Hiking Trails

Morning-42F (6C)
Afternoon-55F (13C)

It was a bright, bright sunshiny day! But not all that warm unfortunately. I was joined by my doggie friend on my walk, don't know where he comes from but I'm not out long before I hear panting behind me and there he is. I've named him Buster and he actually responds to it but he doesn't respond to Fido, go figure.

Each site has a picnic table, a barbecue and a little stand for your own barbecue.

Late this morning we headed out to hike some trails. Gordon had found another swamp yesterday so took me there. Quite a few egrets were around.




Then on to Lost Bluff Hiking Trail. We hiked part of it but became kind of steep and since we weren't seeing anything that interested us, other than a very pretty butterfly we turned back.

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Lost Bluff Hiking Trail
Both of us are feeling kind of icky today so we came home to have lunch and I had a nap then we went back out and hiked the Old River Nature Trail. There were lots of turtles out sunning themselves today.

This turtle was in the water

Trail

Neither of us really want to go back to the cold but we've got no choice!

First Day of our Cold Spell

Morning-46F (8C) when I got up then down to 42F (6C)
Afternoon-50 (10C)

Last evening near sunset, Gordon looked outside and saw this line of white birds, it turned out to be white pelicans. We thought we'd seen the last of pelicans till next winter!


It was chilly again this morning so I stayed in bed under my electric blanket a little longer but then it was up and out. My dog friend joined me again. He's warming up to me now and will lick my hand although he still doesn't want to be patted.

Gordon went out this morning to take some photos so I vacuumed.

My afternoon was spent mostly playing Bejeweled but I did read a bit as well. I also made stew and cornbread for dinner.

View from our living room window this afternoon when the sun came out

We had some sun this afternoon but it remained cold all day and will be even colder tonight.

March Expenses and Stuff

Morning-56F (13C)-cloudy
Afternoon-77F (25C) -some sun, humid

I had a nice walk this morning, it was warm but cloudy. I didn't take my camera and didn't see anything but I heard a lot of woodpeckers.

After breakfast I finished inputting the March expenses so here's the result. Remember the total is in Canadian funds. In US funds, it would be roughly $2450.00. Considering we're traveling and not getting the benefit of long term camping prices, using more fuel and stocking up on items that I can't get at home, it's not a bad total.

After lunch, I plugged the address of the Superwalmart into Miss Pinky. I got in the truck and was getting a radio station that I liked when there was a knock on my window wanting to know where we're from. It turns out the lady in question is from Pembroke which is some 2 hours northwest of Ottawa. I've been in Pembroke many times. She is now married to a guy from Mississippi and lives here. Small world!

Away I went to Walmart. Miss Pinky sent me in the wrong direction and I don't think it's her fault. I think that the address online is incorrect. I did find it and got there and back without getting lost. I also stopped at Dollar Tree for a few items.

It was pretty humid today but the weather is about to change. Due to the storms in the plains states that are heading east we've now decided to stay put until Wednesday. The campground is a great price at $9 US per night and it's a beautiful place to be so why get stuck in the snow and cold!

Gordon has updated his journal a couple of times since we arrived here, to see it click here.

A Beautiful Day

Morning-48F (9C)
Afternoon-75F (24C)

I had a lovely walk this morning even though it was a bit chilly. After breakfast I sat outside and read for a while but it was a bit too windy.

Looking down on our site on my morning walk

More campground sites - ours is the middle one

More sites

My morning walking companion

View from my lawnchair

After lunch, I was chatting with Dee on Yahoo Messenger and had just thought about having a nap when Gordon said he wanted to go for a drive and find the swamp that we had seen the other day. We drove some back roads but didn't find it.

Pastoral scene

We then hiked a trail at the Haserway Wetland Trail. It was a pretty trail and the wind had died down making it a beautiful day for a walk.

Along the trail

The trail
I then suggested that we drive in to Grenada and take the same route that we had taken the day before yesterday and there it was - the swamp! So, Gordon got his photos and was happy!

This is the red flower that we saw along I-55 on our way here from Louisiana this week. It looks like an Indian paintbrush to me however one of my readers tells me it looks like Crimson Clover. Not being from this area, I would go with her identification.

Back home I finally got my nap, a shower and started getting dinner ready.

This is such a gorgeous place! Due to weather heading north to Illinois and then east to Ohio, I think we'll be staying here an extra day and traveling on Tuesday.

A Short Move & A Trip Around the Lake

Today we moved from Frog's Hollow RV Park to the Corps of Engineers Park on Grenada Lake, a distance of about 6 miles or so. You pick up an envelope at the self-register booth then go into the campground and pick your site, fill out the envelope, put your money inside, tear off the stub and put it on the post of your site and take the envelope and money back to the self-register booth.

We got backed in to the first site we tried, got out our 25 ft electric cord - it wasn't long enough. We moved to the next site and that was ok and we even have internet and TV satellite from here as well as a beautiful view of Grenada Lake from both our back and side windows. We're in a really good spot for sunrises.

Our site

Another view of our site


View from dining room window


View from living room window


View from rear window



This site is reserved from April 9th so we've signed up till Monday and will probably leave then to head north again (depending on the weather, of course).

After lunch we took off to do some sightseeing. We stopped at some places near us including a short hike and then continued on to Gore Springs then across Grenada Lake. We tried to find Carver Point in the Hugh White State Park but never did find it. We sure found some bad roads though. Our drive took us around the lake and we found that our immediate area here at the Corps of Engineers Park is the prettiest. I'm glad we decided to spend a few days here. It's definitely a 'come back to' place!

A pretty drive



Our path for today

The beach

The sign speaks for itself and refers to the photo below it

Hmmmm....ya think?


This butterly posed for us


Beautiful dogwood

Here's the lake



After breakfast for dinner, it's another TV night!

A Restful Day and Grenada Lake and Campground

I woke up with a headache and feeling like I was trying to move around inside a room of cotton batten. I managed to go outside for my walk but was only out about 20 minutes. The roads in the campground have large rocks, not good for running and the road outside the campground was too busy. It was about 60F (16C), cloudy and dreary.

Overview of Frog Hollow RV Park

Most of the morning was spent napping, reading and watching the satellite weather. We were under a tornado watch. I watched the rain come in on the internet on satellite and it arrived around 12:20 p.m. but it didn't rain that much and it was on and off.

We decided to go ahead and go to Grenada Lake. It's a Corps of Engineers area and the State Park is within it. The campground is beautiful and very scenic. We drove around a bit and went to the Visitor Center. Corps of Engineers parks are half price for those with the America the Beautiful pass. We're thinking about moving over there and staying a few days.......

RV sites at Grenada Lake - Corps of Engineers Park

Grenada Lake

More RV sites

The dam at Grenada Lake

We also did a tour of the downtown area. It has a nice square but the downtown looks kind of run down and lots of shops were vacant.


According to the satellite there's another storm heading for us with a strong wind advisory and severe thunderstorm watch but the tornado watch has been lifted.

Our high today only reached about 63F (17C) but it was nice when the sun came out!

From Poche's Fish N Camp to Frog Hollow Campground/RV Park

Morning-54F (12C)
Afternoon-77F (25C)

I was awake at 6 a.m. but didn't get up till 6:30. Gordon was still asleep which is amazing for him! I missed my walk this morning using that time to make our lunches for the road. We were packed up and out of Poche's Fish N Camp at 9:10 a.m. It was 57F (14C) and partly sunny.

As we left Poche's I took another photo of our 'gator'. I was right, it's a log!

We had an uneventful journey and made it to our first stop of our northern trek shortly after 3 p.m., a distance of 340 miles. We are at Frog Hollow Campground/RV Park at Grenada, MS and will stay for two days. There's some weather coming in tomorrow so we'll wait it out here. The campground has free wifi and it appears to be pretty good. We had planned to use the aerial for TV but the only station we got was a snowy NBC so Gordon set up the TV satellite.

I took photos of Henderson Swamp as we were traveling on I-10. There's no real way to get to it by road other than the interstate.

We made it to Mississippi!


Beautiful red tea roses at the Mississippi Welcome Center

Lots of greens with a pretty sky

Many clumps of these red wildflowers along the road

Dogwood in bloom


The trip today was quite beautiful, from the marshes of Louisiana to the varying greens of the trees in Mississippi. The dogwood is also in bloom.

Our site at Frog Hollow

In reply to Diane's comment on yesterday's blog - the wood ducks were further along the road from the rookery but quite close. Lots of luck, hope you enjoy being there! The area is indeed a little gem. If you're taking your RV, Catfish Heaven campground is closest but we like Poche's Fish N Camp.

And to Donna who also commented, sorry haven't had a chance to check out the wildflower info that you gave me.