Natchez Trace, Day 2

In planning this road trip, Martha thought that by now we might need a relaxing rest day, thus the two-night stay in this State Park, and she was exactly right.  The place is named for the historic Natchez Trace, a wilderness trail in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, and it covers more than 48,000 acres, much of which we explored today because it is so extensive in area.  We found several wilderness trails, campgrounds, boating, and even horseback riding.

 

Breakfast was very nice.  We had done well in provisioning ourselves at The Food Giant!

 

We had time for a little hiking on some of the trails in the area, too.  This was exactly the kind of day we needed after so many weeks on the road.

 

 

We walked down to the lake to see about taking out canoes or paddleboats, and on the way we spotted this huge blue heron taking off.  Beautiful, the way its wingtips touch the water as it rises into the air.

 

It was pretty warm by then, and we decided to go out for awhile on the lake.  The friendly young woman renting the boats named Jessie told us in a casual kind of way to watch out for water moccasins.  She said they didn't bother her; she just hit them with an oar.  We opted for a paddleboat because, I guess, they are farther from the water (although not equipped with defensive oars).  We started out and she said, “I wouldn’t go that way. That’s Snake Cove.”  So we went the other way.  And we never saw a snake.

 

Natchez Trace State Park has only one restaurant, Pin Oak Lodge Restaurant, and it is in the main building where we registered, several miles away.  We had learned when we checked in that there was a Seafood Buffet on Friday nights and it sounded appealing; we had not had seafood in a long time.  And hiking and paddling works up an appetite!  We arrived early enough to be near the front of the line = cold-boiled shrimp, deviled crab, baked potatoes - delicious!  I noticed that the sign had misspelled “buffet” as “Buffett several times.”  Fans of "Margaritaville?"  What an eerie coincidence when we learned the next morning that Jimmy Buffett had died that same day.

 

We returned to the cabin, and I lit a fire in the fire-pit next to the cabin, not so much because of the evening chill in the air as because we wanted to see a fire.  We poured a glass of wine, sat at the picnic table near the fire playing a game of cards, and watched the sunset and the lightning bugs.