M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

When I learned to spell Mississippi, I never dreamed about going there.  But that's what we did this past weekend.  We drove an hour and a half to Pond, Mississippi, and went on a family hike at Clark Creek Natural Area.  I looked up some information about the place and expected a relatively easy hike from pictures like this:

What we actually ended up hiking looked like this:

Not the easy hike I was expecting, but a lot more rewarding knowing that we weren't on some sissy hike.  I was glad that we invested in a hiking carrier for Brielle.  Judging from the first picture, I thought she could walk quite a bit of the hike, but once we saw the real deal, there was no way she was going to make it on her own.  So she sat on Daddy's back and ate snacks the whole way.  Ah, the life of a 1 year old.  We saw several waterfalls on our hike and took a few photo ops.

The first waterfall we came to

Yeah...  This is the life...

Stopping for a snack

The last waterfall we came to.  Brielle really was happy to be there.  Promise.

We also stopped at this store down the road from the parking lot to the nature area.  We thought we may be able to buy a few things for lunch.  I fell in love with it as soon as we pulled up.  I mean, the building has been around since 1881.  Awesome!  However, inside was less than stellar.  When I was growing up, G.ville had the Bluebird - an old, rundown general-type store that sold penny candy and whatever little knick-knacks the owner took a fancy to.  When I walked into the Pond Store, I felt like I was walking into the Bluebird.  3 cats running around, stale bags of potato chips, old dolls and a dollhouse (we're talking at least 1920's), jars of pickled eggs, pickled pigs feet, and pickled watermelon rinds.  We were in the deep south, folks.  We bought a couple of pieces of jerky for the road.  The sweet old lady who owns the store used the original cash register and a calculator (for the tax) to ring us up.  It was charming to visit, but definitely not a place I'd go if I were starving, which of course I was.  Still, we got a picture before we left:

Brielle's cheeser grin says it all.  I think she had a good time.  :)