of a mile to the restroom. It turned out to be a very worthwhile walk because I got to see more of the campus, and the building housing the restrooms was frigidly cold and felt so GOOD!!
The game did not have a happy ending, as the home team lost a close one, AND Cole went out early with an injury to his ankle/foot. It is not a season ender, but he was understandably bummed and will have to have some treatment before he can return. We hope that is soon, because he performed outstandingly on the field as the center in front of rotating quarterbacks. That just seems like a pretty hard job to me.
About that breeze. It went away at kick off, and never returned, which means it got really hot and sticky. We went back to the hotel, took showers and watched some more football. We finally fell asleep after midnight and slept wonderfully, as I usually do in hotels. I am a hotel girl, and this one was a good one.
We left around noon on Sunday to head home, but not before hitting a local spot for some lunch. Anthony had found a meat and three place called Grant's Kitchen and Grill, and it was amazing!!! He had catfish with sides, and I had the most delicious Rosemary Roasted Chicken with a couple of sides that were delicious! We also had banana pudding.
Okay. I LOVE banana pudding. I grew up on banana pudding. It was at every church social event, and if you could make banana pudding, you were a rockstar. My dad also loved banana pudding, but only if it was real Souther cooked pudding. He could spot a Jello Instant Vanilla pudding mix a mile away, and his exact words would be "This isn't real banana pudding." Well, guess what? My only complaint about Grant's is that IT WASN'T REAL BANANA PUDDING!! Here's the deal. I make really good BP. I'm not bragging. It isn't my recipe. I got it off Google, so there is that, but it is real authentic Southern BP and what I know about it is that it is not hard to make. You can literally make the custard from scratch by the time you open up those dumb instant pudding boxes, pour that milk in and get carpal tunnel from whisking it until it thickens. It is that easy. I just don't understand why restaurants can't do this. You were perfect Grant's. It was five stars all the way, but then.......I don't want to talk about it anymore.
We drove home with full bellies and memories of a good weekend getaway. I love these road trips, and especially love trying local food. I also spent the entire weekend knee pain FREE! If you have talked with me at length lately, you know that I have bad arthritis and a torn meniscus in my left knee. I do not want the shots and will not have the surgery, so I have to look for alternatives, and I believe I have finally found my piece of gold. I need to spend more time with it before I endorse it fully, so I will tell you more next weekend, because we are going to the BEACH!!!
Until then, happy traveling.
Not sure if you can see it, but I am wearing a sleeveless top, because it is mid-September, and we are in the Deep South, and this is what happens, and I don’t like it one bit. I generally complain about the heat from June until October because I don’t like to be hot. I never complain about winter temps and you will never hear me complain about the rain, unless I am having to drive in it. Football season in the South is spent trying to figure out what to wear. Jeans or shorts, team sweatshirt or tank top, flip flops or cute booties, a scarf or a bucket of ice. It is a miserable time, but we do it because we love the game and the people who are playing. Also, we know it will eventually be SWEATER WEATHER!!! Yesterday I talked to Kira as she was coming out of a department store in Manhattan, where she had just bought a sweater because she said it was starting to get chilly. I wanted to cry. When are WE going to be able to do that? December?!?!?! Okay, I am admittedly a bit salty over this weather, and will wear my cardigan sweater to the game tonight out of protest. I will also take it off when I get there and use it as a seat cushion.
We arrived in Jackson and to our lunch spot at 1:00. Google helped me find The Iron Horse Grill which is a spot downtown that is also a music museum. We did not visit the museum, but it looked like it would be a cool experience. Not sure if anyone has noticed this, but if you save a trip on google maps, it will start sending you suggestions of what to do and where to eat when you are on your trip. That both makes me happy and creeps me out a little. Our computers know too much! I found this restaurant from a traveler's blog that Google thought I would like to read, and voila! When we pulled into the parking lot, I started seeing all these flying insects hit our car, and thought for a second that I was on the Gulf Coast because they were the ever pesky Love Bugs! I probably carried half a dozen into the restaurant with me. They are the most annoying insects, because they look obscene. If you don’t know what I am taking about, look them up. They are pretty much exhibitionists who don’t have a problem getting in your face, hair, and clothes.
The restaurant is very cool, and as usual, I recommend always looking for the cool spot in the downtown area, because more times than not, it is an old building that has been restored without taking away its charm. This place was no different. I did not get a photo of the cute railroad track that runs along under the ceiling in the back part of the restaurant, complete with functioning train, and I didn’t get a photo of our food, which was quite good. We had wings, and chips with salsa for our appetizer. Anthony had a ribeye with baked potato and grilled asparagus, and I had chipotle spiced shrimp fajitas with mango salsa, rice and beans. Both dishes were really good, and since they have a Sunday brunch, we may just be back tomorrow. I will take more photos then.
The university itself is very lovely, even when you have to walk about a quarter of a mile to the restroom. It turned out to be a very worthwhile walk because I got to see more of the campus, and the building housing the restrooms was frigidly cold and felt so GOOD!!
The game did not have a happy ending, as the home team lost a close one, AND Cole went out early with an injury to his ankle/foot. It is not a season ender, but he was understandably bummed and will have to have some treatment before he can return. We hope that is soon, because he performed outstandingly on the field as the center in front of rotating quarterbacks. That just seems like a pretty hard job to me.
About that breeze. It went away at kick off, and never returned, which means it got really hot and sticky. We went back to the hotel, took showers and watched some more football. We finally fell asleep after midnight and slept wonderfully, as I usually do in hotels. I am a hotel girl, and this one was a good one.
We left around noon on Sunday to head home, but not before hitting a local spot for some lunch. Anthony had found a meat and three place called Grant's Kitchen and Grill, and it was amazing!!! He had catfish with sides, and I had the most delicious Rosemary Roasted Chicken with a couple of sides that were delicious! We also had banana pudding.
We drove home with full bellies and memories of a good weekend getaway. I love these road trips, and especially love trying local food. I also spent the entire weekend knee pain FREE! If you have talked with me at length lately, you know that I have bad arthritis and a torn meniscus in my left knee. I do not want the shots and will not have the surgery, so I have to look for alternatives, and I believe I have finally found my piece of gold. I need to spend more time with it before I endorse it fully, so I will tell you more next weekend, because we are going to the BEACH!!!
Until then, happy traveling.
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