Mississippi

This state proved to be challenging for my patience.

First of all. I don’t think I’ve ever been through so many weather changes on the plane than during this flight. I went from sea, to desert, from sunny to cloudy. It was truly a beautiful airplane flight.

I landed in Memphis, Tennessee. I was going to explore it for a day, but had to wait 4 hours for a car. By the time I got my rental I was really frustrated. I decided that I would drive to Arkansas, rest and get ready for my work the following day. I could come back to Tennessee in a few days and explore it with a lot more time and patience. Arkansa was bland. There is nothing much to do. I was in Little Rock for 2 days and I just can’t remember anything cool about this city.

I drove to Memphis, Tennessee early in the morning. After having breakfast I decided to explore a bit. The city was pretty bad. There was traffic because of construction and most places were closed. I decided to just go to Mississippi and start my trip down south.

Most of the state is fairly the same. There is a lot of old worn out buildings everywhere. Roads, signs and cities seem to have not been improved upon for decades. There was a lot of poverty everywhere. It’s like the city got frozen in time.

There are a lot of signs that segregation was strong here. It’s really sad to still see “colored” and “whites’ signs in some public bathrooms and other places. It’s a lot different reading history and actually seeing it. What was more jarring to me was the fact that everyone was so used to seeing these things that they didn’t even notice them anymore. I’m not sure why no one decided to remove these signs during the past few decades.

There was a unique little bridge that must have had a thousand locks on it. All different, all unique, and all with a different message. I walked across it a few times. The wooden boards creaking as they swayed with every step I took. It was a pleasant thing to see. A little piece of different humans intertwined through the ropes holding this bridge up. I couldn’t stop taking photos.

I took some photos in some fields that had huge rolls of grass. It was a bitch climbing them, but certainly fun. I never did google what they are and what’s the proper name for them.

Everything in the state was so different to me, up until I got all the way down south to the beach.

Things were very modern here. From what I heard, most things were rebuilt from the destruction that Hurricane Katrina caused a few years back. There were a few casinos that seem to be the main attraction of the town. I didn’t really care much for them so I decided to explore other areas around the city.

The houses close to the water were all raised. They seemed fairly new and modern but still had that older architecture. They were all different and beautiful.

I ended up at the beach. It was a 10 minute walk to the water. There was sings saying not to go into the water beaauese of the algae so I made sure I kept my distance from the water. The sunset was so beautiful. The sky had pastel colors for over an hour. Plenty of time for me to take photos. I experience 2 sunsets back to back in this cool area I found.

The sand here is so different. It’s white and softer than normal. It clumps up and get stuck to anything it touches. It makes it really hard to take off.

I spent a few sunsets in some bridges as well. Each sunset was so beautiful. This part of Mississippi was worth going through the rest of the state. Most of the cities didn’t have anything to do. Site seeing wasn’t as enjoyable to do in the cities inland either. They’re not really meant for tourists. But the beach cities all had plenty of things to do.

I will never forget these sunsets.